Ricardo's report The AGM

[Bill 1,788]

"Virtually all the players fell by the wayside, while the youth academy costs were enormous"

I''m not sure if clubs had youith acadamys in those days. Most did not sign or play for the club until into their early teens.

In the case of arsenal and Charlie George it should be remembered that of the eleven who played in the winning cup final team of that double year (71) no less than SEVEN had signed as youths/ apprentices - even the sub, who scored, came through the same way.

So although it may only produce one player a year (or not) it is still well worth it. More so if we can keep our own lads. Peter Simpson of that Cup Final team was a Norfolk lad.

[Gingerpele 0]

Some interesting stuff there.

The club really does look like its heading in the right direction. The academy plan sounds brilliant, having one of the top academy''s in the country can only be a good thing. The way McNally (and Bowkett?) have been running the club in the past 2 1/2 years is amazing, despite spending a year in League One our finances seemed to improve more than they did when we were last in the premiership in the Doncaster era. Some things, like ticket prices might have upset a few fans but essentially the figures are there to prove its all worth it and were definatly moving in the right direction. A great time to be a NCFC fan.

[nutty nigel 7,645]

[quote user="ricardo"][quote user="nutty nigel"]

[quote user="Bury Yellow"]Now then Nutty, I am aware you would defend Delia if she invaded Poland :-) I prefer to just focus on what we do agree on that she is a wonderful supporter of ncfc along with MWJ. I immediately think of her standing in sub zero temperatures at Coventry last year. Thank you City 1st btw!![/quote]

I prefer to think of her and the two Michaels as wonderful owners of NCFC. The envy of all but the very biggest clubs. [:)]

 

 

[/quote]

I reckon you''ve got some saucy pics of Delia hidden under your bed Nige.
[/quote]

Now Rickyyyy When they were eulogising over Delia and the 2 Michaels a poster sitting beside me suggested I wrote the script!

 

As for the pictures...

 

I think it''s more likely that the old duffers who still can''t accept Delia for what she is got caught red handed (so to speak) with their wives copies of Delia''s Complete Cookery Course. Traditionally wives do not like that sort of thing [:O]

 

 

[Robert N. LiM 4,513]

No doubt that an elite academy would put us at a huge advantage.

I haven''t read much about them, so this is more of a question than an objection:

Are these new academies fair? Don''t they allow the Premier League clubs to hoover up all the talent, even more so that they have done before? Where does it leave clubs like Crewe, who have done so much to bring young players on?

I''d be delighted to hear the counter-argument - but it strikes me that the fact that we are now in the Prem doesn''t make the Prem any less unfair in its dealings with professional football as a whole - and we as a club should not be forgetting that.

[nutty nigel 7,645]

I doubt this system is any less fair than the old one Robert. I don''t think anybody believed the old system was fair. Especially on clubs like us.If we were in the Championship and couldn''t afford to upgrade I don''t see how we would be any worse off.

 

But as Felix say''s, the fact that we have agreed to make the investment and improvements doesn''t mean we have been accepted. The FA probably would like only 5 or 6 of these academies. I saw where Gareth Southgate mentioned less than 15 and now Ricky said less than 20. I don''t think it''s cut and dried yet. But it would mean that the category one academies only play eachother in competition at the older age groups. I guess if that was regionalised it wouldn''t cause a problem but if not I don''t think the northern clubs woulkd fancy us in there.

 

 

[Robert N. LiM 4,513]

Don''t you ever sleep, Nutty?!

Interesting. Clearly the 90 minute rule was pretty rough on clubs like Norwich in coastal or rural areas, but it does seem a shame that, increasingly, the clubs who can afford these academies are going to take on pretty much all the talent, and the others are going to have to make do with gracious hand-me-downs in the form of loans.

[Rock The Boat 1,332]

[quote user="Gingerpele"]Some interesting stuff there. The club really does look like its heading in the right direction. The academy plan sounds brilliant, having one of the top academy''s in the country can only be a good thing. The way McNally (and Bowkett?) have been running the club in the past 2 1/2 years is amazing, despite spending a year in League One our finances seemed to improve more than they did when we were last in the premiership in the Doncaster era. Some things, like ticket prices might have upset a few fans but essentially the figures are there to prove its all worth it and were definatly moving in the right direction. A great time to be a NCFC fan.[/quote]

Our whole ethos has changed since the Doncaster era. Remember the old ''prudence with ambition'' mantra which saw us investing in spine roads and non-football activities? A lot of posters on here were well behind Doncaster saying that we needed to invest off the field in order to provide us with a long-term revenue stream.

What''s changed is that Bowkett and McNally blew away the myth of ''prudence with ambition'' and replaced it with a mantra "it''s all about the football, stupid'' to paraphrase former US president Bill Clinton.

Now we''re concentrating on our core activity which is football. By getting into the Premiership the amount of income we generate from say, building a multi-storey car park, pales into insignificance against the income we get from just playing in the greatest league on earth. It''s proved the theory that if you focus on turning out a successful football team, everything else follows on from that.

Planning for an elite academy demonstrates how proactive a club we have become, just as we target new signings. So kudos to Bowkett and McNally for driving us forward and preparing the groundwork for our long-term future. Kudos to Delia and the two Michaels for being in for the long-haul and seeing us through the bad times.

[TCCANARY 263]

[quote user="TIL 1010"]Bear in mind in relation to the 90 minute radius it covers an awful lot of the North Sea to our East and North so at the moment we suffer an additional handicap.[/quote]

But this only underlines how poor our coaching has been in the past, we could''ve signed Billy-the-Fish, he was a brilliant goalie.

[nutty nigel 7,645]

[quote user="Robert N. LiM"]Don''t you ever sleep, Nutty?! Interesting. Clearly the 90 minute rule was pretty rough on clubs like Norwich in coastal or rural areas, but it does seem a shame that, increasingly, the clubs who can afford these academies are going to take on pretty much all the talent, and the others are going to have to make do with gracious hand-me-downs in the form of loans.[/quote]

 

I''m not so sure about that Rob. I doubt the likes of Crewe ever got a player Manchester United wanted first.

 

 

Do I sleep??

 

Late to bed early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and....

 

 

 

 

 

 

tired[|-)][;)]

 

 

[ricardo 7,402]

[quote user="TCCANARY"][quote user="TIL 1010"]Bear in mind in relation to the 90 minute radius it covers an awful lot of the North Sea to our East and North so at the moment we suffer an additional handicap.[/quote]

But this only underlines how poor our coaching has been in the past, we could''ve signed Billy-the-Fish, he was a brilliant goalie.[/quote]Agreed, we missed out on that brilliant fish boy. We need more scouts on the Dogger Bank.