The Academy

[andy schmitz 0]

Have been greatly disappointed with the youth program the last few years.  The goal is to turn out Premiership level players and it seems quite unproductive.  So I have a question for you who know more about this than I.  Is it necessary for us to have an Academy setup?  My understanding is that if we have an Academy we may only recruit from our local catchment area.  If the academy did not exist would we be allowed to attract players from anywhere in Britain?  I would think if that is true we would have a much better chance of competing if we could go into Manchester, Liverpool, London etc. and try to recruit young players from these areas.  We could still have a youth team it just would not be part of the Academy league setup.

Could someone please enlighten me on the catchment rule and the above comments. 

[Northern Canary 0]

I know, we havnt really produced anybody who has been a first team regular. Correct me if I am wrong.

[3pmkickoff 0]

No academy means you don''t attract any kind of talent these days. You won''t see the strong benefits of the academy for at least another couple of years. During the bleak times the youth set-up was neglected, it''s only recently that it''s got back on track and now Worthington has brought in Williams the future will be looking bright

[DTT 0]

greeno... greeno... greeno

[Fluff 0]

Being a scout for the academy, I can safely say that the set up is worth every penny.  Basically, all the kids who play for the academy and the P.D.C. (developement centres) are learning valuable knowledge.  If you look at the results that the kids pull in against teams like Chelsea, Arsenal, Ipswich, West Ham etc...it would make you proud!  Results wise, we have one of the best set ups in England.  UNFORTUNATELY...what happens when they hit 16, and the people that offer them chance to stay on is a different thing.  Sometimes, these players leave here, and make it elsewhere (Bobby Zamora, Dion Dublin, Paul Hayes) but that is down to other issues.

  We are fortunate in that we have a whole catchment area to ourselves.  The rule is 90 mins travelling time from the academy.  We could set up a new academy anywhere we like to pull in the kids from that 90 min catchment area, but that costs the same as our own.

  Given time, it will reap rewards, its all about giving the youngsters the chance in the reserves or first team, but sometimes that is not always possible!

[Canary Poirot 1]

The last group of youngsters who came through and made any impact was the last batch before the onset of the Academy - the youth side that won the youth league, which had Green, Kenton, Bellamy, Llewellyn, Che Wilson, Drewe Broughton, Adrian Coote, Adrian Forbes, Joe green and Kori Davis who all got pro contracts in the same year! 10 youth players. Obviously some have had a bigger impact than others, but clearly the Academy hasn''t been working like the old method worked, where we regularly produced top players....In fact from what Im told the reserves have become largely pointless, with very poor performances whenever they play. This is very worrying for our future....

[Tumbleweed 106]

fluff- what do you mean by what happens when they reach 16 is a different matter- is there something going wrong when they leave the academy and join the club as a pro? Is someone in charge of this process and making the wrong decisions? You hint that there is a good pipeline but a leak which means the club isn''t seeing the benefits........

[Fluff 0]

AS IF!!!!  Seriously, I cant say if there is a ''leak''!  It boils down to the individual and the system used.  Not only that, a player at 16 could be mustard, but not develope during his scholarship, and so take up the opportunity of another player who might not be as good, but potentially become the next Gerrard!!!

[Salopian 1]

One of our problems may be "the 90 minute rule" intoduced by Howard Wilkinson, before the FA saw sense and got rid of him. Ipswich can cheerfully recruit from the densely populated North London area, whereas our catchment area has more cows than people, and well within the 90 minutes we come against the northerly influence of Ipswich. We are one of the few premiership clubs without a large population close at hand, which is why our attendance figures at matches is one of the highest in the country relative to the local population.

There is a worthwhile debate to be had as to whether we ought to leave the system and recruit more widely. What gains and what losses would result?

[charlies dad 0]

Green wasnt a product of the academy. he came from the days when we ran a ''youth team''

[Fluff 0]

The greatest loss to us scaping our academy would be the hundreds of kids in and around Norfolk that would not get the level of support and training as they do now.

The system will always take time to work, but as we go on, the kids will improve.  If a lad is playing footie with other kids who go to F.I.T.C. sessions, he will also pick things up, its a massive cycle.

As I stated earlier, we are lucky in that we have a whole catchment area to ourselves.  Ipswich do have North London, but so do Spurs, West Ham, Arsenal, Chelsea etc.... and I know where I would prefer to go!  Ipswich are getting the cast offs! We are not. We have first choice, but as stated before, its up to the people in charge to decide who is good enough!

One more note.  This years academy under 9''s, are the best under 9''s ever.  They regularly beat all the other clubs teams, so watch this space.

Anyone can go and watch the games.  See for yourself

[Saint Canary 0]

Bringing through Youth players is never easy.  You can coach and educate players as much as you like but IF the youngsters do not have enough ability then there is not much the club can do for them.  I''m sure sooner or later we will see 2,3,4 youth players come through and become first team players.

Talented youngsters come in fits and spurts.  Take Man U and the emergence of the Nevilles, Beckham, Scholes, Butt all at the same time then very little for a couple of years until Brown, O''Shea came through.

At the end of the day you can only develop talent not teach it and any success is dictated by the youngsters in our catchment area.  We just have to make sure we are spotting, developing and retaining the best in our area.

[Mr.Carrow 394]

[quote]One of our problems may be "the 90 minute rule" intoduced by Howard Wilkinson, before the FA saw sense and got rid of him. Ipswich can cheerfully recruit from the densely populated North London area, ...[/quote]

Salopian,do you actually know how many people live in the clubs catchment area of Norfolk and North Suffolk? Im sorry but your post is full of the kind of baseless stereotypes about this area that i find annoying. The idea that "attendance figure at matches is one of the highest in the country relative to local population" is, when i have seen it in print, using the `official` population of Norwich which is about 130,000 but basicly only covers the area inside the inner ring road, and not the vast suburbs such as Costessey,Hellesdon,Sprowston etc. It also fails to take into account that more than half of the clubs support has traditionally come from outside the City anyway. Conclusion:its utter baloney!

As Fluff has hinted at, City are one of few clubs in the country that have virtually no competition when it comes to young players. For every densely populated area within England there is, almost without exception, a correspondingly large number of professional clubs all competing for the same young players and the same supporter base.

I hope you will answer my initial question- if you dont know the answer you may be surprised.

[Meeky 0]

[quote]The greatest loss to us scaping our academy would be the hundreds of kids in and around Norfolk that would not get the level of support and training as they do now. The system will always take time t...[/quote]

Seems like Sir Alex is in complete agreement either.

 

http://skysports.planetfootball.com/list.asp?hlid=257300&cpid=8&CLID=&lid=3&title=Fergie+blasts+academy+system&channel=Premiership

[Fluff 0]

I agree in part to Fergies comments, but at the same time have to defend academies.  Just watching kids standards today as to five, ten years ago is testament to the set ups being in existance.  Fergies main worry is when this new ''four homegrown'' players ruling comes into force.  Why is it that Liverpool and Everton between them have in the last eight years produced Michael Owen, Stephen Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Wayne Rooney, David Thompson, Danny Murphey, Leon Osman to name a few.  West Ham: Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, Glen Jonson.  It can happen!  The difference is that these players ALL got a chance at young ages.  Had Leeds not havehad a problem up front then Alan Smith would never have played!

It can happen with the young ones, look at Mike Walkers second spell here when he had no other option BUT to play Bellers!

Give the young ones a run out.