George Cooper goes Posh

[MikeSB]

A six figure sum for an Academy graduate would seem to be about par these days. That said, Cooper has come through the Academy, played a fair number of first team games and has moved to a club in a higher division. In the same way the Academy bolsters the first team squad, so some of the graduates move on up and bring in badly needed revenue. Yes, the sale of Academy graduates does not necessarily pay for the cost of the Academy each season, but the graduates underpin the first team squad. Not all will make the grade and not all will progress beyond the division Crewe is playing in - a reality certainly not unique to the club.

Did Cooper make that much difference or 'bolster' the first team squad, only our results over the last few years suggest the opposite. Some fans think he did OK but I always tend to look at how many goals they score and just going by the radio commentaries, he's not much good when he gets into those positions but I will leave that to the fans who pay and watch him. Academy players do 'bolster' the squad but so could a hundred non leaguers and off shoots of other PL academies too but that's the usual discussion.

[jimmyboldon]

Timmy.....like.

[Timmy58]

Timmy.....like.

Thanks. It really does my head in when people just slag off our players, especially our youngsters. And even more so when they obviously don't go. We have got some good players, some who stand out a bit more than others. But surely we should be encouraging them an also thanking our lucky stars that we are in on the beginning of these youngsters careers. Cooper is likely to prosper, but if he doesn't it won't be for the want of trying both by him and the coaches at his new club.

[MikeSB]

Thanks. It really does my head in when people just slag off our players, especially our youngsters. And even more so when they obviously don't go. We have got some good players, some who stand out a bit more than others. But surely we should be encouraging them an also thanking our lucky stars that we are in on the beginning of these youngsters careers. Cooper is likely to prosper, but if he doesn't it won't be for the want of trying both by him and the coaches at his new club.

This is one comment that really annoys me....ie OUR Youngsters!

They are NOT our youngsters, they only come to this club to get a big pay day and that is all..

Cooper showed what he thought of the fans when he stormed off the pitch when subbed. These 'kids' show how loyal they are when they refuse to sign extensions to contracts and so not repay all the time and effort given to them. We should be BOOING them on the pitch, not clapping the selfish sods..

So we may have got 100K for Cooper? Why the secret? Maybe it's a lot less? Put this into perspective. We would need to sell SEVEN Coopers PER season just to break even....

These academy graduates could not care less about the fans and why older fans like me and AlexMick much prefer the players we had many years ago here that did have respect for us...

I have a message for them. I care the same as them and that is a great big NOTHING! Posh will sign anybody! I remember the day when we signed one of their very best centre forwards....and before Dario and the academy too...

Guess who that was and how many goals he scored? It would put most academy players like Cooper to shame! This club did NOT start the day Dario came here or any academy and shows how much the board is out of touch with the real fans..

[Timmy58]

This is one comment that really annoys me....ie OUR Youngsters!

They are NOT our youngsters, they only come to this club to get a big pay day and that is all..

Cooper showed what he thought of the fans when he stormed off the pitch when subbed. These 'kids' show how loyal they are when they refuse to sign extensions to contracts and so not repay all the time and effort given to them. We should be BOOING them on the pitch, not clapping the selfish sods..

So we may have got 100K for Cooper? Why the secret? Maybe it's a lot less? Put this into perspective. We would need to sell SEVEN Coopers PER season just to break even....

These academy graduates could not care less about the fans and why older fans like me and AlexMick much prefer the players we had many years ago here that did have respect for us...

I have a message for them. I care the same as them and that is a great big NOTHING! Posh will sign anybody! I remember the day when we signed one of their very best centre forwards....and before Dario and the academy too...

Guess who that was and how many goals he scored? It would put most academy players like Cooper to shame! This club did NOT start the day Dario came here or any academy and shows how much the board is out of touch with the real fans..

Then I shall continue to annoy. They are our youngsters. They are on our books, coached by us and played by us. That makes them ours. It is not a crime for them to be ambitious to play at a higher level and whilst I agree that it is disappointing if they don't sign extensions, some of that is down to having their heads turned by money grabbing agents. However, it is wrong on every level to suggest we should be booing them. Cooper shouldn't have stormed off when subbed against Swindon. but I guess his reaction was, in part, due to the abuse he was getting from the main stand. Some of it may have been because he had a poor game although he was not alone that day.
I find it tiresome that the attitude that everything 50 years ago was better. Not everything was. The game, like many things, has advanced with the passing of time. Not all is for the better. But the rose tinted spectacles are always a help.

[objective]

Well said timmySB, please keep hanging in there as one of the rational voices on this blog. Not all is great at Crewe Alex ,but the ongoing ethos and structure of the club remains a sight more durable than most with our resources and fan base. Viz......Wrexham ,Stockport, Leyton Orient, Torquay, Tranmere, to name but a few.

[Timmy58]

Well said timmySB, please keep hanging in there as one of the rational voices on this blog. Not all is great at Crewe Alex ,but the ongoing ethos and structure of the club remains a sight more durable than most with our resources and fan base. Viz......Wrexham ,Stockport, Leyton Orient, Torquay, Tranmere, to name but a few.

I am pretty good at hanging!

[jimmyboldon]

Then I shall continue to annoy. They are our youngsters. They are on our books, coached by us and played by us. That makes them ours. It is not a crime for them to be ambitious to play at a higher level and whilst I agree that it is disappointing if they don't sign extensions, some of that is down to having their heads turned by money grabbing agents. However, it is wrong on every level to suggest we should be booing them. Cooper shouldn't have stormed off when subbed against Swindon. but I guess his reaction was, in part, due to the abuse he was getting from the main stand. Some of it may have been because he had a poor game although he was not alone that day.
I find it tiresome that the attitude that everything 50 years ago was better. Not everything was. The game, like many things, has advanced with the passing of time. Not all is for the better. But the rose tinted spectacles are always a help.

Exactly Timmy. They are our youngsters. The likes of Cooper, Colclough, and Clayton will never be on mega bucks, unless they really kick on. Westwood and Luke Murphy copped it lucky. Good but not exceptional players, now on massive wages. Today's graduates need to take it while they can, career is short. Don't sign new contracts at crewe, get increased wages from a new club. Ainley the next in that line.

[MikeSB]

Well said timmySB, please keep hanging in there as one of the rational voices on this blog. Not all is great at Crewe Alex ,but the ongoing ethos and structure of the club remains a sight more durable than most with our resources and fan base. Viz......Wrexham ,Stockport, Leyton Orient, Torquay, Tranmere, to name but a few.

Haha!

The structure and ethos of this club? If that was the case 100 years ago, you may have a point. As it is the academy has only been a small fraction of that and all the clubs you mention are still in business and some get bigger gates too because playing more local derbies is better than playing the likes of Colchester who may bring 50 fans with them. Also guess who is top of the National League at the moment.

How come Rochdale and Bury and other clubs our size manage to be in L1?

Take a look at the top of L2 now and see clubs with lower gates if that is the measure and no Cat2 academy like 95% of L1 and L2...

Just to add that the structure and ethos of our club will change when the Directors change and if all we can get is 100k for a player when we spend 760K each season is a sure way of going OUT of business....

But you really should have seen our players in the sixties at least and they were better than watching schoolboy football I kid you not and that is not looking thro' rose coloured specs.... .

But then watching these kids develop is not my idea of a man's game at all... . But you pays your money and you have to accept that current ethos or stop going as thousands have since the heady days of the Championship...Interesting that we were regularly playing Bournemouth and Brighton and where are they now? Now that is an ethos worth something. We just fall back on a kids training facility and some fans think that is it?.....It is unique what we do here, so unique that no other club in the lower league wants to do it that way apart from the odd one...

[jimmyboldon]

This is one comment that really annoys me....ie OUR Youngsters!

They are NOT our youngsters, they only come to this club to get a big pay day and that is all..

Cooper showed what he thought of the fans when he stormed off the pitch when subbed. These 'kids' show how loyal they are when they refuse to sign extensions to contracts and so not repay all the time and effort given to them. We should be BOOING them on the pitch, not clapping the selfish sods..

So we may have got 100K for Cooper? Why the secret? Maybe it's a lot less? Put this into perspective. We would need to sell SEVEN Coopers PER season just to break even....

These academy graduates could not care less about the fans and why older fans like me and AlexMick much prefer the players we had many years ago here that did have respect for us...

I have a message for them. I care the same as them and that is a great big NOTHING! Posh will sign anybody! I remember the day when we signed one of their very best centre forwards....and before Dario and the academy too...

Guess who that was and how many goals he scored? It would put most academy players like Cooper to shame! This club did NOT start the day Dario came here or any academy and shows how much the board is out of touch with the real fans..

Err no. If they are our youngsters,they have probably been a the club since 6,8,10 yrs old. Don't think money really enters into their heads at that age.
Re undisclosed...agree. A total nonsense. Other than that Mike SB......ZZZZZZZ. i see your (don't go to games)diatribe and stop reading after 2 sentences.