Youths up to u23's is it worth the time and investment

[outwoodclaret]

You have a very good point Lancaster.

I think of our youth set up like the general transfer window, we just cannot compete.

With Manchester City having 600 players on their books (Mike Garlick's words) what chance do we have ? The cast offs, the one's that have potential yet others cannot see ?

I heard we had the chance of getting a 16 year old youth player who really had potential 8 years ago, we was about to sign him when a top 6 Club came in with cash for his parents and a house, obviously he walked away from us as obviously we cannot compete with that, he's now plying his trade at the same Club, Man Utd.

Another one around the same time was promising who's name I cannot remember, Man Utd scooped him away for £1 Million, with it was stated at the time a friendly at the Turf with Man Utd, the friendly never materialised, and the player disappeared without a trace.

There are rules for ****agers in what you can offer or what you can entice them with for their services, but our FA (as useless as they are) turn a blind eye when it suits them.

The 14 year old who Manchester United scooped up was I believe John Cofie who did not develop. On the other hand we took Keane Mee and Trippier from the Manchester clubs because they would rather buy foreign imports.

[oldcolner]

I know all about Gawthorpe and how much money we have spent, Gawthorpe has needed upgrading for a long time, same as the changing rooms at the Turf which I had the great pleasure of changing in in 1971 and couldn't believe how small and cramp it was, and yes why not go the whole hog and make it superb (as it is), but as I said we cannot compete with the mega Clubs, if they want one of ours for their Club, come hook or crook they will take them, so again we will be behind the 8 ball.

Tom Anderson is just that, a league one player at best, O'Neil another prospect is IMO only Championship material, Agye, Jackson, Massanka and the others have still a lot to prove, and if Nahki Wells is not being given the chance to show what he can do when our current forwards are not delivering what chance have Agye or Massanka ?

Alto The statement was
but I cannot recall a player coming through our young players going on to make the first team at BFC or at any other level for that matter.
Tom fits that bill as does Shay McCartan now at Bradford city. Chris Mc Cann another a few years ago.
We bought Kevin Long at 19 - 8 years ago. We got Mee, Keane and Trippier at 21 ings at 19.

Re Gawthorpe Sean deliberately invested in youth with this so we need to see how it goes while we have PL. money. The time to consider if it’s working is when the 16 year olds are 20 and how many u 23s we attract and how well the teams have performed.

Didn’t Huddersfield kill off their academy recently.

[sinkov]

Alto The statement was
but I cannot recall a player coming through our young players going on to make the first team at BFC or at any other level for that matter.
Tom fits that bill as does Shay McCartan now at Bradford city. Chris Mc Cann another a few years ago.
We bought Kevin Long at 19 - 8 years ago. We got Mee, Keane and Trippier at 21 ings at 19.

Re Gawthorpe Sean deliberately invested in youth with this so we need to see how it goes while we have PL. money. The time to consider if it’s working is when the 16 year olds are 20 and how many u 23s we attract and how well the teams have performed.

Didn’t Huddersfield kill off their academy recently.

We haven't had a first team player come through our youth system in ten years, not since Jay Rodriguez, I can't agree about McCann OC, he came over from Ireland and was in our first team within about a year, I don't think our youth development system can claim any credit for him. We have had one or two dossing round the lower leagues, McCartan, Anderson, McDonald, Fletcher etc but as far as our first team is concerned we could have shut the entire organisation down ten years ago and it wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference.

I thought Sean might have made a difference but it seems even beyond him to make it productive, he's been here over five years now, and still nowt for the first team. There may well be mitigating circumstances, but the bottom line is that it's been a complete waste of time and money for ten years now.

[Altobelli]

A nice tax break maybe

[lancaster100]

We haven't had a first team player come through our youth system in ten years, not since Jay Rodriguez, I can't agree about McCann OC, he came over from Ireland and was in our first team within about a year, I don't think our youth development system can claim any credit for him. We have had one or two dossing round the lower leagues, McCartan, Anderson, McDonald, Fletcher etc but as far as our first team is concerned we could have shut the entire organisation down ten years ago and it wouldn't have made a blind bit of difference.

I thought Sean might have made a difference but it seems even beyond him to make it productive, he's been here over five years now, and still nowt for the first team. There may well be mitigating circumstances, but the bottom line is that it's been a complete waste of time and money for ten years now.

Completely agree with your sentiment. I compare to our youth set up many moons ago when numerous players began making first team appearances such as Leighton James, Dave Thomas, Steve Kindon and before them Willie Irvine, Alex Elder etc etc there were many. The attraction being we could and did give them chances very early in their careers, yes we often sold but for a long period time we always had another coming through. This type of policy is the one to develop if we are to continue with youth and young players, otherwise it is just a waste of time and money

[oldcolner]

Seans response
https://www.burnleyfootballclub.com/...emy-prospects/

[oldcolner]

Completely agree with your sentiment. I compare to our youth set up many moons ago when numerous players began making first team appearances such as Leighton James, Dave Thomas, Steve Kindon and before them Willie Irvine, Alex Elder etc etc there were many. The attraction being we could and did give them chances very early in their careers, yes we often sold but for a long period time we always had another coming through. This type of policy is the one to develop if we are to continue with youth and young players, otherwise it is just a waste of time and money

Lancaster
We paid £5000 for Alex Elder and he went into the first team after eight months. He played in the reserves and never in any development squad.

Elder was the very last piece in Harry Potts Championship jigsaw, signing aged 17 in January 1959 for £5,000 from Irish League club Glentoran. He spent the remainder of the 1958–59 season in the Burnley reserves, remaining there when the 1959–60 season began. By the eighth game of that season he made his first team debut against Preston and the great Tom Finney.

[Supersub6]

During the Eddie Howe management period the youth system was thrown into turmoil when he started to turn it upside down to bring his own 'mates' in. From what I have heard there were many of the scouts who just packed in because of what was happening --obviously there was more to it than that, however, basically it is only in the last 18 months or so that SD and company have been able to start to turn things around an try to establish a much better set up which they hope will benefit us in the future.
The fact that we have upgraded to Academy 2 status should make quite a difference, although we are only in the first year of that and still learning. Unfortunately, it is just not a matter of adding water and we produce a footballer, it is a long process and time will tell, however, SD recognises the importance to a club like ours that we try to produce our own talent.
Give the new set up a fair crack of the whip and see where it takes us,

Comparison to the 50s and 60s is quite futile in many respects because, in those days, there were literally thousands of youngsters wanting to make their way in the game, however, as I know only too well, living in this area of the north east, there is a dearth of talent and that is the reality.

[oldcolner]

Under 18s 1 Crewe 3

https://www.crewealex.net/news/2018/...ley-1-3-crewe/

[lancaster100]

Oldcolner take your point but the issue is mainly about the age - as you say 17 and what a terrific player for lots of years. We do not have anything like that now