Is there any point in Notts having a youth academy

[DelroyFacey22]

It's a shame we don't have a team locally playing at a higher level that we could offer these options to in order to ensure some financial stability for the future.

Forest don't need a similar arrangement as their academy facilities and training ground are perfectly good enough and they would never need or desire to have their kids play their fixtures in a 20,000 seat stadium, if they did they'd just play them at the City Ground, which they may already do anyway as it's the easiest option.

In general teams like Notts having a youth set up is worth it, but it's like it's worth paying for lottery tickets, you only need to win once to make it worth your while if you're lucky.

[nw6pie]

What about the kid released by Notts and now playing for Norwich city in the Premiership ?

What’s his name, this one passed me by.

It’s safe to say that Kelvin Wilson is the last homegrown player we produced who we got a decent number of games from and then profited from.

But is it worth it? There’s an emotional side to it that you can’t put a price on. There’s nothing better than having “one of your own” in the team - I went to the same school as Brian Kilcline, for example, and felt extra pride whenever he kicked someone into Row G (I do hope you’re feeling better now, Brian McDermott).

So basically, heart says yes, head says no. Imagine the odds on us hanging onto the likes of Tommy Johnson or Mark Draper if they emerged today - they’d be gone before they had played a handful of games.

[MagpieMike]

What’s his name, this one passed me by.

It’s safe to say that Kelvin Wilson is the last homegrown player we produced who we got a decent number of games from and then profited from.

But is it worth it? There’s an emotional side to it that you can’t put a price on. There’s nothing better than having “one of your own” in the team - I went to the same school as Brian Kilcline, for example, and felt extra pride whenever he kicked someone into Row G (I do hope you’re feeling better now, Brian McDermott).

So basically, heart says yes, head says no. Imagine the odds on us hanging onto the likes of Tommy Johnson or Mark Draper if they emerged today - they’d be gone before they had played a handful of games.

Drapes, Tommy, Dean Yates. Only way to ever get back into the top flight is to develop our own players of this standard. Part of the problem we have had is successive managers not playing the youngsters. If they aren’t good enough we need to improve youth recruitment.

[optipez]

It's paid a few tax bills recently but in terms of giving us players to watch only Curtis in the last decade has been of much benefit to us.
It's a tragedy that when we get a Donda He or Etete we as fans no longer get to see them come through as players like we used to.
Pedro, Tristran Benjamin, Kilcline and Yates, Draper, Johnson were integral to promotion winning teams. Now Pennant, Best, McGoldrick , Bearne, He, Etete have made us money but have given us no reason to be excited as fans, they're just commodities to keep us afloat til the next tax bill.

[The_Don_ORiordan]

The days of getting a decent pay day are long gone. The last FL deal destroyed that mechanism.

There are now set fees for youngsters depending on the development you put into them and the grading of your academy.

For example, for Jermaine Pennant who we sold for £2miliion 20 years ago, we could only have got a maximum of £200k for in L2.

I don’t know what the rules are for Non league, but the “tribunal” system of old was sold down the river during Trew’s time (not his fault) by short sighted FL clubs.

[Notts78]

It’s a tricky one. My heart says we should persist with developing kids, BUT, we have to provide them with a realistic goal of achieving first team football at Notts. Nothing would give me greater satisfaction of seeing someone play for Notts who has been at the club since they were kids.
The reality is though, and this is where my head kicks in, is that the players we get as kids are simply not good enough, we get kids that are not good enough for anyone else. We are competing with clubs like Forest and Derby (who I know a number of kids locally are at). As a parent of 2 young boys, if 3 scouts (Notts, Forest and Derby) came to me and offered a place for my kids to develop, Notts would be a distant 3rd choice. And here lay the problems. It’s not just our league position, but the history of youth players going on to have good careers, whether at the club that’s developed them or not.
My personal opinion is that we should continue to develop kids. After all, how can we be a truly community based club if we don’t provide opportunities to the young?

[MAD_MAGPIE]

So, maybe we should work with Forest to give their academy first crack at first team football. Oh, forgot, Hardy fu...ked up that possibility, too.

I’d like to think that with new owners we would be able to build bridges and start again with a clean slate on that one.

In fact that should be one of the mandates of new owners to forge good relationships with our neighbours. We have Forest, Leicester and Derby all with academies within a small radius of Meadow Lane. This is why it’s incredible that we’ve messed up so badly that we’ve got relegated out of the football league. With the pool of talent at those clubs (and that get released from those clubs) there should be enough to put out a sustainable football league side.

Clubs like Rochdale, Oldham and Bury are in similar situations due to their proximity to the Manchester clubs.

[ncfcog]

It’s a tricky one. My heart says we should persist with developing kids, BUT, we have to provide them with a realistic goal of achieving first team football at Notts. Nothing would give me greater satisfaction of seeing someone play for Notts who has been at the club since they were kids.
The reality is though, and this is where my head kicks in, is that the players we get as kids are simply not good enough, we get kids that are not good enough for anyone else. We are competing with clubs like Forest and Derby (who I know a number of kids locally are at). As a parent of 2 young boys, if 3 scouts (Notts, Forest and Derby) came to me and offered a place for my kids to develop, Notts would be a distant 3rd choice. And here lay the problems. It’s not just our league position, but the history of youth players going on to have good careers, whether at the club that’s developed them or not.
My personal opinion is that we should continue to develop kids. After all, how can we be a truly community based club if we don’t provide opportunities to the young?

I think its all relative though. At the moment we need to develop kids capable of stepping up to play at NL level, not Champ or PL. There are a lot of kids out there and the likes of florist and derby can only accommodate so many of them. We are initially needing to develop players like Pierce Bird and if we unearth the odd Dongda He or Etete then great.

Fully agree with your comment about how it builds on the community base of the club, this is a really important aspect and something I really hope any new owners (if it happens) acknowledge and persist with.

[DaveSmithRules]

For me it's REALLY important we keep this.

If we played more of the youngsters in the first team we'd have a much better idea if they could make it. How much worse can they be than the dozens of journeymen we put in front of them last season?

Also, if we became the kind of academy that was known for giving players a chance then we might start to attract better youth players earlier on.

This side of the club is something we've neglected and run badly for years. But it's something we should rebuild the club with as a foundation.

[HAPPYMAGPIEHAPPY]

What’s his name, this one passed me by.

Kole Lambert.