Who sees the academy as a good use of club resources? Obviously subsidised by PL/EFL but surely taps into club funds along the way.
Who sees the academy as a good use of club resources? Obviously subsidised by PL/EFL but surely taps into club funds along the way.
One of the biggest mistakes Notts County ever made was to scrap their academy when Gary Mills claimed he would rather invest the money in the first team... and promptly wasted it. That academy system dated back to the days of Mick Walker and its closure saw a number of talented players walk away to other clubs for nothing. We the had to rebuild it from scratch.
The simple fact is that Notts County's two most successful teams of the modern era, under Jimmy Sirrel and Neil Warnock, contained a number of academy products. Football Radar seem to have a knack of finding great value young players from elsewhere, but we need to be supplementing that by bringing through more of own. There's nothing better than seeing "one of your own" break into the first team and shine.
I love the idea of Notts having a strong academy and remember the glory days of Tommy Johnson, Mark Draper and... erm Paul Sherlock... very fondly.
Whether it will work in the modern day with the way big clubs are set up to poach the best players we will see. But I'm happy to see the Reedtz brothers giving it a go!
I think the problem is that any really promising youth player is likely to be poached/go elsewhere, though even that can generate income. We're operating in a crowded market for professional football clubs, though obviously regaining league status and all that comes with it will boost the academy.
But as jackal says, there's nothing like seeing local players coming through. I think there's something to be said for running youth age group teams that goes beyond just profit and loss, even if it's not producing many first team players. It does link the club to the community and even if the players don't make it with us, they might make it at a lower level or semi-pro or even high level amateur pyramid. I always enjoy seeing youth team players getting a run out in pre-season and/or cup games (I'd enjoy it even more if it wasn't accompanied by embarrassing defeats to lowly opposition, but you can't have everything...)
It's interesting reading the "Ex Notts Player Signs For...." thread... there's evident affection for youth team players who never quite made the breakthrough here for one reason or another (not good enough, injuries, not given a chance, terrible team etc) even long after they've left.
Think it also helps develops coaches, though what sort of coaching pathway there is I've no idea.
The issue with the academy is that currently we are surrounded by Forest, Leicester and Derby who all have category 1academies or close to it who hoover up the cast majority of the local talent.
This means that we might get the occasional rare diamond fall through the cracks to us but otherwise the majority won't make it.
Now there are cases where we have diamonds but they are too rough to keep such as Colby Bishop where after a few more years, they develop into really good players after they have physically developed further but this requires even more investment.
I wonder whether the Brentford way would be better for us, dropping the academy and basically picking up premier league dropouts and developing them in a development side. Look at the likes of Ed Francis, he was a decent player but still needed development, had we had a development team, he'd have been ideal, he had a football education from Manchester City, once he'd been developed further, he'd be ready for our first team and potentially we could get a larger transfer fee.
As it stood he wasn't ready for the first team and we don't have the resources to keep him around at the moment to develop him further so he's off elsewhere.
If the current bunch of youth team players, who is really going to make it? I liked the look of Cisse against Stoke, he looked a very tidy player but any of the others? Is it worth the millions in investment for maybe one player who could now go for peanuts because of the funding from the premier league allows them to take them for £50k
You could have stopped after your first paragraph as that is our biggest problem/competitor. I know this first hand having a son aged 8 and seeing kids he plays with and against being snaffled by Forest, Derby and Leicester. There are other clubs, but these are the big 3. All 3 of these are a numbers game, literally taking on kids galore, only to make excuses to get rid once they find someone better. Remember these are kids aged 7 & 8 I am alluding too.
The issue Notts have is not just the sizes of these clubs but the reputation of the academy’s. We may not like it, but Forest are regarded very highly in England let alone locally.
I’m not sure of the rules, but I don’t think Notts would make money on a 12 year old prospect that decides to move to one of these clubs. This is the main issue for me. Being able to grow a pool of talent through the various age groups and hope that a few break in to the first team and one or two being sold for good money.
From a business perspective, the Brentford model seems more logical - but since when does business logic matter in football?
On an emotional level, it just feels right to have a youth academy, which makes the club an integral part of the local community. It would be good to see the numbers, of course, but there really is nothing better than seeing “one of your own” excelling in a Notts team - and even elsewhere if we sell them on for a big profit and they leave with a heavy heart.
We need to somehow differentiate ourselves to those 3 clubs, not sure how but I think the powers that be need to get their thinking caps on.
I would say Nott’s reputation as a club hasn’t been better for many years, we’re attracting more young fans with cheap ST tickets and it almost feels like we have totally rebranded ourselves coupled with all the excellent media content we put out which obviously resonates with younger people who are looking to try and have a football career.
I agree it’s a numbers game for the others and many know that at grassroots level so maybe that’s what we need to focus on by giving a different approach.
It is a bit soul destroying when you do produce top talent that the most you’re going to get is 200-300k and probably only see them play a handful of times. I think if anyone can make it work it’s our current owners.