Quote Originally Posted by queenslandpie View Post
The model of buying semi established young talent like Roberts / Langstaff / Wootton and so on is far more likely to yield results than sticking hundreds of thousands of pounds every year into an an academy which will take an age to get much from in a far more competitive market for talent . Notts average squad age has plummeted since we took the drop into non league which is fantastic. I don't think an academy is pointless but in terms of a return for the money spent and getting back into the EFL an academy is as it stands not something that has a lot of point to it. Especially given we rarely blood any talent that comes through it, even now with a philosophy on younger players. Money better spent elsewhere in my mind.
I totally agree, Etete was very good but he’s been the only one in the last few years and we got 200k for him. Footballs changed, prem clubs have ridiculous riches and eyes everywhere so it’s near impossible to keep players, we would have never kept Draper and Johnson now, they would have barely played a game for us before being snapped up for nothing.
It’s a romantic idea but I have no doubt the owners have a fact based view and they seem to want to invest not just just in the first team squad but our infrastructure so I doubt it’s not without reason, plus we have now lost the EFL funding.