Academy Investment/Reward

[Chicken Balti Pie]

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

[Notts78]

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.