I didn't actually ask MSB to respond but, I suppose, it was inevitable. However, the answers to that predictable response are straitforward enough. The costs of the academy over a year, when balanced against the savings on graduate salaries amounts to very little. The amounts involved are certainly not significant in terms of comparing it with having to recruit all our players from outside the club.
As for being part-time, I think only 2 clubs in the National League are not fully professional and they tend to be small clubs who are unsure of how long they'll be in the league.
As for the constant phobia re: academies, MSB, you always ask about why the Alex (and England) aren't doing better when they have all this coaching from academies (if coaching is so good) but the answer is simple: because a large percentage of other teams/countries also have coaching/academies. In fact many of those countries adopted formal coaching long before it was the case in England. This was how Hungary managed to beat England 6-3 and 7-1 in the mid 50s. Also there became a large gap while English teams were banned from Europe.
In general, to get back to the main topic, the problem lies in how professional football is developing in this country. Despite possible legislation, it seems big multi-national concerns are going to flex their muscles in order to gain as much power/money as they can hoover up. The question is, what can the Alex do to survive?
Anyway, open and constructive discussion is great. Let's keep this important topic constructive.