Is anybody worried ?

[gazan]

I still think a few people are still ignoring the balance of costs of playing our graduates versus recruiting 100% outsiders. £1 million ( which, on balance, is not the net figure lost by the academy) is still not a huge sum to run a football club over a few seasons as, don't forget once the first season is over after downgrading/abolishing the academy, where is the 'saving'/ cash coming from to maintain the existing personnel or indeed finance incoming after that?
One of the biggest problems that does exist with the academy system in general is the playing of that system by Premier League clubs. The mass hoovering up of potential talent and the poor application of the 'duty of care' skews the whole talent pool and ruins significant numbers. - roll on the Football Governance Bill.
On the other hand, those that survive the system already expect unrealistic salaries.
According to 'Inside Crewe', LB has already spoken to a striker and a midfielder. Should we hold our breath?

[Timmy58]

I still think a few people are still ignoring the balance of costs of playing our graduates versus recruiting 100% outsiders. £1 million ( which, on balance, is not the net figure lost by the academy) is still not a huge sum to run a football club over a few seasons as, don't forget once the first season is over after downgrading/abolishing the academy, where is the 'saving'/ cash coming from to maintain the existing personnel or indeed finance incoming after that?
One of the biggest problems that does exist with the academy system in general is the playing of that system by Premier League clubs. The mass hoovering up of potential talent and the poor application of the 'duty of care' skews the whole talent pool and ruins significant numbers. - roll on the Football Governance Bill.
On the other hand, those that survive the system already expect unrealistic salaries.
According to 'Inside Crewe', LB has already spoken to a striker and a midfielder. Should we hold our breath?

The point you make around where the saving and therefore the readies for new players and wages etc comes from after downgrading or abolishing the Academy is a very good one and one that few people consider. And that is my concern. Whilst we are coaching young kids in our Academy and those graduating to full time contracts are not on big wages and certainly nowhere near the wages someone from outside with experience would be demanding/commanding. And until a satisfactory solution to that issue is found it makes no sense whatsoever to get rid of or reduce the level of the Academy.

[gazan]

I notice the OS is advertising vacancies: would that be for players? 😂

[lukcour]

Timmy if we reduced to category3 level (no intention of abolishing) where would we recruit. Obviously you thought that was the clincher. Had it never occurred to you that we would recruit from the 90/95% of the 16-18 year old that have been released from the Premiership Clubs.
There is every reason to believe that they have been better coached and physically stronger than ours. in fact DV said that we could not cope with the physical strength of the Arsenal kids. It would appear that they are better prepared for senior pro football. The dreadful results of our under21s last season would without doubt suggest that there is a problem in the preparation of our young lads. I am merely suggesting that it could be a better way for the future of our club.

[MikeSB]

Timmy if we reduced to category3 level (no intention of abolishing) where would we recruit. Obviously you thought that was the clincher. Had it never occurred to you that we would recruit from the 90/95% of the 16-18 year old that have been released from the Premiership Clubs.
There is every reason to believe that they have been better coached and physically stronger than ours. in fact DV said that we could not cope with the physical strength of the Arsenal kids. It would appear that they are better prepared for senior pro football. The dreadful results of our under21s last season would without doubt suggest that there is a problem in the preparation of our young lads. I am merely suggesting that it could be a better way for the future of our club.

The practicality of some clubs is zero when it comes to academies.

None were needed 50 years ago and now most fans think they are essential. Does the England team suggest all that Cat1 academy training and coaching has produced better players and better results than 50 years ago?

If there are 1000 15-18 young adults in academies where 80% never see first team football then go and look at the discards and see if they are good enough and will sign for what here? A 1000 a week? 2000 a week? 3000 a weak? Who knows what they are on...Iy makes no sense to train and coach 6 year olds or ten year olds or 14 year olds. I was a far better player in my twenties than ever I was at a younger age. I can only suggest that our Cat 2 academy must be paid by the FA/PL but 90 odd percent of L1 and L2 clubs won't sign up to one and so the question is.......WHY don't they and how come almost all of them pay better wages than we do? Maybe we just give up when you cannot beat a poor team in the play off final...We beat them twice in the league and we played like Non league since Christmas...

[OzMozz]

No, not worried about lack of action in the transfer market ...... yet.
If we have to wait for the right players .... so be it !
Why bring up the academy again ? Boring !! It's here to stay, no matter what you say. Build a bridge and get over it.

[Terrierstan]

👍👍

[gazan]

Timmy if we reduced to category3 level (no intention of abolishing) where would we recruit. Obviously you thought that was the clincher. Had it never occurred to you that we would recruit from the 90/95% of the 16-18 year old that have been released from the Premiership Clubs.
There is every reason to believe that they have been better coached and physically stronger than ours. in fact DV said that we could not cope with the physical strength of the Arsenal kids. It would appear that they are better prepared for senior pro football. The dreadful results of our under21s last season would without doubt suggest that there is a problem in the preparation of our young lads. I am merely suggesting that it could be a better way for the future of our club.

You cannot assume that anyone released from Arsenal's academy is going to be of the same standard as the that youth team. That's why they are released. Plus ignoring my post on how PL academies treat a lot of their kids removes a percentage from the equation. Plus any decent cast offs are subject to the same rules of the 'market' that already exist. So, an Alex with a depleted number of graduates, therefore needing more outsiders will still be be low down in the queue for any ex-academy players from other squads. Also the downgrading of the academy would cut back on coaching and would therefore downgrade the appeal of the club.
Also, the performance of the under 21s last season is easy to understand. Due to injuries to the 1st team squad, they ended up playing a very low average age team most weeks. Because the Alex have a low budget and have always relied on graduates and scholars, they cannot afford the luxury of treating the U21s as, effectively, a reserve team with a few youngsters thrown in to comply with the rules.

[lukcour]

Well chaps according to the last 3 posts everything in the garden is rosy. No need to worry about outside recruitment when we have an excellent number of it not physically strong enough that coaches for the Academy.
Igniore the fact that DV said it could not compete with the physical strength of other academy teams. Ignore the fact that the under21 team had an absolute disaster of a season. Ignore the fact that one of our own who you rave about midfield graduate when he gets the merest challenge by an opponent falls to the ground. The standard of coaching in the academy is so poor that the vast majority of the graduates are so poorly prepared for senior pro football. If as you suggest we maintain the current level of Category2 then IMO we need a drastic clearout of our current coaches. They simply are not good enough and are on an easy thing.
The standard of our 1st team after Christmas and in particular our Wembley game was so poor it was beyond belief.

But of course carry on with more of the same. Everything is fine with our club and no changes required, WOW.

[MikeSB]

Well chaps according to the last 3 posts everything in the garden is rosy. No need to worry about outside recruitment when we have an excellent number of it not physically strong enough that coaches for the Academy.
Igniore the fact that DV said it could not compete with the physical strength of other academy teams. Ignore the fact that the under21 team had an absolute disaster of a season. Ignore the fact that one of our own who you rave about midfield graduate when he gets the merest challenge by an opponent falls to the ground. The standard of coaching in the academy is so poor that the vast majority of the graduates are so poorly prepared for senior pro football. If as you suggest we maintain the current level of Category2 then IMO we need a drastic clearout of our current coaches. They simply are not good enough and are on an easy thing.
The standard of our 1st team after Christmas and in particular our Wembley game was so poor it was beyond belief.

But of course carry on with more of the same. Everything is fine with our club and no changes required, WOW.

Lukcour a brilliant summation if I may so...

Gazan, you claim downgrading the academy would have dramatic effect! So can you explain which kids that currently go to RH first of all are not going to Clubs with Cat1 academies or even Cat2 at other clubs? Which parents who mostly work would have the time to take thei kids miles away when they have a shortish drive to RH? The coaches and managers here are in a nobody league and even the Cat1 coaches in the PL cannot guarantee the graduates will make it to the first team and so what happens to those players? Do they give up? Dario managed to have a very good team based on older players and signings and had nowt to do with under 16 players...How did he do? He said we needed to transfer a player for 760,000 pounds per season to break even. Our Chairman admits we are losing money and so how can the club keep to the low standards of the academy and at Cat2?

Something has to give and so what would that be?