Quote Originally Posted by UlleyMiller View Post
It's worth investing in a set-up for the young men who fall out of the 'elite' academies at an older age (16 as a minimum) but any younger is little more than a poor mirror of legitimate set-ups. There are obviously a lot of young men who (along with their families) have made a lot of sacrifices to get to the latter stages of larger academies, and in that number will be decent prospects for our level. Scouting professionals these days is a much easier job than pre-internet/data/stat tracking days, so if we're spending as much in that area today it's wasted. Focus on a 'second chance' set-up in a streamlined version of an academy, and get the better prospects around the first team at the earliest opportunity - the best of them will adapt and learn quickly if given the right exposure.
This is absolutely the right approach and one we should go with.

Theres an awfully large number of players per year dropped away but that doesn't mean they won't cut the mustard.

Equally, from first hand experience, a lot of PL acadamies have players they know won't ever cut it physically to compete.