A moral obligation to keep hold of the academy players

[SBRed48]

Just for balance------How many "know it all lads" binned from "big club" Academies in Manchester, Liverpool and London have Barnsley FC transformed into good investments for the club ?

[EthelRed]

I wouldn't bother with em Ethel , let other clubs use their financial resources and we will pick em up at 18 if we think they have summat .

Out of curiosity just how many local players have we had in our academy from school age that have gone all the way through the system to the first team and were sold on for very good money since the late 90's ? .

Not that many but without a network looking at local kids you miss them all. Kay, Walton, Rose, Clarke, Bree, Holgate. Stones Noble Lazarus and others have come through and made professional footballers in recent times. If sold for their real value, what would todays transfer value of that lot be?

[animallittle3]

Just for balance------How many "know it all lads" binned from "big club" Academies in Manchester, Liverpool and London have Barnsley FC transformed into good investments for the club ?

Not many SB although Palmer has half a chance and an area I feel could pay far more dividends than the present structure if we focused our efforts more on it rather than spreading ourselves too thinly as we appear to at the moment .

My point may upset the more traditional supporters but none the less the academy has to produce because it's an expensive thing to run .

Getting the best bang for the buck is where I'm coming from .

[EthelRed]

Just for balance------How many "know it all lads" binned from "big club" Academies in Manchester, Liverpool and London have Barnsley FC transformed into good investments for the club ?

Hammill, possibly Palmer ( I think hes very promising), Ugbo then Im stuck, memories gone.

[SBRed48]

Not many SB although Palmer has half a chance and an area I feel could pay far more dividends than the present structure if we focused our efforts more on it rather than spreading ourselves too thinly as we appear to at the moment .

My point may upset the more traditional supporters but none the less the academy has to produce because it's an expensive thing to run .

Getting the best bang for the buck is where I'm coming from .

It costs just over a million a year to run the Academy (maybe £2 million with Melissa's wages ). Compare with fees for Thomas (£1.2 million) Thiam £900 million) Schmidt (nearly a million) ,plus wages for them, and many more. Best value ?

[Young_Nudger]

This might be a naive question - but when is a young player brought into the club considered an academy player ?
That is to say how young can they be - and is there an age related cut off point ?

[animallittle3]

It costs just over a million a year to run the Academy (maybe £2 million with Melissa's wages ). Compare with fees for Thomas (£1.2 million) Thiam £900 million) Schmidt (nearly a million) ,plus wages for them, and many more. Best value ?

Your not going to fill the team with academy products no matter how you go about it at this level SB so you are always going to have to spend significant money on the squad .

It's nearer £2m per year to run the academy I once read and that's without Melissa's salary.

Fairly simple mathematics tells me that the club have to sell a player whose come through the academy from school age to the first team for £2m minimum every year to make the present structure hold financial water .

You possibly reduce that financial outlay by a third by going about it in a different way and still give yourselves more of an opportunity to discover a talented young kid whose had 3 or 4 years of good coaching at a big PL club already .

[animallittle3]

Not that many but without a network looking at local kids you miss them all. Kay, Walton, Rose, Clarke, Bree, Holgate. Stones Noble Lazarus and others have come through and made professional footballers in recent times. If sold for their real value, what would todays transfer value of that lot be?

The academy even with your list of lads that have come through still lost an incredible amount of money .

[SBRed48]

This might be a naive question - but when is a young player brought into the club considered an academy player ?
That is to say how young can they be - and is there an age related cut off point ?

Age 9 to 16 Schoolboy Contract No wage

Age 16 to 18/19 Scholarship Contract Small wage/ possible accommodation/ education studies Yearly Review

Age 18/19 Professional Contract Wage £500 to £1000 a week Yearly Review. Maybe sent on Loan