O the OLIE kOKI from the U23/SQUAD...

[Attilla]

Regarding the Academy , the running costs of a Cat1 Academy will be at least 3M a year , so there will be more pressure to produce players than previous , added to the 10.5M spent on the new facilities.
The running costs at Cat3 will have been about 700k per annum and at Cat2 around 1.5M.
So since 2008 when Kyle Lafferty was sold for about 4M and Jay Rodriguez sold for 7M in 2012 , that's 11M from those sales in the last 12 years , where the running costs of the Academy will have been around 10M over that time , so its paid for itself really.
If McNeil was sold for say 30M as a rough guesstimate , that would cover the running costs of a Cat 1 Academy for 10 years.
Not many if any Academies produce a Premierleague player every season.

Regards to Ali Koiki , he is supposed to have been offered a contract but turned it down to hopefully be offered a contract at a club where he can get more regular first team football as at 21 in a couple of month , he needs to play regular games at a competitive level to progress and fair play to the lad , but a fee would be involved at any club he signs for.

[sinkov]

"If McNeil was sold for say 30M as a rough guesstimate , that would cover the running costs of a Cat 1 Academy for 10 years."

McNeill coming through is good news, nevertheless he is a United reject, even now at 20 years old he's still spent more time with United than he has with us. But if McNeill does go for £30m plus, which he may well do, it just illustrates another problem we'll struggle with, even if we do produce a top class PL quality player, he's not likely to be with us for long, so we're just producing players for other PL clubs to lift off us and benefit from.

We've done quite well with rejects from the top clubs, like Trippier, Keane and Mee from the Manchester clubs, and we've done quite well with cheap acquisitions like Barnes, Ings, Pope, Tarkowski, Vokes, Heaton etc. In fact we've done extraordinarily well without a properly functioning academy system for a long time now, which is surely evidence enough that we don't actually need one

[The Bedlington Terrier]

Developing young players was the raison d'être of the Barnfield Training Centre sinkov, and it would look totally bonkers to back track now and a certain Mr Pepper thinks he now has another "Four McNeils" on his hands.

[sinkov]

We can't backtrack now BT, we won't backtrack now, I accept that, I hope it works out and is of benefit to us. I can't get past the fact though that we are right now a top 10 PL club, so if our Academy is to be of any utility to us it has to produce players good enough to play top 10 in the PL. But any players we do produce, like McNeill, who are at that level will inevitably end up rather quickly being sold to other to PL clubs. We won't turn any sensible offer down, we all know that, so the best products of our academy, the ones that could actually strengthen the team and keep us top 10, will end up playing against us. So what's the point ?

[Attilla]

We have alway's sold on our best players at some point , whether they come through Youth Development or they are bought and I dont think that will change anytime soon.
But regards McNeil , he came into Burnley as a 14 year old has been with us 6 years , he was at Man.utd from 9 to 14 , so 6 years also and they released him as they didnt think he would make the grade , Burnley saw the potential , signed him and have improved him.
If we had no Academy we would have had no Dwight McNeil in the first team now.
Academy's are about producing players for the first team or to sell on , if doing neither then its an expensive hobby.

As suggested , the Academy could be scrapped as Huddersfield and Brentford have done and focus on picking up players from top academies like we did with Mee , Keane and Trippier , but unless the Academy is running at a loss , I dont see an issue with doing both as we are currently.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

We can't backtrack now BT, we won't backtrack now, I accept that, I hope it works out and is of benefit to us. I can't get past the fact though that we are right now a top 10 PL club, so if our Academy is to be of any utility to us it has to produce players good enough to play top 10 in the PL. But any players we do produce, like McNeill, who are at that level will inevitably end up rather quickly being sold to other to PL clubs. We won't turn any sensible offer down, we all know that, so the best products of our academy, the ones that could actually strengthen the team and keep us top 10, will end up playing against us. So what's the point ?

A case in point sinkov is if we sold Dwight for £40 million and brought Trippier back for £20 million, the team would not suffer too much and we would have £20 million to smack into the Dry Powder Store.

I think it's Manchester United who should be looking in the mirror sinkov, not us!

[barrie_burn]

We can't backtrack now BT, we won't backtrack now, I accept that, I hope it works out and is of benefit to us. I can't get past the fact though that we are right now a top 10 PL club, so if our Academy is to be of any utility to us it has to produce players good enough to play top 10 in the PL. But any players we do produce, like McNeill, who are at that level will inevitably end up rather quickly being sold to other to PL clubs. We won't turn any sensible offer down, we all know that, so the best products of our academy, the ones that could actually strengthen the team and keep us top 10, will end up playing against us. So what's the point ?

The point is to keep us and improve us as a well run,financially sound Premier League Club paying good salaries and be attractive to join whether it be on or off the field.

[bfcjon]

The point is to keep us and improve us as a well run,financially sound Premier League Club paying good salaries and be attractive to join whether it be on or off the field.

Barrie, We are treading water!! We have been for a while,as a Cllub.
To Move on , from going under the water , To staying afloat ,We need our Chairman to take a calculated gamble now and then,..Or we listen to a Takeover,....Unfortunately Mr Garlic is not prepared to do that,..So my only hope is a Takeover/ Investment ,...
I Cannot see otherwise, how we will improve,...The only way is Down at the moment if we stick as we are.

[sinkov]

A case in point sinkov is if we sold Dwight for £40 million and brought Trippier back for £20 million, the team would not suffer too much and we would have £20 million to smack into the Dry Powder Store.

That's fine BT, until the day Dwight rocks up for the opposition, runs Kieran ragged, and they walk off with the three points. If we're intending to use the best of our Academy to improve our team then I have no problem with it, if we're going to sell them on and improve our PL opposition, then we're shooting ourselves in the foot, and I can't see the point. It depends on our policy, keep them or sell them, what is our policy ? I don't know, but I reckon I could have a fecking good guess.

[antifootball]

Having a good youth setup isn't all about category status though. Crewe have famously had a good academy and its done precious little for their success in the past few years. They have produced some very good players including our own Westwood but if they can't at least get up into the Championship, let alone premier league it tells you a lot about how much more is down to running it than only the category status.

If junior scouting can improve and we can sign players ahead of all the bigger teams around us I can see it making sense. But If we are to rely on rejects from other clubs that won't last forever.

Junior recruitment for Burnley must be the easiest job in the world. You have a task to pick out talent to make it in the first team and don't have to produce any for 20 years and still keep your job.

What I don't like is all the money in the game nowadays, if it wasn't for the big cash then we would see more and more talent get into every team. Its too much of a risk, and I think there are probably some players who step up their game who may miss out...but it is what it is.

And even if I don't agree with the direction the club is taking its inevitable now and the changes are already in place. I guess we will start to see in 10 years time if it paid off or not.