Article on United's Youth Development

[tHeArAb]

It's a great article and thanks for posting it.

I'm on the one hand excited by what we're doing but on the other hand a bit concerned at the investment v returns. The heavy payroll investment we're making has to pay for itself at some point surely, unless the owner is happy for it to be loss making.

It seems the Academy managers, and there are many of them, are going to be looking for even more investment according to the text here, copied and pasted below

"In time, he wants there to be a “dedicated team beneath Steevesy, with skills coaches, technical coaches and position-specific coaches.”

I'm not against this, far from it, it's a good direction for the club to be going in but we need to remember we don't have the income of Bayern or Barca and at some point the Academy has to fund itself through player sales.

My thoughts as well. How many of these boys are we actually going to make money on? We're probably investing six figures in each kid by the time they've gone through their development and reached the first team. Will we be making seven figures if say Appere/Chalmers/Smith/Meekison leave? I doubt it and I'm not too sure it's going to be much different in 5/10 years. Time will tell I guess but it seems like the way of the football world is that these kids are almost getting snapped up before they've had a dozen first team games (see Banks & possibly Smith) and we get a development fee at best for them.

[JamesMcClean]

Great article and it’s good to see that the Club’s tradition of producing players is continuing. However, although I more than understand that in order to be financially self sufficient occasional player sales are regretfully necessary, I would hope that the owners are acutely aware of the past boardroom mistakes that led us to what we only now are re-emerging from. Selling too many players too quickly and for under-value can decimate a first team and result in the inevitable. A selling/transfer policy needs to be just as structured and thought through as the youth development program. If they can be combined successfully then this sort of strategy can be successful. They hopefully have learned lessons from the recent past.

[ranaldarab]

I see Hibs and Brighton have entered a player pathway partnership? With a number of our youngsters reportedly attracting attention from down south, is this the next step for us I wonder?

[TerryTheTerror]

My thoughts as well. How many of these boys are we actually going to make money on? We're probably investing six figures in each kid by the time they've gone through their development and reached the first team. Will we be making seven figures if say Appere/Chalmers/Smith/Meekison leave? I doubt it and I'm not too sure it's going to be much different in 5/10 years. Time will tell I guess but it seems like the way of the football world is that these kids are almost getting snapped up before they've had a dozen first team games (see Banks & possibly Smith) and we get a development fee at best for them.

Yeah but if we can produce players good enough to play quite a number of games for our first team then the club saves money in the long term so this should be taken into account when considering the costs of all this.

[PT_Arab]

I was also wondering about cost while reading that, with several coaches involved and the desire to appoint more to have another team operating under Steeves, etc. But I wonder if these are maybe part time gigs and also, if it involves youth development and forms part of their education, might it be government funded, at least in part?

[Shedboy1971]

Yeah but if we can produce players good enough to play quite a number of games for our first team then the club saves money in the long term so this should be taken into account when considering the costs of all this.

totally and we become a focal point for developing good young kids. Guardian had an article about us being leaders in youth development and clubs around europe now being interested. like the whole thought as it is against the grain but we will see how profitable it is. still we could be dundee

[tHeArAb]

Yeah but if we can produce players good enough to play quite a number of games for our first team then the club saves money in the long term so this should be taken into account when considering the costs of all this.

Any savings would be minimal compared to what the club are really trying to achieve though - profit. A kid breaking into the first team isn't going to mean we need one less player. We'd still have the same number of wage bills to pay. It may mean we save, for example, £1K a week until that player becomes a first team regular, signs an extension and is able to command a first team wage, so still we wouldn't be making any kind of profit on his development which is likely to have cost well into six figures.

[TerryTheTerror]

Any savings would be minimal compared to what the club are really trying to achieve though - profit. A kid breaking into the first team isn't going to mean we need one less player. We'd still have the same number of wage bills to pay. It may mean we save, for example, £1K a week until that player becomes a first team regular, signs an extension and is able to command a first team wage, so still we wouldn't be making any kind of profit on his development which is likely to have cost well into six figures.

If we can nurture a player to become first team level then of course we need one less player, Robson being the current example of this.

[Chick A Saw]

If we can nurture a player to become first team level then of course we need one less player, Robson being the current example of this.

I like Robson, but i accept that he may never reach the potential of others that went before him. I expect that the likes of him will see out their time here, and while we dont need to source a player for his position with a possible cost involved, we dont meet the expectation that the owners have for the youth system in the shape of profit either.

The youth system here just now seems to have a few gems coming through, but if those gems are sold early as seems to be the way recently, we end up with a team of average Jamies that have came through the youth system, which in turn makes me doubt our ability to be making top 6 season after season.

[Shedboy1971]

I am going crazy?? i was replying to TA response and then it disappeared. I agree though Robson does need replaced lol