by Denver Royal » 08 Feb 2018 21:52
by Hoop Blah » 09 Feb 2018 10:34
by Hound » 09 Feb 2018 10:57
Hoop Blah I'm a big fan of the less tangible aspects of the Academy as well. It should be a great way for the club to engage with the local community and keep it's roots more local. The growing size of the Academy probably helps that, although I'm not totally convinced by the pyramid structure that Academy's have introduced which sees the development centres becoming a revenue stream to help fund the elite sections of the Academy. That's almost exploiting the dreams of young kids and their parents, but probably a necessary evil.
by bagman » 09 Feb 2018 11:55
by Victor Meldrew » 09 Feb 2018 13:49
Hoop Blah Interesting debate and some enlightening opinion and stats there too.
To my eyes the Academy has been, largely a success, especially that Pearce/Henry/Karacan generation but, like a lot of things, as the club has succeeded and grown some of these have changed along the way. As the club moved up into the Premier League and competed more at the top end of the Championship so the Academy had to change some of it's operations and, specifically, widen it's recruitment net and attempt to raise it's standards.
No longer were we looking to bring in (or able to attract) young players who'd be able to supplement a top League One/mid-table Championship side but it changed into top Championship or mid-table Premier League players. Logically that means we won't have as many proper local lads making up the youth sides and also it means making the side becomes progressively harder.
At the same time managers have been under more pressure to gain results and that often means youngsters get less of a chance and have to be that much better to get and stay involved. Throw in all the disruptive change around the club over the last few seasons and I think the Academy has still done a pretty decent job of feeding some talent into the first team squad. This isn't just applicable to Reading. Young players not getting enough of a chance in first team football is a problem throughout the game right now and is, IMO, the biggest hindrance to player development up and down the country.
I'm a big fan of the less tangible aspects of the Academy as well. It should be a great way for the club to engage with the local community and keep it's roots more local. The growing size of the Academy probably helps that, although I'm not totally convinced by the pyramid structure that Academy's have introduced which sees the development centres becoming a revenue stream to help fund the elite sections of the Academy. That's almost exploiting the dreams of young kids and their parents, but probably a necessary evil.
by Hound » 09 Feb 2018 14:31
by From Despair To Where? » 10 Feb 2018 08:26
Denver Royal It has seemed to me for some time that the academies at Leeds and Burnley have produced a steady amount of 1st team players
by From Despair To Where? » 10 Feb 2018 08:36
by Hound » 10 Feb 2018 08:38
by From Despair To Where? » 10 Feb 2018 08:58
by Victor Meldrew » 10 Feb 2018 11:05
Hound Think they signed Lallana from Bournemouth but you could add Chambers to that list
by Hound » 10 Feb 2018 12:24
by SCIAG » 10 Feb 2018 21:16
From Despair To Where? Talking of Southampton, didn't Walcott, Bale, Oxlaide-Chamberlain, Ward-Prowse, Lallana and Shaw all break into the first team outside the Premiership?
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