Former Academy Kids

All of the kids we let go we let go for one simple reason … they weren’t good enough for our squad then and nor would they have been in the foreseeable future.

All the toys out of the pram posters drowning in recency bias should give their heads a wobble, stop criticising the club and the legendary players in our squad and realise that despite this awful slump we will still finish in the top 6.

Only one of the kids we’ve let go would get anywhere near a top 6 PL team.
 
Pubteam Lomas said:
I agree in part.
However, most on here thought Chelsea were offering 'crazy money' for Palmer. There is a fair argument, though, that he wasn't given a proper chance.That's not Txixi's fault....

Tosin was sold a long time ago and isn't all that.
Rogers didn't stand out when I watched the EDS, so not gonna say I thought he'd make it.
THB was an interesting one. Some on here rated him highly, others weren't so sure.
He did well in 5 at Burnley but was dropped when they reverted to a back four.
Interestingly they didn't try and sign him permanently.
Delap had some very average loans but he flourished under Rosenior at Hull City, prior to his injury. Still raw but would, no doubt, help us now.

Frimpong was rated very highly by those who watch the EDS; so that was a strange one.
Lavia was a really good player and SHOULD have been kept. I always said that.

Garcia? I liked as well but then I could see why he left.
Alvarez just wanted to be the main striker. We tried to make him a No 10, which he definitely wasn't.
The criminal side wasn't selling him, it was not replacing him!

One thing I will say is we seem very quick to ditch our youth. But that's what FFP wants the top clubs to do.

In summary. Had we kept Lavia and Palmer and not bought Phillips and Nunes we'd be well stocked.
Where we'd be with FFP? I don't know.
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Agree with virtually all of that. I always rated THB ahead of Garcia and Tosin but all three have done well. I thought Frimpong and Lavia were superb at EDS level. I agree we would not be in such a mess if we had Palmer and Lavia playing for us. Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing but it does seem some people at City have taken their eye off the ball. It doesn't matter what we think though but it is baffling that the experts (who watch the youngsters day in and day out) have shown poor judgement on such a scale.
 
Thd Academy is a cash cow. Expect more outgoings in the summer window, with player values being inflated by being picked to sit on the bench, even if they don't get to kick a ball in anger.

I fully expect Oscar Bobb to be our top value Academy sale in the summer. As soon as a club shows interest (at least one will definitely do that), and waves a wad of cash, Bobb will be sold to the highest bidder.

It's the way both the City and Chelsea academies work... a steady source of income.
 
Blue and still suffering said:
Youth cup final team of 2020 included Harwood-Bellis, Doyle, Delap, Palmer, McAtee and Rogers with Bobb amongst the subs. All six would have been better than some of today's starting eleven!
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I agree that these lads should have been given a chance, but had they stayed (except Palmer) would they have developed into what they are today without first team football. If we had all these lads and were losing games as we are now I wouldn’t be worried. We would have a team that is home grown, which is something I would far rather see than a team of purchases that simply see the club as a contract. Whilst I am not going to say Pep only goes for proven players as he has taken chances on Alverez, Zinchenko, Jesus, Akanji to name a few, I will often ponder why instead of spending money he won’t give our academy lads the same game time, Especially after they have proven themselves whilst out on loan.
 
Lavinda Past said:
Thd Academy is a cash cow. Expect more outgoings in the summer window, with player values being inflated by being picked to sit on the bench, even if they don't get to kick a ball in anger.

I fully expect Oscar Bobb to be our top value Academy sale in the summer. As soon as a club shows interest (at least one will definitely do that), and waves a wad of cash, Bobb will be sold to the highest bidder.

It's the way both the City and Chelsea academies work... a steady source of income.
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That’s all very well but you’d think we might keep the occasional good one as that might save us a big transfer fee. The problem seems to be identifying who we should keep. For example, you rightly say that Bobb will be the subject of a bid and might be the most valuable youngster, BUT he may also be the replacement for Julian that we need.
Decisions, decisions.
 
Axel Freed said:
All of the kids we let go we let go for one simple reason … they weren’t good enough for our squad then and nor would they have been in the foreseeable future.

All the toys out of the pram posters drowning in recency bias should give their heads a wobble, stop criticising the club and the legendary players in our squad and realise that despite this awful slump we will still finish in the top 6.

Only one of the kids we’ve let go would get anywhere near a top 6 PL team.
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That last sentence is challengeable. Palmer, Rogers, H-Bellis are all in the England squad. But two of them are not good enough for us?
 
Most of the time, we didn't have a pathway or game time they needed, when they were sold so we moved them on.
 
Overall I think it's fair to say City have made a mess of player evaluation (purchases & releases) over 2+ years now.

It's just I also think it's fair to point out Pep was right to play the best XI he could in nearly every game during the 4 title wins on the trot.

I it's fair to acknowledge that none of these lads should have got in more often in those title winning seasons. The first XI was on merit & was needed as proven by wafer thin margins we won titles by. We'd be in uproar if looking back at titles lost to Liverpool by a point or two with youngsters playing vital minutes.

But....

Palmer especially is clearly good enough now and it's a big loss that City mis analysed how could he would be. I didn't know but as others have posted it's not for me to know, I'd seen him 4 or 5 times in total. City fucked this one up.
They could've sent him on a long term loan, or had a buy back clause.

Rodgers looks very promising now but it is after 2 championship seasons. Maybe again City can start looking at 2 year loans and buy backs to cover these possibilities?

Lavia I've not seen so much of but again we fans saw him once or twice only. Again maybe a 2 season loan.

You'd like to think they are now reviewing policy going forward
 
Gaz (FMwkdsoul) said:
Most of the time, we didn't have a pathway or game time they needed, when they were sold so we moved them on.
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Yes, but not having a pathway is a result of the strategy we followed, ie buy high quality players to win as many trophies as possible. An alternative strategy would be to buy less and include more home grown players. Maybe less trophies but more real City. It is a choice; we decided to use the academy as a cash cow contrary to what Khaldoon had previously said.
 
KS55 said:
Yes, but not having a pathway is a result of the strategy we followed, ie buy high quality players to win as many trophies as possible. An alternative strategy would be to buy less and include more home grown players. Maybe less trophies but more real City. It is a choice; we decided to use the academy as a cash cow contrary to what Khaldoon had previously said.
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Pathway was there just had better talent in the way, was more my point.

Kid will need a perfect storm of talent, development and squad need to make it, comes a point at age 19/20 the club feel they need competition to improve. I agree on a couple of names who the pathway was opening and the club made a mistake for one reason or another, but the majority of names needed 50 starts before they remotely looked like players who would make it here. Its a fascinating chat to be had but more will be leaving than staying, just the nature of the quality of the side (usually) and the CFA production.

Perfect world it would be a factory line from one to the other but its never that simple. You can only make the call at the time on each player.

We've current got 6 academy players in the squad and 12 used in it this season. Decision comes down to one man from here.
 
If
Gaz (FMwkdsoul) said:
Pathway was there just had better talent in the way, was more my point.

Kid will need a perfect storm of talent, development and squad need to make it, comes a point at age 19/20 the club feel they need competition to improve. I agree on a couple of names who the pathway was opening and the club made a mistake for one reason or another, but the majority of names needed 50 starts before they remotely looked like players who would make it here. Its a fascinating chat to be had but more will be leaving than staying, just the nature of the quality of the side (usually) and the CFA production.

Perfect world it would be a factory line from one to the other but its never that simple. You can only make the call at the time on each player.

We've current got 6 academy players in the squad and 12 used in it this season. Decision comes down to one man from here.
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If that one man is Pep, I fear for them. He is obsessed with winning but the long term health of the club probably demands a more balanced approach.
Personally, I would sacrifice some trophies to see more home grown players. I know that’s old fashioned, but so am I !
I wonder how many older blues agree with me.
Calling @oakiecokie and @Dave Ewing's Back 'eader et al.
 
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KS55 said:
If

If that one man is Pep, I fear for them. He is obsessed with winning but the long term health of the club probably demands a more balanced approach.
Personally, I would sacrifice some trophies to see more home grown players. I know that’s old fashioned, but so am I !
I wonder how many old blues agree with me.
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Totally get it. I always thought we'd only ever have 2 or 3 in the team (which we have barring Bobb's injury) and at best 5 outfield in the squad.
 
KS55 said:
Yes, but not having a pathway is a result of the strategy we followed, ie buy high quality players to win as many trophies as possible. An alternative strategy would be to buy less and include more home grown players. Maybe less trophies but more real City. It is a choice; we decided to use the academy as a cash cow contrary to what Khaldoon had previously said.
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Forgetting about previous seasons, taking this season alone we are not utilising any of the young players.
Prior to the start of the season, we were running short on squad numbers. We still sold
/ loaned several players , Doyle, Kabore, Couto, Delap, who would certainly be useful.
The cash cow thing is like a smokescreen, the reason the players ended up getting sold was that Pep is just not going to play them.
Of course, the majority of players sold may not have made it with us, some wanted to leave of their own accord but there seems to be a disconnected between having such a small playing squad yet no pathway for the youngsters who could beef up the squad.
 
Xhavenjoe said:
Forgetting about previous seasons, taking this season alone we are not utilising any of the young players.
Prior to the start of the season, we were running short on squad numbers. We still sold
/ loaned several players , Doyle, Kabore, Couto, Delap, who would certainly be useful.
The cash cow thing is like a smokescreen, the reason the players ended up getting sold was that Pep is just not going to play them.
Of course, the majority of players sold may not have made it with us, some wanted to leave of their own accord but there seems to be a disconnected between having such a small playing squad yet no pathway for the youngsters who could beef up the squad.
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Pep’s recent remarks suggest he has seen the need for a bigger first choice squad. Maybe we will keep more of the best academy grads.
 
mandubs said:
Overall I think it's fair to say City have made a mess of player evaluation (purchases & releases) over 2+ years now.

It's just I also think it's fair to point out Pep was right to play the best XI he could in nearly every game during the 4 title wins on the trot.

I it's fair to acknowledge that none of these lads should have got in more often in those title winning seasons. The first XI was on merit & was needed as proven by wafer thin margins we won titles by. We'd be in uproar if looking back at titles lost to Liverpool by a point or two with youngsters playing vital minutes.

But....

Palmer especially is clearly good enough now and it's a big loss that City mis analysed how could he would be. I didn't know but as others have posted it's not for me to know, I'd seen him 4 or 5 times in total. City fucked this one up.
They could've sent him on a long term loan, or had a buy back clause.

Rodgers looks very promising now but it is after 2 championship seasons. Maybe again City can start looking at 2 year loans and buy backs to cover these possibilities?

Lavia I've not seen so much of but again we fans saw him once or twice only. Again maybe a 2 season loan.

You'd like to think they are now reviewing policy going forward
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Do you care to mention any of our youth players who are NOW ready to be included in the team before they leave and we lose a bargain?

I mean when Palmer was playing for us I heard NO ONE saying we have to keep him he will tear up the PL. Same with Rogers, same with with each and EVERY young player who has left us - The general consensus has been its the best move for them. Then the media pipe up (Becuase they like to show City failure) and you change your tune like leaf on the wind twats who cant think and see for themselves. Literally being told what to think, by an enemy media that hate City.

Not a single one of you lot give us a heads up on who is THE most important player before we lose them, instead you wait until the media trigger you. Tell us wise ones, who in the youth setup right now is going to be the biggest star of the PL in the next few years?

fkin embarrasing
 
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