dasblues said:
On your first point, not quite no risk, but very little risk yeah. You can chuck players in and out of the odd league cup squad, but really anyone ready to get into our first team on a long term basis should either be tearing it up at another club on loan or so freaking good we *know* he's going to make it, and they're fast tracked into the first team as soon as we think they're physically up to it.
Second point partly agreed, but there are only so many players and so many clubs. Our revenue is going to put us among the very richest (In spending terms at least) and still able to hand out the biggest contracts. We'll get our fair share of top class talent this way.
The first part of your third point I don't agree. Our squad quality has been going down because we've been buying the wrong players. Loads of great players have moved clubs over the past few windows that we should have been on like a fat kid on a badly made sandwich, but for whatever reason, recently FFP, we've been unable or unwilling to get them.
The second part I agree completely. We can carve out a huge advantage with the academy, and I hope it continues to get unrivaled investment. Remember though that the academy in its current format has existed for no time at all. Just because the buildings are grand and shiny doesn't mean we have any first team footballers in them yet. Hopefully we will, but with all the facilities in the world the thought of producing the mainstay of the first team from a single academy is and will forever be a pipe dream. Other clubs will invest hugely in their academies and our advantage will diminish. It will continue to be a balancing act between imports and homegrown, depending on whatever shite Greg Dyke manages to dream up next.
Don't get me wrong, I would love for us to bring through a raft of club trained players that bleed blue, dream of City, and bust out into a chorus of hark now hear every time they're asked who they support, but like LC says above, it's sentimental mush. We'll get one or two players through every few years at best, maybe a golden generation every 3 decades if we're very lucky. Just think for a second how many academies there are in the world, and how many players they're training. All the players our youth scouts passed over, or all the ones we were beaten too by other top clubs.. It's always going to be easier when you're as rich as we are to just see where some players end up and buy them when they're either the finished article or very close.