Spurs fans...

[spurspinter1]

I am no youth scout but from what I have watched of Kane, I cannot see how he will make it in the PL. Looks very limited to me.

On what basis do you rate Tom Carroll highly. Against which teams has he impressed?

Last year I had Spurs fans telling me how great Obika, Mpoku and Bostock are, and that they would be first teamers by 2011/12 season.

Would not be surprised if they end up poor as we all know Spurs fans have a reputation for being myopic, deluded, gob$shites.

I'm not saying Kane has burst on the scene completely dominating games, but he has worked hard in the games he has played, earned a penalty and got booked for getting taken out in the box against PAOK as well for some reason.

Carroll has impressed in all of the Europa league games he has played and was apparently good in the Stoke away carling cup game. He has split opinions with many fans, but I think he has shown great awareness and very good technique, and has not let his lack of physical presence hinder him. Seems Modric-esque to me.

I have never heard anyone say anything posivitive about Obika in the long run bar a couple of Yeovil fans, M'poku looked good for Leyton Orient and perhaps homesickness could be the reason of his return to Belgium and Bostock has been performing well in reserves but will most likely not get a chance to play due to our early Carling cup exit....

Forgive us for getting excited about prospects from our academy, but it's nice seeing proper Spurs players like Livermore and Carroll doing well on the field, it has been much too long since we last produced a top quality player so we're inclined to get a bit over excited. From what I've seen of Caulker at Swansea, he looks a very mature player for his age and I think he will play a major part in seasons to come for Spurs. You've never got over-excited by academy prospects? Its all part of being a football fan to me.

Someone on this thread (or another, can't really remember) led with the statement of Man City's academy being a thousand times better than Spurs, if Spurs even have one. And strangely enough once I pointed him to the NextGen series tables he went rather quiet. I've always been interested in the youth academy side of things and we haven't had as many genuine prospects as this in a long time, and the NextGen competition seems to be allowing those prospects to show their quality, its all good news.

 

[moomba]

The NextGen series (or the Youth Cup, youth leagues etc) is no indicator of the quality of an academy.

I'd love us to be doing better in it, but I'd love it more for one or two of the kids to come through into the first team.

 

[Manc in London]

Someone on this thread (or another, can't really remember) led with the statement of Man City's academy being a thousand times better than Spurs, if Spurs even have one. And strangely enough once I pointed him to the NextGen series tables he went rather quiet. I've always been interested in the youth academy side of things and we haven't had as many genuine prospects as this in a long time, and the NextGen competition seems to be allowing those prospects to show their quality, its all good news.

I wouldn't go making snap judgements based on how the NGS has been developing. Our result against Celtic was poor but Marseille and Barca are apparently very good. In neither of those games was the result beyond doubt until the final few minutes. If you were to play Barca in the next round and they handed your ar$es to you, then you can hardly say you are better than us.

Looking at the tables in the Academy league in the last few years, City fans have a strong case for stating that are our teams, for a considerable time, have, and continue to be, better than those produced by Spurs. Even though Spurs have a catchment area with a considerably larger population, and we have to battle against the biggest two clubs - Liverpool and United - to sign players within our catchment area, we have out-performed Spurs.

As an Academy, we have punched above our weight in terms of the quality of the teams we have produced for quite a while now, although we have had a sticky couple of years. However, from reading what others have said we are better this season and higher quality players will be coming through in the next year or two. Added tpo the fact that we are likely to be the only Grade 1 Academy in the UK, we are well-set. I am confident our Academy will flourish and go on to be the most productive, in terms of quality, in the country.

For me, what is most important is that the Academy produces top quality talent and talent that will move seamlessly in the first team.

Stockport Blue is the fount of all knowledge when it comes to City's youth set-ups. Maybe he could shed some light on this.

 

[THFC6061]

the adebayor steam train looks like it`s started to wind down already.....

coming to a complete halt at a stadium near you soon...

Yeah, he's been terrible for us this season...

...just a vital goal contribution for every 89 minutes he's been on the pitch for.

What were we thinking when we got him on loan?

Like the stats layout though THFC6061 - which website is that from?

Would be interested in seeing City's

It's from my own website - myfootballfacts.com

I don't have one for Manchester City just yet but I do intend to add these types of stats for the other 19 Premier League clubs in the future.

 

[LoveCity]

I've not seen anything from Spurs' youth system that suggests they have anyone on level with Abdul Razak and Denis Suarez. BTW we left Razak out of the NextGen series despite him being eligible (but Mancini wanted him kept with the first team), that shows we are using the tournament more for experience than to desperately try and win it (furthered by us playing 16-year-olds in it). We still should have done better in it but it is not reflective of our youth system. This is more reflective:

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.premierleague.com/page/YouthCTable" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.premierleague.com/page/YouthCTable</a>

<a class="postlink" href="http://www.premierleague.com/page/YouthBTable" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.premierleague.com/page/YouthBTable</a>

 

[spurspinter1]

The NextGen series (or the Youth Cup, youth leagues etc) is no indicator of the quality of an academy.

I'd love us to be doing better in it, but I'd love it more for one or two of the kids to come through into the first team.

How is it not? A tournament of a similar layout to the Champions league in which Academy teams play each other in group stages and go on to knockout stages, with Europe's finest acadamys involved. To say it has no indication of the quality of an academy is like saying the champions league has no indication on the quality of a team's 1st team squad.

 

[IanBishopsHaircut]

I hate spurs fans almost as much as rags

In fact they are definitely the rags of the south

There is a thread on rag cafe right now with them all crooning how they all have a 'soft spot' for them

F**k Off

 

[spurspinter1]

Someone on this thread (or another, can't really remember) led with the statement of Man City's academy being a thousand times better than Spurs, if Spurs even have one. And strangely enough once I pointed him to the NextGen series tables he went rather quiet. I've always been interested in the youth academy side of things and we haven't had as many genuine prospects as this in a long time, and the NextGen competition seems to be allowing those prospects to show their quality, its all good news.

I wouldn't go making snap judgements based on how the NGS has been developing. Our result against Celtic was poor but Marseille and Barca are apparently very good. In neither of those games was the result beyond doubt until the final few minutes. If you were to play Barca in the next round and they handed your ar$es to you, then you can hardly say you are better than us.

Looking at the tables in the Academy league in the last few years, City fans have a strong case for stating that are our teams, for a considerable time, have, and continue to be, better than those produced by Spurs. Even though Spurs have a catchment area with a considerably larger population, and we have to battle against the biggest two clubs - Liverpool and United - to sign players within our catchment area, we have out-performed Spurs.

As an Academy, we have punched above our weight in terms of the quality of the teams we have produced for quite a while now, although we have had a sticky couple of years. However, from reading what others have said we are better this season and higher quality players will be coming through in the next year or two. Added tpo the fact that we are likely to be the only Grade 1 Academy in the UK, we are well-set. I am confident our Academy will flourish and go on to be the most productive, in terms of quality, in the country.

For me, what is most important is that the Academy produces top quality talent and talent that will move seamlessly in the first team.

Stockport Blue is the fount of all knowledge when it comes to City's youth set-ups. Maybe he could shed some light on this.

I'm really not trying to get in to a "My academy is better than yours" argument, and I'm not accusing you of doing the same in any way, but just wanted clarify to ensure we don't get a few angry folks slinging insults around as I do find this stuff interesting

I have been complimentory about your youth academy on this forum in the past, and have been surprised at Man Citys record in the competition so far, although I haven't seen any of the games I take your word for it that these have been close run games. I think the Nextgen series is giving youth players the opportunity play in games that are considered important, so losing it in the 92nd minute should be an important learning experience for the players as however close the games have been, it is a results business.

I'm not saying this competition is the be all and end all, although it would be nice to be the first team to win it, but I believe installing a winning mentality is important in making the transition from academy players to 1st team/squad players. Tim Sherwood talks a lot of sense in the post match interviews in these games and seems to be running the ship well, perhaps a future manager of Spurs....

It'd be interesting for Stockport Blue to get involved, every forum seems to have a wise head knowledgeable in all things youth/academy, although I'm far from being that person on my home board.....

 

[moomba]

How is it not? A tournament of a similar layout to the Champions league in which Academy teams play each other in group stages and go on to knockout stages, with Europe's finest acadamys involved. To say it has no indication of the quality of an academy is like saying the champions league has no indication on the quality of a team's 1st team squad.

The aim of an academy is to develop players for your senior team.

The aim of the senior team is to win things.

Your two examples couldn't be less alike, and if we lose every game in the NextGen series and have two or three players break in to the senior team we've done better than a club that wins the whole thing, but doesn't produce any senior players from it.

 

[LoveCity]

A good example of winning stuff not necessarily meaning anything is our FA Youth Cup winning side of 2008 that crushed Chelsea. Lets have a look:

Hartley - College in USA apparently.

Trippier - On loan at Burnley at the age of 21, not going to make it with us but has PL potential.

Mee - On loan at Burnley at the age of 22, destined to play Championship football for the forseeable future.

Boyata - The only player from the entire squad that has a good chance of making it at City four years later. On loan at Bolton and doing well but injured.

McGivern - On loan at Bristol City at the age of 21, not a bad player but will struggle to find a PL club unless promoted with one after we sell him.

Weiss - On loan at Espanyol at the age of 21, has an outside chance of staying with us but hasn't turned out to be the "next Ronaldo" as touted. Likely to have a good career as a top league player but not likely with us now.

Kay - Released, went to Macclesfield.

Tutte - Released, went to Rochdale.

McDermott - Released, went to Huddersfield.

Ball - Sold to Peterborough who have loaned him to Rochdale.

Mak - Sold to Nuremberg for £500,000 in summer 2010.

Subs:

Mentel - Sold to Dundee United, now on loan at Clyde in the Scottish 3rd division.

Nimely-Tchuimeni - Has suffered injuries that have hindered his progress, now on loan at Middlesborough and coming off the bench a lot.

Poole - Sold to Hartlepool and doing very well, may have a future in the Championship or possibly Premier League eventually.

Ibrahim - On loan to NEC though currently back nursing an injury. Looked like a big prospect two years ago but hasn't kicked on and unlikely to make it with us.

Tsiaklis - Seems to be back playing in Cyprus.

SO this team that won the FA Youth Cup and got the so-called "winning mentality" has turned out to be mostly a team of duds to decent players with a couple of players who will have futures at the top level (Boyata, Weiss, possibly Trippier and another couple).

Last year we did fook all in the FA Youth Cup and probably won't win it this year yet I'm certain a youth system with Suarez, Razak, Roman, Wabara, Rekik, Abu, and Bunn is better than the one that won the Youth Cup in 2008.