The Academy: quality or quantity?

[inbetween]

Players like Rooney and the cream of the cream are one offs really, don't think their talent relies on the academy they came from. As always though its good to see a good quality academy and most of the players we produce end up playing in the Premier League so we are doing alright surely?

 

[Anonymous]

Richards and Sturridge all bought from other sides at 14. It's easy to have a so called decent academy when you can afford to snap up the smaller teams best kids. That's not what having an academy is all about, you might aswell just not have any kids until an U16 side where it's full of players who have been bought from other clubs.

And it's not just a dig at City, it's a dig at every club in this country. The academy's are a joke.

So what exactly is an 'acceptable age' for us to allow us to call people brought through our ranks? Under 14? 10? 6?

99% of professional Premiership footballers have moved clubs before they are 18, purely because they may not fit with a particular clubs style of football, this doesn't mean that they are shit though.

What's the point in having U9 - U14 teams then? Only one has come through out of the 30 to have been at the academy when he was 13 or younger. That is shocking in ten years and it's not just here, it's all over the country. You may aswell just have one U15 and U16 side and do an NFL style draft and pick the best players at that age, it's more or less what's going on at the minute.

 

[bizzbo]

Breaks my heart to say this. I thought very highly of certain individuals until quite recently, but I feel bitterly disappointed by their performances, their comments, and the attitude that seems to underlie it all.

Mentality is what it's all about, not technical and physical stuff. The players mentioned are all good enough, if they want to make the most out of themselves. It's nothing to do with the academy, but perhaps it's something to do with how they see themselves as products of the academy. Zabaleta, Kompany and Co don't rest on their laurels, don't make excuses.

They always display commitment and drive. Even someone like Petrov, seems to always have a determined focus, at least when he has the ball his concentration is palpable. Some of our academy players seem to regard this focus and determination as a by-product of playing well, regularly, in their preferred role, where as the truth is that, at the top level, it's the other way around. perhaps it's why so many of them play at the top level for a while, but don't build a lasting career there.

 

[Damocles]

So what exactly is an 'acceptable age' for us to allow us to call people brought through our ranks? Under 14? 10? 6?

99% of professional Premiership footballers have moved clubs before they are 18, purely because they may not fit with a particular clubs style of football, this doesn't mean that they are shit though.

What's the point in having U9 - U14 teams then? Only one has come through out of the 30 to have been at the academy when he was 13 or younger. That is shocking in ten years and it's not just here, it's all over the country. You may aswell just have one U15 and U16 side and do an NFL style draft and pick the best players at that age, it's more or less what's going on at the minute.

To, you know, teach them how to play football?

In your design, you don't start training kids until 15, which means that they won't be ready until around 20.

Do you know how hard it is to teach teenagers how to run properly? Or to look up while passing?

Each Academy teaches the basics to kids like this.

Anyway, so what if the kids don't join until they are 13, how is that a bad thing? How can this possibly be a point on which you can gripe about? It has no bearing on anything.

 

[blumoonrisen]

Where do our scouts look for youngsters..? anyone know..?
My son plays for Curzon Ashton u11's and he is an excellent prospect...obv I'm biased..! but plenty of others agree that he is an exceptional talent, tallest in the team, natural goalscorer and skill to die for.. 10 times better than me when I was his age, (I was offered trials at Bury.. but blew it cos I wanted to play for City not Bury so I didn't go...sigh)

Is it worth taking him to the City academy training thing they have which is open to everyone, do kids ever get scouted and signed up from there..?

 

[NorCalBlue]

Players like Rooney and the cream of the cream are one offs really, don't think their talent relies on the academy they came from. As always though its good to see a good quality academy and most of the players we produce end up playing in the Premier League so we are doing alright surely?

Totally agree. This is true in all sports - academies (incl. the college sports system here in the US) turn out solid professionals, but to make that step to a higher level seems to come more from the individual. Tons of golfers have had the same junior coaching as Tiger Woods, and tons of tennis players have had the same junior coaching as Federer, but these guys have that something extra.

If the Everton academy really created Rooney, why haven't they made ten more Rooney's since then?

 

[chelseaaway84]

Where do our scouts look for youngsters..? anyone know..?
My son plays for Curzon Ashton u11's and he is an excellent prospect...obv I'm biased..! but plenty of others agree that he is an exceptional talent, tallest in the team, natural goalscorer and skill to die for.. 10 times better than me when I was his age, (I was offered trials at Bury.. but blew it cos I wanted to play for City not Bury so I didn't go...sigh)

Is it worth taking him to the City academy training thing they have which is open to everyone, do kids ever get scouted and signed up from there..?


in reply to your post, city have scouts out all the time and in all kids leagues from under 7s up, your son just needs to keep playing well and scouts will see him
i know you said he is the tallest in the team and scores goals but is his first touch good? and he needs to be technically a good player and kick with both feet, another question is does he play in the top division of your league, im not doubting your opinion, just helping point out a few requirements
my son played for a lower league professional club at age 9 for two years and left when we got frustrated by the standard of players round him there, he went to city after being recommended to them for a trial, he did well, even scored in the blue kit ( a proud moment for all of us ) but at the end of the trial they wanted him but didnt want to pay for him, because we were still under contract at the time to the other club
since been resolved and he plays for another premiership club now aged 13 and actually scored against city !!!
the coaches try to get the kids to play the right way, technique, touch and reading the game, its amazing the level these kids can play the game even at this age, its a pleasure to watch and they play at some great places
keep working on technique mate and let your son just enjoy his football and you never know what will happen

 

[mcfcdaytona]

So what exactly is an 'acceptable age' for us to allow us to call people brought through our ranks? Under 14? 10? 6?

99% of professional Premiership footballers have moved clubs before they are 18, purely because they may not fit with a particular clubs style of football, this doesn't mean that they are shit though.

What's the point in having U9 - U14 teams then? Only one has come through out of the 30 to have been at the academy when he was 13 or younger. That is shocking in ten years and it's not just here, it's all over the country. You may aswell just have one U15 and U16 side and do an NFL style draft and pick the best players at that age, it's more or less what's going on at the minute.

You failed to realise that the main reason of this low number from the very junior ages is that when the academy was set up our whole youth system was in a shambles and our scouting system and trialling was non existent. I would be very surprised if we don't have at least 3 players come through in the next 10 years. Remembering also that all U16s ages have to be within an hours drive from the academy to be signed and so the better more technical players may not be available until they are older or his parents move closer which is unlikely they will do that when the lad is only 9 or so and has little guarantee of progressing.

 

[stockportblue]

One of the main reasons any academy recruits lads at the youngest ages is because if you wait till 14/15/16 you will have missed the best local talent.Recruiting talent at the younger age was also an attempt to learn from the Dutch model of youth development.

City have at least two major problems in recruiting kids with potential locally-one is the death of street football -the second is the amount of competition locally with the amount of premier league clubs in the north west+other clubs like Crewe who have an established academy set up.To overcome this problem one thing City are doing is blitzing West yorkshire-where the club believe there is still untapped talent.As far as the one hour rule is concerned for under16s-I understand City are working on a way to get round this legislation!!

 

[DenisLawBackHeel74]

I think in terms of raw talent we produce very good, potentially great players from our academy. For me though its that transition from good player to great or world class status we need to get right and that relies on keeping their feet on the ground, managing the expectations and developing the talent with a clear development plan such as playing young talent in reserve games followed by sending them out on loan to progressively better teams followed by eventually giving them city first team exposure (for those that make the grade).

Quality vs quantity; well assuming city scout at a high level, then its important to go for quantity in the beginning....