64 replies to this topic

[Backbiter]

dkw, on 09 July 2011 - 09:15 AM, said:

They have actually said this, in not so many words. Arnesen himself said his remit was to bring through one player a year to the first team squad and to make the academy self funding. Also, it should be common knowledge that this is how an academy should be run, and it is the way clubs like Arsenal, Man Utd etc have done for a couple of decades. We had to pretty much start from scratch when Roman arrives as our youth set up was almost non existent and had been ignored for years. We are now seeing the fruits of the efforts with players actually leaving for money rather than just being released. It is the way it should be run and we should get used to it, and I think part of the problem is we arent used to seeing our young players leave for money before now.

This is repeated over and over, but if you look back, that non-existent youth policy produced plenty of players who went on to play at the highest level, not just in our first team but elsewhere:
JT
Carlton Cole
Robert Huth
Jon Harley
Mikkel Forssell
Jody Morris
Sam Dalla Bona
Mark Nicholls
Michael Duberry


All those came through our youth set-up in the 10 years before prior to RA's mega-investment in the Academy.

They may not all have been top quality players, but they meet the criteria of "mediocre to fairly decent players to sell to lower level teams".

[dkw]

Backbiter, on 09 July 2011 - 10:15 AM, said:

This is repeated over and over, but if you look back, that non-existent youth policy produced plenty of players who went on to play at the highest level, not just in our first team but elsewhere:
JT
Carlton Cole
Robert Huth
Jon Harley
Mikkel Forssell
Jody Morris
Sam Dalla Bona
Mark Nicholls
Michael Duberry


All those came through our youth set-up in the 10 years before prior to RA's mega-investment in the Academy.

They may not all have been top quality players, but they meet the criteria of "mediocre to fairly decent players to sell to lower level teams".

your right, maybe saying almost non existent was harsh but theres no denying it was a substandard set up that received very little input or effort from the managers or even our beloved owner a the time. But as you say, even then we were selling players who werent good enough for our first team. Gutted about Forssell and Harley back in the day though, thought they were gonna be mustard.

[PloKoon13]

According to the Times, Carlton Cole is going to Stoke in a £4.5m (potentially rising to £6m) deal. Does anyone know if we are due a sell-on fee?

[CFCCAN]

dkw, on 09 July 2011 - 10:26 AM, said:

your right, maybe saying almost non existent was harsh but theres no denying it was a substandard set up that received very little input or effort from the managers or even our beloved owner a the time. But as you say, even then we were selling players who werent good enough for our first team. Gutted about Forssell and Harley back in the day though, thought they were gonna be mustard.

Understanding that we, like other top teams, have tens of scouts across the globe looking at kids between the ages of 10+ and who probably get paid fairly well...do we have to hold then accountable as well for not finding the talent in the first place? South America, Africa and Asia have some outstanding talent and as a tru brit it's sad to say our youth isn't what it used to be. Back in my hey day I recall going to Chelsea, QPR and a couple of other teams for trials, they were for the most part disorganized kick abouts..especially QPR where the talent spotters were having a 'fag' lying down on the grass as 22 kids ran their socks off using corner flags as goal posts! All the kids were English from various parts of the country...I don't recall any other culture being present...but there is some outstanding young talent out there we have to get their first and mould them into world class players...do we scrutinize the staff at the academy itself then for their failings? How long does it take to identify whether or not a 10 year old kid is good enough? 2-5 years, 5-10 years? they all develop differently ..perhaps there is that 'diamond in the rough' within our system...I still maintain that an 18-20 year old who is good enough to play ..should play especially when high priced players get a sulk on...and the kids should be given a fair crack of the whip...not for the club and many other on this site who continue to say 18 year olds aren't ready....so when will they be? IMHO if Josh played regularly for this team, he will become a great player..the kid is playing for England U21 ffs as is Daniel but because we didn't play 30 mill for them they will rot on the sidelines or eventually leave....I hope Andre gets it right this time around and takes players out of the first team that are not performing and give the kids a chance....see you got me going sideways again on this topic...heading for the UK for a couple of weeks on Sunday so I'll drop by the Bridge just to calm down....

[Backbiter]

dkw, on 09 July 2011 - 10:26 AM, said:

your right, maybe saying almost non existent was harsh but theres no denying it was a substandard set up that received very little input or effort from the managers or even our beloved owner a the time. But as you say, even then we were selling players who werent good enough for our first team. Gutted about Forssell and Harley back in the day though, thought they were gonna be mustard.

Having posted that list of youth products in the decade before RA took over, things have certainly improved in the productivity stakes. Look at this list (taken from here: http://www.chelseafc...1341479,00.html), which shows we've produced as many in the last three or four years as in the previous decade (year of first team debut in brackets):
Michael Woods - 2006/07
Scott Sinclair - 2006/07
Sam Hutchinson - 2006/07
Miroslav Stoch - 2008/09
Michael Mancienne - 2008/09
Fabio Borini - 2009/10
Jeffrey Bruma - 2009/10
Gael Kakuta - 2009/10
Patrick van Aanholt - 2009/10
Josh McEachran - 2010/11
Jacob Mellis - 2010/11
Ryan Bertrand - 2010/11