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Time to scrap the SWFC Academy


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2 hours ago, airborne_rat_of_s6 said:

How long have we been back in the Championship? Who has just been deducted 12 points? Who hasn’t got a pot to pee in?

 

I don't think their 'success' is based on the fact they have recently scrapped the academy and just because they are getting many aspects of their club right it doesn't mean this will prove to be the correct one. Also, the demographics and competition in the area they are in is different to ours. 

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Like Monk says, there's no point having one if you don't use it.

 

Under Carlos we brought in so many players we didn't need to use the academy. Before then we had a struggling team, so bringing kids through might have been difficult.

 

Hopefully it stays part of the culture at the club and we give players time, like we are doing with Dawson and Wildsmith, even if they haven't yet reached the level we want them to be at.

 

 

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Guest Therealrealist
3 hours ago, Utah Owl said:

There probably is. All of the following:

Leeds metro area nearly 3 million

Manchester metro area nearly 3 million

Nottingham metro area 1.5 million

Sheffield metro area 1.6 million

 

North eastern part of Birmingham metro area is within an hours drive as also are York, Hull, Lincoln, Potteries etc. so 12 million is probably about right.

 

That’s a lot of areas you are sayin within an hour of Sheffield..in reality..

northbound..Leeds West Yorkshire..2.2 mill

eastbound..rovrum..donny..scunny..hull at a push..1 mill

westbound..the greater Manchester conurbation..even tho half of it wudnt be reachable in an hour..2.2 mill..last but not least..southbound

chezvegas..derby..Nottingham..1.1 mill..

so..6.5 million...and that’s been very genorous

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Guest Therealrealist
16 minutes ago, Therealrealist said:

That’s a lot of areas you are sayin within an hour of Sheffield..in reality..

northbound..Leeds West Yorkshire..2.2 mill

eastbound..rovrum..donny..scunny..hull at a push..1 mill

westbound..the greater Manchester conurbation..even tho half of it wudnt be reachable in an hour..2.2 mill..last but not least..southbound

chezvegas..derby..Nottingham..1.1 mill..

so..6.5 million...and that’s been very genorous

And if we are using middle wood rd as a starting point..seen as it’s an academy thread..we can rule out..hull..the southern side of Nottingham derby etc..so we have lost another mill there..I’d say about 5.5 mill is a more realistic ball park figure

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Guest Therealrealist
3 minutes ago, mildatheart67 said:

Just been on price of football.

Brentford binned there academy as they had there best young players stolen away from them at fixed prices by Premier teams with cat A facilities.

 

Also thier current set up costs only half as running the academy did.

That’s what happens at Wednesday...if we have a genuine golden nugget..at the age of around 10/11..Man City will snaffle them..and even derby have been known to poach..got tremendous facilites

Edited by Therealrealist
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The day a club shuts down its academy is the day you kill the soul of a club.

 

The dream of a local lad coming through the system to play and succeed in the first team is part of the fabric of our game.
 

For years we’ve fallen behind but appears we are getting back on track, now is not the time to abandon that progress.

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Wow .. short memories. Our whole youth system was underfunded and poorly run to boot. This club of ours was on the high court steps and that wasn’t that long ago. The run up to that position didn’t happen overnight did it. So we were on a downward trajectory for many years and then coming out of it took time. DC been here just 5 years and if it was that easy to produce huge successes in just 5 years every club would do it. We’re starting to see some appearances and break through now.
 

The first team manager policy is key of course in all this as well - and we all knew Carlos’s approach was very different to that of Jos!

 

We also had a very poor reputation locally that sort of thing takes time to dilute. Then you get the fans who ignore reality if the clubs situation in the last few decades and post crap like “scrap it”.

 

Now a club who as a policy of actually giving game time to their youth - that expedites the dilution of the poor rep we had/have .. and guess what people start to choose us over others because they actually stand a chance of hitting the first team!

 

This is a long term approach game and takes time .. 


 

 

Edited by dowls
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6 minutes ago, The_Limit_Owl said:

 

Excellent post.

 

Unfortunately our fanbase has a lot of f.vckwlt5 in it, the "now" generation can't get it into their tiny little brains that a youth system takes time to nurture and develop.

 

 

Yes. Getting the academy to actually produce something after years of neglect is not like putting the kettle on to get a cup of tea in five minutes. It's more like roasting a pig over hot coals.

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Many of the arguments for keeping the Academy are in my view supported by emotion and some degree of nostalgia.

 

I personally have no nostalgia for Steve Haslam or Lee Briscoe neither of whom ever made it at the top level.

 

The Academy has failed to produce a top tier footballer in 40 years and the model is just not working.

 

If we do find a gem then he will be poached/enticed away by sopme unscrupulous PL team like Leicester City.

 

This is forty years of failure and in any organisation you have to change if you are constantly failing year after year after year.

 

The Elite Development Squad model is far cheaper to run and has far quicker outcomes. You know within 1/2 years if a player will make it.

 

If you can bring in a few 18-21 year olds from other clubs in Europe you may just find one who in a very short period of time is worth £10 million.

 

What a difference that would make to us at the moment!

 

 

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16 hours ago, Therealrealist said:

There isnt 12 million people within an hour of sheffield..that looks like a seriously made up 'fact'

When I was at school back in the 90's I did a project on Meadowhall and in the paperwork of why they were building it there was because 12 million people were within an hour of the site and before you ask I have not kept my school project from 30 years ago just on the off chance someone on Owlstalk would ask me to show it. lol

 

I have to say though when we got in touch with them for details of the project, a school wanting to do a English project then were extremely helpful and provided me with so much information. 

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Guest Therealrealist
1 hour ago, room0035 said:

When I was at school back in the 90's I did a project on Meadowhall and in the paperwork of why they were building it there was because 12 million people were within an hour of the site and before you ask I have not kept my school project from 30 years ago just on the off chance someone on Owlstalk would ask me to show it. lol

 

I have to say though when we got in touch with them for details of the project, a school wanting to do a English project then were extremely helpful and provided me with so much information. 

Fair enough..but whoever built meadowhall got their figures wrong..but im sure it does ok🤠..and bein within an hour of mhall is a bit different to bein within an hour of the academy⚽

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It's not about whether they get poached or not..it's the fact that we aren't bringing anyone through worth poaching by the big boys , who then go on to big things.

 

For instance,  we haven't come close to being responsible for developing a Sheffield success story like Dom Calvert-Lewin, Harry Maguire or Kyle Walker.  Why is that? We are both clubs in Sheffield.  'They' have brought through two established England Internationals who have captained Manchester United and Manchester City respectively,  and a forward who is going to be in the next England squad having scored 4 premier league goals in 2 games this season. 

 

The academy does not need scrapping, it needs vast improvement. 

 

 

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8 minutes ago, Therealrealist said:

Fair enough..but whoever built meadowhall got their figures wrong..but im sure it does ok🤠..and bein within an hour of mhall is a bit different to bein within an hour of the academy⚽

The point was we have a lot of local talent and we are instead taking other teams cast off instead of developing local talent.

 

On a Saturday and Sunday there are probably 1000's of kids of all age groups playing local grass routes football in Sheffield - I will be very surprised if there are not a lot of very good players, we are missing out on because our scout are in Liverpool or Manchester watching their reserves play.

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