Chelsea To Sign 14-Year-Old Bristol City Teenager Jacob Maddox

[Tall King Blox]

If we are looking for a degree of comfort from this situation, didn't we pick up Lita (at the exit trials) from Chelsea?

A player who managed to get an England U-21 cap whilst playing for us, and then got sold for a significant profit.

Not suggesting for one moment then pennies that will likely be paid for a promising young player in the current climate are sufficient, but it's food for thought.

Get off this forum, you talk too much sense,......like i said before, best of luck young un x btw good post

[TRL]

If we are looking for a degree of comfort from this situation, didn't we pick up Lita (at the exit trials) from Chelsea?

A player who managed to get an England U-21 cap whilst playing for us, and then got sold for a significant profit.

Not suggesting for one moment then pennies that will likely be paid for a promising young player in the current climate are sufficient, but it's food for thought.

We did. But if he is spotted 3 months later and is doing well, what is stopping a cat1 academy taking him away from us straight away? If they are good, chances are the majority won't be hanging around a cat 2 place. All depends if there is a limit to the number of youngsters you can have at an academy? Anyone know if there is a limit? If the talent is good can we fast tract to first team or does age dictate up until 17 or 18

[Bristol Rob]

Get off this forum, you talk too much sense,......like i said before, best of luck young un x btw good post

Exactly, if you were the father/mother (your mask doesn't give me enough to go on) and your child had the chance of the best coaching, the best facilities, the best education and the best medical care whilst there, you'd take it.

If they don't make it, they probably have more chance of staying in the game than kids who are playing for a lesser academy. I really am delighted that City are improving the experience for young players and they are a much more attractive an option for parents who have a huge responsibility to their children in giving them the best start in life, but if that best start means uprooting a child three times a week from Exeter to train with City, rather than uprooting a child to train three times a week with Chelsea, then I think an element of reality needs to be employed.

We'll do better than some clubs, and we'll do worse than others - what we need to hope for, is that further down the line, those we are able to keep, develop and educate get a chance to enhance the first team, with that track record, we might be able to keep some of the more promising youngsters, but that isn't an overnight process.

Good luck to all!

[Tall King Blox]

Exactly, if you were the father/mother (your mask doesn't give me enough to go on) and your child had the chance of the best coaching, the best facilities, the best education and the best medical care whilst there, you'd take it.

If they don't make it, they probably have more chance of staying in the game than kids who are playing for a lesser academy. I really am delighted that City are improving the experience for young players and they are a much more attractive an option for parents who have a huge responsibility to their children in giving them the best start in life, but if that best start means uprooting a child three times a week from Exeter to train with City, rather than uprooting a child to train three times a week with Chelsea, then I think an element of reality needs to be employed.

We'll do better than some clubs, and we'll do worse than others - what we need to hope for, is that further down the line, those we are able to keep, develop and educate get a chance to enhance the first team, with that track record, we might be able to keep some of the more promising youngsters, but that isn't an overnight process.

Good luck to all!

Thank you....a tad of common never did no harm....respect sir

[Bristol Rob]

We did. But if he is spotted 3 months later and is doing well, what is stopping a cat1 academy taking him away from us straight away? If they are good, chances are the majority won't be hanging around a cat 2 place. All depends if there is a limit to the number of youngsters you can have at an academy? Anyone know if there is a limit? If the talent is good can we fast tract to first team or does age dictate up until 17 or 18

But if we see a Cat 3 player, we can poach them (I understand) - so in theory, players should find their level sooner rather than later.

We might nick a Cat 3 who isn't wanted by a Cat 1, and we might well have a chance of getting Cat 1s who've not met the exacting standards of a top 4 Premier League side then we won't be a bad option - and for those coming down the scale, a lot of what they've learnt will be hugely relevant in making City a better place.

[TRL]

But if we see a Cat 3 player, we can poach them (I understand) - so in theory, players should find their level sooner rather than later.

We might nick a Cat 3 who isn't wanted by a Cat 1, and we might well have a chance of getting Cat 1s who've not met the exacting standards of a top 4 Premier League side then we won't be a bad option - and for those coming down the scale, a lot of what they've learnt will be hugely relevant in making City a better place.

That is the case. But to me it makes a complete mockery of the training, education time and effort put in by everybody. Pemberton alluded to the fact he wants all teams in all ages playing the same way. With the way these academies work, we could have players coached our way for years, being taken as they are nearing pro age for pittance, then we pick up players who are older, filling in the gaps of those snatched, who have not been bought through playing our way. To me it flies in the face of what we are trying to achieve.

I fully accept players want to better themselves. I disagree with the compensation that really doesn't take in the time effort and expense put in to developing these lads.

[Bristol Rob]

That is the case. But to me it makes a complete mockery of the training, education time and effort put in by everybody. Pemberton alluded to the fact he wants all teams in all ages playing the same way. With the way these academies work, we could have players coached our way for years, being taken as they are nearing pro age for pittance, then we pick up players who are older, filling in the gaps of those snatched, who have not been bought through playing our way. To me it flies in the face of what we are trying to achieve.

I fully accept players want to better themselves. I disagree with the compensation that really doesn't take in the time effort and expense put in to developing these lads.

So give it a few years, and hopefully the young players we have will be settled in both their football and academic education and both the parents and the potential players will be reluctant to move as - give the tiny percentage who make it - there will be agreement from both the parent and the player, that they'd be better off staying where they are, rather than moving.

This isn't going to be an overnight process and anyone expecting it to be is probably expecting too much, the reality is, the club are putting the stones in place to build a foundation of player production that might yield the off first-teamer.

The Cat 2 status, will hopefully allow us to remain competitive on the (youth) pitch and keep the more talented home-grown (from a younger age) players in an environment when they are subjected to the right challenges.

I don't know how the scholarships work (I've not looked) but in 'days of old' players would be awarded a footballing scholarship until the age of 16, and an education scholarship until the age of 18, giving those who didn't make it, the chance to study for A-levels and maybe have a shot at university.

Just where is Tristan Plumber player these days?

[TRL]

So give it a few years, and hopefully the young players we have will be settled in both their football and academic education and both the parents and the potential players will be reluctant to move as - give the tiny percentage who make it - there will be agreement from both the parent and the player, that they'd be better off staying where they are, rather than moving.

This isn't going to be an overnight process and anyone expecting it to be is probably expecting too much, the reality is, the club are putting the stones in place to build a foundation of player production that might yield the off first-teamer.

The Cat 2 status, will hopefully allow us to remain competitive on the (youth) pitch and keep the more talented home-grown (from a younger age) players in an environment when they are subjected to the right challenges.

I don't know how the scholarships work (I've not looked) but in 'days of old' players would be awarded a footballing scholarship until the age of 16, and an education scholarship until the age of 18, giving those who didn't make it, the chance to study for A-levels and maybe have a shot at university.

Just where is Tristan Plumber player these days?

Time will tell. But we have been waiting nigh on 10 years for some real talent. And we haven't produced much. This new setup has made it harder to keep real talent imo. Let's see how well it is doing 5 years down the line.. hopefully better than the money pit our academy has been.

Is he still playing for lebeqs?

[Bristol Rob]

Time will tell. But we have been waiting nigh on 10 years for some real talent. And we haven't produced much. This new setup has made it harder to keep real talent imo. Let's see how well it is doing 5 years down the line.. hopefully better than the money pit our academy has been.

Is he still playing for lebeqs?

Who knows where he's playing - other than he was expecting to be the 'next big thing' as indeed Marvin Brown was before him.

Interesting to see that 'the next big thing' was always a flair player back in the day, hopefully over the next 5 or 6 years, we'll start to see players enjoy the whole academy process and with results that mean we are able to call upon the development squad to fill in when needed.

We'll never know, but have players failed in the past because they haven't been good enough, or because they were good enough, but never had the right coaching? With a new structure in place, hopefully we can start to attract the right type of player, given them an environment to grow and then have the opportunities available to develop further.

[KwoodCiderNut87]

So any quality youth players we have could get taken from us for pennies, potentially leaving us with average to substandard youth players.

How can we expect to have any decent youth break into our first team?

Can we not have some sort of closed door policy?

[havanatopia]

Unless Abramovich suddenly deserts Chelsea or Maddox is coincidentally the next Messi, Chelsea will continue to spend ridiculous amounts of money on top class players and will not give youth a chance as is the case now. If he's as talented as it seems he should stay at City and prove himself at a lower level in 5 years time and get a move from there, gaining 1st team experience on the way, Zaha's a prime example of this. Countless players have gone the same way as this kid, admittedly the big name of a team like Chelsea may blind their judgement at that age but that doesn't make the decision any less of a mistake, and if you seriously believe he'll get in the Chelsea team and not end up released like the vast majority of their youth players feel free to come back and quote this post in however many years time!

I am not a crystal ball reader like you so i am in no position to say what will happen. All I know is cream rises if its good enough.

[TRL]

I am not a crystal ball reader like you so i am in no position to say what will happen. All I know is cream rises if its good enough.

So does gone off milk

[havanatopia]

So does gone off milk

Every talented sportsman has an off day.

[fl22]

So any quality youth players we have could get taken from us for pennies, potentially leaving us with average to substandard youth players.

How can we expect to have any decent youth break into our first team?

Can we not have some sort of closed door policy?

From a player and parents perspective there are 2 routes to being a too professional. Go to cat 1 academy and progress through their system or progress through our academy, get into the first team and hope you're spotted by a bigger club. This lad has chosen to do the former but others have chosen the latter. Closed door only works for home games the better solution is to give the boys the route to the first team and make them want to stay. Massive improvements have been made which makes Maddoxs decision a bit strange to me but good luck to him.

[Cobby]

My mate who plays in the same academy team at City says he's not that good and we still have players a lot better than him

[chipdawg]

Time will tell. But we have been waiting nigh on 10 years for some real talent. And we haven't produced much. This new setup has made it harder to keep real talent imo. Let's see how well it is doing 5 years down the line.. hopefully better than the money pit our academy has been.

Is he still playing for lebeqs?

Thing is, Academy system or not, if Chelsea wanted a 14 year old kid from us, the chances are they would get him and the chances are we'd get very little cash and a lot of promises of future payment if he makes the grade. Given how few category 1 academies there are, I think we may be in a better place now than we were a year or two ago. In fact, as we now actually have an organised, coherent youth system now, we must be better off!

[Bedminster Born And Red]

My mate who plays in the same academy team at City says he's not that good and we still have players a lot better than him

He's entitled to his opinion but surely if City deemed him good enough to play in their full Academy side at just 14 and Chelsea have signed him then the lad must be a good player and there won't be ANYONE in that age group who is "a lot better than him". I know a bloke who was "better than Chris Garland" in his own opinion when they were both in the youth set-up at City. Chris Garland went on to be the first £100K player, playing most of his career at the top level, and this bloke ended up playing for Glastonbury and Mangotsfield!!

We are now on the receiving end of the new EPPP rules and like many have said these kinds of moves predominantly come down to parental choice. This case is a funny one because, and I may stand corrected on this, Chelsea do not seem to turn out that many professional players. Maybe I don't know enough about the lower leagues and I've missed a few? Arsenal on the other hand seem to have quite a few in every single age group that end up making it at some level in the professional game and if they came in for you as a youngster you would be mad not to join them.

Just for info the maximum compensation for a Level 2 Academy player is £134K I believe. And for a Level 3 player it is lower.

[TRL]

Thing is, Academy system or not, if Chelsea wanted a 14 year old kid from us, the chances are they would get him and the chances are we'd get very little cash and a lot of promises of future payment if he makes the grade. Given how few category 1 academies there are, I think we may be in a better place now than we were a year or two ago. In fact, as we now actually have an organised, coherent youth system now, we must be better off!

That may well be the case. But what about the 16, 17 and 18 year olds, i think the same applies to them. What would happen to say Southamption with Walcott and Chamberlain if they were say CAt 2 and Arsenal took them at 16-17 at 40k a pop instead of the 8 million or whatever it was?

it is not in your interest to bring on talent, it is better to let another team do the work and just take the when they are not deemed good enough for the top flight.

IMO it make the whole academy structure pointless and not fit for purpose to anything under a Cat 1. We need to produce good youngsters for the good of England. but the finances involved and lack of money you get for developing a player is nothing to do about England, it is all to do with money grabbing top teams trying to take a even bigger piece of the pie.

[Bedminster Born And Red]

That may well be the case. But what about the 16, 17 and 18 year olds, i think the same applies to them. What would happen to say Southamption with Walcott and Chamberlain if they were say CAt 2 and Arsenal took them at 16-17 at 40k a pop instead of the 8 million or whatever it was?

it is not in your interest to bring on talent, it is better to let another team do the work and just take the when they are not deemed good enough for the top flight.

IMO it make the whole academy structure pointless and not fit for purpose to anything under a Cat 1. We need to produce good youngsters for the good of England. but the finances involved and lack of money you get for developing a player is nothing to do about England, it is all to do with money grabbing top teams trying to take a even bigger piece of the pie.

If they are good enough at 17-18 I think the club can offer them a full professional Contract in lieu of the Academy Scholarship and then the Academy rules do not apply. I think this will happen a lot more at Category 2 and 3 clubs.

[fl22]

He's entitled to his opinion but surely if City deemed him good enough to play in their full Academy side at just 14 and Chelsea have signed him then the lad must be a good player and there won't be ANYONE in that age group who is "a lot better than him". I know a bloke who was "better than Chris Garland" in his own opinion when they were both in the youth set-up at City. Chris Garland went on to be the first £100K player, playing most of his career at the top level, and this bloke ended up playing for Glastonbury and Mangotsfield!!

We are now on the receiving end of the new EPPP rules and like many have said these kinds of moves predominantly come down to parental choice. This case is a funny one because, and I may stand corrected on this, Chelsea do not seem to turn out that many professional players. Maybe I don't know enough about the lower leagues and I've missed a few? Arsenal on the other hand seem to have quite a few in every single age group that end up making it at some level in the professional game and if they came in for you as a youngster you would be mad not to join them.

Just for info the maximum compensation for a Level 2 Academy player is £134K I believe. And for a Level 3 player it is lower.

I don't know where Sky got the idea he's played for the Academy side from. He hasn't.

[Bedminster Born And Red]

I don't know where Sky got the idea he's played for the Academy side from. He hasn't.

Fair enough. I imagine he must have played games at U15 and U16 age groups though. I must admit to being surprised at that myself as nearly all 14 year olds would get swamped in a U18 game. But my point still stands that Chelsea would have watched this kid a number of times and on the basis they have signed him there will not be kids in the same squad who are "a lot better than him".

[Red Cloud]

do we get a sell-on clause does anybody know?

[chipdawg]

That may well be the case. But what about the 16, 17 and 18 year olds, i think the same applies to them. What would happen to say Southamption with Walcott and Chamberlain if they were say CAt 2 and Arsenal took them at 16-17 at 40k a pop instead of the 8 million or whatever it was?

it is not in your interest to bring on talent, it is better to let another team do the work and just take the when they are not deemed good enough for the top flight.

IMO it make the whole academy structure pointless and not fit for purpose to anything under a Cat 1. We need to produce good youngsters for the good of England. but the finances involved and lack of money you get for developing a player is nothing to do about England, it is all to do with money grabbing top teams trying to take a even bigger piece of the pie.

Well if we had a player who was that good, we could offer him professional terms at 16 (I think?!) and therefore take him out of the equation. Don't get me wrong; it's clearly stacked in the favour of the Cat1 teams but I also think it's tilting things in favour of the the youngsters themselves. Like I said; if Chelsea want a 14 year old player from us, they'll get them regardless of the system in place, but if we make our youth system attractive to young players by being succesful and offering a genuine route to 1st team football, we'll start to find the Jacob Maddox's of this world deciding to stay in Bristol

On a slight tangent, I saw something on Sky Sports about the French system of 'Ecole de Rugby' where the clubs in France jointly fund these schools where students attend full time from 15 to 19 and they have a very high success rate of getting kids into professional rugby. The director of the system was saying that for the first two years the students don't play a full game of rugby and instead concentrate on developing skills and learning to express themselves. His quote was something along the lines of "the systems and tactics of playing in a team are much more easily learnt than the individual skills you need to express yourself". I do wish we could take an attitude more akin to this in English football. Hey ho...

[Cobby]

He's entitled to his opinion but surely if City deemed him good enough to play in their full Academy side at just 14 and Chelsea have signed him then the lad must be a good player and there won't be ANYONE in that age group who is "a lot better than him". I know a bloke who was "better than Chris Garland" in his own opinion when they were both in the youth set-up at City. Chris Garland went on to be the first £100K player, playing most of his career at the top level, and this bloke ended up playing for Glastonbury and Mangotsfield!!

We are now on the receiving end of the new EPPP rules and like many have said these kinds of moves predominantly come down to parental choice. This case is a funny one because, and I may stand corrected on this, Chelsea do not seem to turn out that many professional players. Maybe I don't know enough about the lower leagues and I've missed a few? Arsenal on the other hand seem to have quite a few in every single age group that end up making it at some level in the professional game and if they came in for you as a youngster you would be mad not to join them.

Just for info the maximum compensation for a Level 2 Academy player is £134K I believe. And for a Level 3 player it is lower.

I appreciate that it is all down to personal interpretation , I just thought I'd let you all know what my friend thought as it seems many feel that this youngster is a one off for our academy but this is not the case

['Orns]

i feel a little 'française ' everyday ' my wife was born hère in the sunny south of France.

Sorry it is spellcheck 'à la française '.

Just thinking could n't Mr Lansdown build a stadium hère? Much easier for me to go to matches and you lot would get a bit of sun on your backs.

What you say? Ralph where are you ? Bit of support s'il vous plaît

Brilliant! I'm all over that French spell check! Bang up for a few City games down the south of France too, lovely!

[Bedminster Born And Red]

I appreciate that it is all down to personal interpretation , I just thought I'd let you all know what my friend thought as it seems many feel that this youngster is a one off for our academy but this is not the case

I hope you are right and in three of four years time we start to see these lads come through.

As I said if we do produce lads who are looking like they will make it expect to see them offered professional contracts earlier than they are at present. In fact, I imagine the club will start promising the very best boys professional contracts at 14/15 as long as they maintain their progress at the time (albeit they cannot sign them until they are 16/17?), if they are good enough, as an incentive to stay with us rather than go to Chelsea and clubs like them.

[TRL]

If they are good enough at 17-18 I think the club can offer them a full professional Contract in lieu of the Academy Scholarship and then the Academy rules do not apply. I think this will happen a lot more at Category 2 and 3 clubs.

That is good to know. I hope that is the case.

[TRL]

Well if we had a player who was that good, we could offer him professional terms at 16 (I think?!) and therefore take him out of the equation. Don't get me wrong; it's clearly stacked in the favour of the Cat1 teams but I also think it's tilting things in favour of the the youngsters themselves. Like I said; if Chelsea want a 14 year old player from us, they'll get them regardless of the system in place, but if we make our youth system attractive to young players by being succesful and offering a genuine route to 1st team football, we'll start to find the Jacob Maddox's of this world deciding to stay in Bristol

On a slight tangent, I saw something on Sky Sports about the French system of 'Ecole de Rugby' where the clubs in France jointly fund these schools where students attend full time from 15 to 19 and they have a very high success rate of getting kids into professional rugby. The director of the system was saying that for the first two years the students don't play a full game of rugby and instead concentrate on developing skills and learning to express themselves. His quote was something along the lines of "the systems and tactics of playing in a team are much more easily learnt than the individual skills you need to express yourself". I do wish we could take an attitude more akin to this in English football. Hey ho...

Well I hope that is the case. I guess you can offer contracts at any time. I just wonder if there are any caveats with these new academies? Also am I right in my understanding, we are only being recommend as cat 2, we are not actually cat 2 yet?

Agree entirely with your 2nd sentance

[Cobby]

I hope you are right and in three of four years time we start to see these lads come through.

As I said if we do produce lads who are looking like they will make it expect to see them offered professional contracts earlier than they are at present. In fact, I imagine the club will start promising the very best boys professional contracts at 14/15 as long as they maintain their progress at the time (albeit they cannot sign them until they are 16/17?), if they are good enough, as an incentive to stay with us rather than go to Chelsea and clubs like them.

Funny enough , my friend has been going loads of incentives to stay which i am not really allowed to talk about , so this is already taking place. However , at the end of the day if teams like Chelsea want you their club you are going to be interested

[Bedminster Born And Red]

Funny enough , my friend has been going loads of incentives to stay which i am not really allowed to talk about , so this is already taking place. However , at the end of the day if temas Chelsea want you their club you are going to be interested

The clubs know the score in terms of what EPPP really means - i.e. the biggest clubs get the best players from any part of the country on the cheap. So what do you do? Just lie back and accept it or do what City appear to be doing already? You offer incentives and I wouldn't be surprised if clubs have got legal boys on the case too. For example could Category 2 clubs offer pre-contract agreements to the boys at say 14 years of age with high compensation clauses in them if they were to be broken?

I bet Category 2 and 3 clubs will be examining every way possible to bend the rules back in their favour!!