Close The Academy?

[BCFC_Dan]

I must agree 100% with you on this, the only two players to really come through the academy is cole Skuse and joe Bryan is it worth it when the club is losing millions every year

The academy brought in £3m through the sales of Lita and Cotterill alone. That would be in excess of £4m if the proposed deals had gone through for Aaron Brown and Clayton Fortune.

In addition to that, had the club been a selling club, I suspect they could have got reasonable fees for Doherty, Coles, Phillips, Amankwaah, Hill and maybe even the likes of Clist and Burnell, if they'd been sold at the right time.

It's not the academy at fault, it's generally been the first team managers to blame. Others have mentioned that Johnson really failed to bring any youth players through successfully, whilst the last manage who did, Danny Wilson, brought them into an environment where they were quickly led astray by the unprofessional senior players.

[numbeast]

Having listened to Del's interview after signing Elokobi yesterday he stressed it was nothing to do with Joe Bryans performance and I got the impression that Del rates young Joe quite highly. But the truth of the matter is not only is Bryan inexperienced but more to the point left back isn't his natural position. The lad said after the Watford game he'd been a little weak defensively so signing a genuine left back was the most sensible thing to do.

As for the Academy I think the new structure brought about by the E.P.P.P. changes will really benefit the club in the medium to long term and with a manager like McInnes in charge I feel that in 5 or 6 years a good 40% of the first team squad will be made up with home grown talent. Whilst acknowledging Delboy’s input into the restructuring I feel the Board and Steve Lansdown should get a lot of the credit for the recent changes not only with the financing aspect but bringing in Tim Kirk to head the project and also allowing Derek to use his contact to recruit some top quality staff such as McStay and McIntyre. All in all I think the club is showing an ambition to improve its record of developing young talent and once we start seeing these kids breaking into the first team we may also see an improvement in quality wanting to join Bristol City’s academy rather than going to the likes of Southampton Cardiff or Birmingham. Success is self-fertilising.

[One BCFC]

you have to wonder what the point of the academy and the under 21 set up is, when mcinnes and the board would rather sign a player on PL wages and fork out a loan fee, than give joe bryan a chance

obviously it's a good signing, no complaints, but if you are going to make a point of refusing to develop young players then why bother spend all the money on the coaching reform etc.

or is it a long term thing, and mcinnes is simply saying that the likes of bryan are not good enough, but the next generation may be?

I can understand what you are talking about.

But you cannot expect Joe Bryan to play at left back which isn't his natural position for three months, yes as McInnes said in his interview yesterday that Joe hasn't done anything wrong and is part of the future of the club. He hasn't said he isn't good enough, but being only 18 is taking a risk and a big ask to depend on him for 3 months!

As for the likes of Nyatanga, McInnes obviously doesn't rate him and I don't blame him and he probably has tried for a team to come in for him, but if clubs aren't interested there is nothing Del boy can do, simple as.

[Frome Red]

I haven't read every post in this thread so don't know if its already been said but has Del said the new guy is going to play left back instead of Bryan ? How do we know that he is not coming in as centre back and Bryan will keep his place ?

[Port Said Red]

I haven't read every post in this thread so don't know if its already been said but has Del said the new guy is going to play left back instead of Bryan ? How do we know that he is not coming in as centre back and Bryan will keep his place ?

He says Bryan has done nothing wrong and that fixtures will be coming up thick and fast after the next international break. I am sure he will have other opportunities and he is a useful player to come off the bench as he can cover both left side positions. Elokobi at centre back is hinted at by both the player and the manager but I think this is a secondary option.

[djb6162]

results don't matter and too much focus on getting results instead of devloping players let down acadmeys all over this country,

Barca down't worry about results until Barca B level

I totally agree with you, and think you will find that i said as much in my reply

My point was aimed at those who continue to insist on this site that we dont have the talent.

Results arent eveything, they are but one barometer, however i was comparing our crop of youngsters against those fom a club who who are well thought of and respected. Additionally to demonstrate that those same youngsters are being given a chance to also pay at U21 level alongside BCFC proffesionals.

One final point, Barca. ...... Dont believe everything you read, its a bit of a myth, easily used as a virtue by a team that rarely tastes defeat

Extract from the academy forum below, hmmm

This has been mostly a good week for FC Barcelona’s cantera, with no team losing a single game. Nevertheless, the oldest youth side, Juvenil A (U19s), drew their game and ended up losing the league to direct rivals Espanyol. In general the youth teams earned 13 victories and 3 draws this past weekend.

Read more: http://www.totalbarca.com/tag/youth-leagues/#ixzz27hdJXF3s