Academy Bid

[chipdawg]

So, in over 100 years since Billy Wedlock played for England there have only been 14 other Bristolians that have graduated to play football for the full England international side. In all honesty, is it any surprise that the Gas have never played top flight English football and City have only managed 9 seasons in the top flight in City's 110+ years of league football ???!!!! Bristol is barren of top football talent and tens of £millions could be thrown at developing youth via an academy but if the local talent is not there to be developed then it'll be wasted. Still, better to have a good academy than have nothing but we can't expect much from it is my opinion.

"Bristol is barren of top football talent"; that's a bold statement and one that can not be backed up by statistical evidence. Remember; correlation is not causation, so the fact that neither City or Gas have produced masses of quality players is not evidence that the raw talent does not exist. Statistically, there is nothing to suggest that Bristol and it's environs will not produce the same number of talented kids as any other region of the country

[Dynamite Red]

Lot of mis information here. The academy is an integral part of the future strategy together with an extensive overhaul of the scouting system. The Academy is outside of FFP and is one area SL can invest, and should invest. In fact, it is a disappointing we are not aiming for Tier 1. In the past we wasted money, as we had poor coaching standards, this is now changing rapidly, as many (who have kids in the system) have said. before it was poor, today it is becoming a far more professional outfit. Second level is the under 21's where some players will come through our academy, others will be players who did not make it elsewhere or are scouted from lower leagues. It is likely that a good number on a 1st team bench will actually be u21 players in the future, as the club works with less than 15 or 16 first team players (in the classical sense) . Bristol and the region is big enough to provide a number of players for a BCFC first team, but that will only work if they are taught the way we play at a very early age. This is what SOD has been on about. From the very first youth teams to first team, we will need to play the same. It is pointless using a 4-4-2 at youth level then finding at first team you change system home and away, playing one up front, mobile full backs, 5 man midfield that has to both defend and attack. It will take years to see the benefits of this, certainly more than 5, but when it starts working, it will create a monumental step forward.

Of course, in L1 we will have one of the best playing budgets, 5 or 6 times more than others, which should alow us to be competitive, and maybe crawl back to the Championship.

The club is finally doing something different and putting right many ills. Fans need to buy into it, and support them all the way. As it is years we have been moaning. We now have a plan, and lets together make BCFC the club it really can be.

Oh and get a new ground built at AV

Superb post.