When we say ‘world class academy’ we are referring to the facilities. It’s a top rated facility.
When we say it’s been destroyed, that’s through lack of investment and poor staffing and fire sales.
There’s Hendo and Pickford, obvious ones, then there’s Egan who did wonders at Sheffield United in the PL, Waghorn has transferred for in excess of £10million.
There’s a number of ex academy lads playing in the lower league and Scotland as well.
Barcelona and Real’s famed academy systems don’t yield top class player after top class player, there are hundreds of players that came through their academies playing g throughout the Spanish league and beyond though
There’s far more to it than slating the headline names gives credit for, and if you question what jerk the investment has done the number of SAFC academy players picked up by top PL sides in the last 2 years is eye watering.
United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal have all ‘poached’ from our academy, and who knows maybe a couple of them become household names.
The facilities, which are category A and therefore officially top class, are being squandered due to a lack of foresight and investment.
