The ring road from the airport is an EU enterprise zone like the one in Luxembourg and full of massive companies enjoying the tax and providing lots of jobs - probably because we have the City of London . It’s not democratic at all .
* Language, mine, and many others, was quite foul when it came to light the accounts were made up by M. Fish Ltd, and all for a bargain 80k. The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.
But the essence of the topic is important to the clubs future. Spectators seem to have done the Rose Tinted Glasses job when looking back at the Allams. A pair of scrotes. This owner? Not great but he has time to redeem himself. Fibbing to supporters isn't the same as hating, manipulating their honesty, building false promises and trying to hijack the clubs name, culture and hard won identity. Some seem to have forgotten this.
It just seems to suggest that Acun is trying to avoid putting money in unless he has to but if the chips are down, he’ll do it. I suspect in the Villa situation he and whoever is in charge of the day to day finances were of the opinion that the money owed to Villa wasn’t actually owed because we had a written agreement that it wasn’t due, as there were outstanding payments the other way that would also come due at some point. If that is the case then it’s naive but obviously some of the other stuff that is supposedly going on, whilst common practice in virtually every industry in this country, is not a good look for a football club that is closely monitored, both by a regulatory body and the media etc.
I love these 'improve the academy' statements. What exactly is it they want improving? As you've said the players came along who had ability. The work for promising players is done by grassroots coaches all over the UK. Then they go to an academy and are coached by club coaches. The pitches used are excellent. The programmes I've seen are as good as any other academy I've seen. They play the same teams as other Academies. What exactly is it Acun should be investing in? I'd suggest the area that needs investment is scouting and satellite Academies because we cannot compete with the bigger clubs in the North for that. But hardly going to be a game changer, especially in the short term of 2 to 5 years.
That’s a valid point, I’d certainly be missing out on some of its finest attributes. Outside of the alcohol ban, I’m very well thanks, hope all’s good with you.
Glad you asked! For a start. Making steps towards Cat 1 would be a good start. As per the FA handbook this would allow us recruit from a wider catchment area and employ more staff. Ideally, and this will come as no surprise, bringing it to one campus alongside the first team would be a great benefit. Many players have said as such as it does give the youth a vision of what they can achieve and how they should be training and handling themselves. Specifically to us, and I’m only saying this from people who have a fair expertise on the matter, is giving a clear pathway for youth products to break into the team. I know of one player who has left the academy because they don’t see a reasonable path. Most of our academy at the moment is built up of youth prospects that we’ve picked up as “rejects”, for lack of a better term, due to our Cat status being inferior to teams like Leeds (Cat 1).
Probably got Chris Lee to do them in the afternoons. The views expressed in my posts are not necessarily mine.
But only 3% of academy players ever play in the Premier League, so whatever Cat 1 academies do, it actually doesn’t work.
Moving the academy to the first team training ground is not investment in the academy, it would be am investment in the training ground, something he has already spoken about trying to do. It's not a simple thing to sort out given the lack of room for expansion at Cottingham and no chance of moving the fair from the stadium. The pathway argument is also pointless. What exactly should Acun be investing in to make that work? It's down to first team coaching staff at any club to create a pathway. They decide who trains with the first team. No amount of 'investment from Acun changes that. The academy is functioning perfectly well for a club of our size, as proven by the 2 x multi million pound sales in the last 5 years. It is the least of our worries right now.
Someone mentioned to me the other day that the combined fees for KLP and Greaves are more than academy sales in the the same period for the majority of clubs outside of the Prem. Bristol obviously had a higher one with Alex Scott but adding those two of ours together along with the smaller ones has made our academy a very profitable one in the EFL.
You know yourself pretty well Its absolutely insane for any club (outside of the giants who poach any talent aged 5), academy to produce a prem level player Its such a rarity, the level needed to play at that level