The scouts were scouting our scouts because our scouts find the best young tallent for our acadamy........did i use the word scouts too much ?......scouts.
Wenger doesn't like English players or the way the English game is largely played and he hasn't bothered to start a revolution in his own ranks. He could have created a La Masia style development system had he started when he got the Arsenal job. Still, its their loss. The benefits of a good academy massively outweigh the costs if your policy of bringing players through is right.
We've been lucky that our academy players have got a handful of games in recent seasons. Some clubs players don't even get one appearance before they're poached. Bradford have seen a couple of players gone before they've learnt how to tie there own boot laces. What makes a great academy is 1st team opportunity and patience. Bar the carling cup the top sides rarely give players the chance. Southampton have always given players the chance and that must continue no matter how pressing the results business becomes at the top of the championship and maybe just maybe the premier league.
I mentioned this to an Arsenal fan and he said, 'So what, look at the money you've got from us.' Didn't seem to occur to him that we might actually want to keep the players! Hopefully, won't happen so often as we get more successful.
Chelsea have spent a ton of cash on top notch coaches, top notch facilities and poaching top notch kids. Still no academy products in the first team. Pointless system if they bring in more big time Charlies instead of bringing through youth.
But a similar thing could be said of us, if we were to spend a load of money of new players next month (which is what a lot of people seem to be almost demanding we do), and then possibly again in the summer should we go up.
The difference being though that teams llike Man City and Chelsea are buying new players without much thought as to what to do with the old ones. When you start having more than 2 senior options for each position, that's when it becomes difficult for the kids. Pre-season will be very interesting when some of the kids get a real chance to work their way into Nigel's plans. You got a link for the Shaw story beef dripping?
