Do any of you follow The Secret Footballer in The Guardian? Your academy gets a very nice mention in this weeks article. http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/feb/03/the-secret-footballer
Interesting..thanks for posting it. Saints fans are rightly proud of their academy which is being improved all the time. The academy also place importance on character..another reason for parents of budding footballers to prefer us to teams in a metropolis...and on education. A successful academy provides players for the first team and income which can be ploughed back into further development and into the club in general.
The pathway to the 1st team is the most important difference. Chelsea are the biggest failures at this due a stream of high profile managers needing results who can't "risk" young talent. AVB maybe being allowed to change this
Below is a ghost written article by a professional footballer bemoaning the fact that youth players are being given large wages before they have even made it (Morrison to West Ham is mooted) making them more arrogant and less hard working. There is also discussion of top teams becoming more and more willing to pick up players at the age of 13-16 even before they have played regularly. The player then goes on to say that too many youngsters go to top five clubs such as Chelsea who have poor production rates from their academy rather than going to more productive ones. He states if his son wanted to become a footballer he would choose Southampton: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/feb/03/the-secret-footballer
Great read. I take so much pride in our academy and the recognition doesn't bother me anymore. IMO a Saints player is worth 20% more just because they've been nought up in our ever increasingly reputable academy. Clubs are willing to pay more for players who are not only athletes but have good attitudes and that's what we produce
I am just trying to give 3rd eye credit, it can be annoying if people usurp your article or just write the same thing... I try to look at things from different and original perspectives... How confident are you about today's game; you're usually quite shrewd?
You can't tell someone they're shrewd and expect an answer. Pressure or what? Think there's a good chance of it being called off, which I think could be better for us although we might slip a bit. This is too close to call if it goes ahead, but always go for a Saints win. Just feel that we shouldn't get too down if all goes against us. With our strong squad I reckon we will churn out results and be in top two at the end.
The article is certainly more considered than most drivel published these days, but I think that it and Gordon Taylor in particular miss two points. The first is the new breed of owners in the game. For these hugely wealthy individuals, patience is simply not a characteristic that they possess. Subsequently, the demand for immediate results is felt right throughout a club as a tangible pressure. This is turn means that managers are far more likely to turn to an experienced foreign professional than throw a chance to a youth player. This has become even more prevalent in recent years with the media witch hunts surrounding any manager that has the audacity to lose consecutive games. Invariably these become "crisis clubs" with practically no foundation. It isn't hard to see why youngsters don't get blooded in the money and media circus that the PL has become. The second point is something that has puzzled me for as long as I've been a football fan and is therefore probably not a new phenomenon! Why are there so few English players plying their trade abroad? I'm sure that other examples will be cited but right now, I could only name Joe Cole. Given that our lower leagues and reserve teams are littered with foreign youngsters, all of whom are pursuing a dream, why is the reverse not true in Europe? Is it a national snobbery or does it demonstrate an intrinsic lack of desire to pursue a dream? Do our youngsters just give up after they get their first knockback?
This is why I am so pleased with Cortese. He has a dream of how a football club should be run...he wants us to be an example to others. Southampton was the type of team he wanted with facilities and the foundations of a good academy, available at a very reasonable price. There were not many clubs that would have fitted his bill. He also knew a certain billionnaire. A marriage made in heaven.
Dale Jennings is at Bayern and the only English player I know of playing in one of the big European leagues. England, Spain, Germany and Italy are the powerhouses of club football and most of their top domestic players play in their home country. There aren't many top Spanish, German or Italian players in the PL. Most of our best foreign talent comes from Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa or the Americas because it's cheaper. It's not just England doing it. Its good to hear that Saints are developing players with the right attitude. No-one likes a billy big balls.
Jennings hasn't playing for Bayern yet, but Michael Mancienne plays for Hamburg. There is Joe Cole at Lille if that counts, and Carson at Bursaspor...that's your lot.
Perhaps it's the language barrier? I am not saying that I agree with all the points made, but there are some truths in it.
