The academy should be an integral aspect of a well run BCFC. I chose the word aspect carefully. The club would never rely solely on its acedemy, indeed I cannot think of any example that does. Annual deficits at Bristol City are of such magnitude, that the long term survival of BCFC can be called into question. The success of the transfers in and out, with their wages are the cause of that defict. Clarkons, Hunts, Morris, Stewarts ... Millions upon millions wasted. The development of one decent player will cost nothing v the dead wood City constantly sign. Efficient academies are cost effective and take young players also away from larger clubs because they can offer better opportunities. If they are sold on in future, good it will put less emphasise on one individual baling this mess out. We may be proud of that and it could help move the club away from the financially very unhealthy place it is now. Above all the club is Bristol City. We as fans should [I hope] want the club to be representatives of the City and the West, an extension of that community. Here we should want to see kids at local soccers schools, Almondsbury boys, Ashton boys etc being provided with the best gateway the club can offer.
I agree with that Clifton and well written, makes total sense and like I said I'm all for a good academy But; I do believe, the financial situation that the club finds itself in is down to Mr Lansdown. I appriciate everything he has tried to do for the club, but if he left us now we would be in a lot worse situation to when he came on board. I respect his visions for the club, regarding premiership football, up to date trainning facilities, the academy and a 30,000 seater stadium that should have given the club stability and financial rewards. I also respect the up hill struggle he's had with getting the stadium off the ground. (just with that alone is enough to call it a day) But the debt, that has accumulated over these last 4-5 years is mainly down to bad decision making by him and the board. He has often said of his intensions for the club and where he would like to see it in the near future, but if we end up dropping down a league and rely on the academy etc, all of his talk for progress will mean nothing. I just hope he has a plan B!
If the academy provided a significant, and meaningful "proportion" of the starting XI and squad it would be part of a cure for some of the clubs financial ills. For that to happen it has to be part of a very clear narrative and long term strategy. We might even be proud of the progression of players from children to first teamers! Any sane person looking is would look at City and say WTF is that about! Baffled myself how fans can condone what is going on. If somebody wants to do the maths work out how much City are losing a day.
But this has to come from clubs at the highest level for it to work..........more often than not English players (from the academy) are more expensive than foreign imports hence the reason why the English league are full of them.................and their quite often better. Hence the reason why we have such bad national sides. Your point is a good point in a ideal work......but we're not in one! The top clubs in this counry needs to lead the way.....It's the only way..
Forget the highest level, they are a law unto themselves, and have no incentive to change. A level two academy will cost less to run annually than some members of the current squad cost. The peculiarities of the Premier league biased elite performance plan has handed Bristol City an advantage. City are the only club in the South West who have category two status. This will attract the better young kids due to the superiority of its academy. Parents will want the best for their kids. I will applaud City for that. It will take time, but the benefit could be really significant. City with the use of the community trust are actually themselves going a small step to addressing the problem of poor coaching pre acedemy age nationally. City do run development courses for kids before nine. It is nowhere near as wide reaching as abroad, but it is a start. Coaching courses/schemes such as socatots/brazillian soccer schools/FFS present in Bristol can also fill part of that void, but at a cost to parents. England is indeed miles behind Spain were the coaching is free and common place.
Yes it may well attract the young kids to the academy.....but it won't stop the bigger clubs poaching the finished article.......money talks. It could help the club financially and we could end up with a couple of decent players.....wether that's enough for our club to progress to the big time (Steve's vision) I have my doubts. Like I've said. i'm not against it by any means......But the position we're in at the moment needs to be sorted now, otherwise the academy is pointless to the club.
The finished article could be worth millions. Kids below sixteen can be poached, but if they have started their football education at nine many parents will not want to be moving them. Money has talked as Rovers, Plymouth, Swindon ...Are not matching the acedemy set up here. City are in position to increase the pool of good very young players it has to coach. The acedemy is hardly pointless to the clubs future relegated, or not. It should become an intrinsic part of the club e.g The Wests best kids come here.
I don't believe it's as easy as that, not when it's related to a club like ours. You may as well have a college/university of football for the southwest.....For it to do the club any good it needs a good brand name, so as the kids want to be part of that club. Bristol City as it sits is not a good brand name and it won't be in the lower leagues. We are a big City that only attracts crowds of 12000, most kids walk around with Man U, Arsenal, Chelsea and alike, shirts and scarfs etc......not interested in BCFC purely because of success. The Academy may attract kids short term but their aim will be for bigger things. As someone else mentioned it will just be a feeder. Bath City could open up an academy......but that's all it will be......it would never progress into anything other than that.. You mentioned Rovers......their trainning of kids (academy) used to be a lot better than ours a few years ago and did produce players that were sold on. Some for quite a lot of money......What good did it do for them as a club looking to progress? I would be interested to know how much the Academy costs the club each year and how much it cost to setup....
i dont think the correct terminology is that the Acedemy will "not get us out of the Div1 OR GET US PROMOTION OR EVEN BECOME OUR TEAM...the academy is a filter, it is like separating black sand from gold.... we used to have loads of scouts who were forever recommending youngsters non non non league sunday players and the like that used to get a trial.now it is more the agent or the foreigner that dictates the placement of players, as more of the top world players join our premiership less and less of the English PLAYER FORMS PART OF THE TEAM's....gradually going down through the divisions... Anyway COYRedddddzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ WIN TOMORROW
