How many of us have thought about the advantages of us having such a high stand academy, and what advantages it could soon be receiving because of Nicolas and his plans.
If the fa's proposed plans go a head we will be one of the elite acadamies so without the 90minute rule we could attract the best youngsters from all around the country
Having a great academy is fabulous, and I don't know all the FA's plans, but they need to introduce more rules to protect big clubs pinching academy players at 16 and 17. Take the situation with Spurs and the Palace youngster; they brought him through their sytem and then Spurs sign him and a tribunal says "£400,000". stupid. I still think it's daft that Arsenal were able to sign Fabregas from Barcas academy when he was 17 and the same for United and Piquet.
A rule like that is all well and good, but we must remember that Saints have also taken players (Walcott, Lallana, Mills(x2), Blackstock, Best, McGoldrick etc etc) from smaller clubs so we can't bleat too much.
Agreed. I thought that as I typed. I just think we would need to be aware that if we had a better academy producting better players than some of the top clubs, we could lose a few. We didn't knick Trevor Hebbard from anyone though
Funny how some players when you think of them, they immediately come with one year in mind. Soon as I read "Trevor Hebbard" I thought "1979". Similar for Tony Sealy... 1978 Graham Baker... 1982 and so on.
Apparently Saints and Chelsea will be the only category 1 academies in London and the South. There will be 5 in total. Chelsea don't have a great reputation of bringing youth into their first team (although they have produced good players for other teams) and Saints are well known for it, so we could be monopolising the best talent from around the South. Most of the Premier League and Championship clubs will have category 2 or 3 academies, so it really is a privilege. Arsenal's will be category 2, so less chance of them pinching our kids! We can see how they like it when the boot is on the other foot.
Tony Sealey...blimey; just seen his picture in my old Paninni album. The other week, some one randomly said "Rueben Agboola" to me..... 1984/5
Agboola, best sweeper in English football... probably ever because that formation Lawrie played was the only time I can remember any english team playing a proper sweeper.
"the only time I can remember any english team playing a proper sweeper" Gullit for Chelsea - I went to Stanford Bridge on a rainy day, Saints got stuffed 3- 0 with Gullit pulling the strings from the back.
Some guy on SWF claiming to be ITK. He posted several links (didn't read them, but it sounded plausible). I'd imagine the Staplewood development is a big part of it. Youth development is a big part of Cortese's plans, so it would make sense to have top draw facilities.
Fair one. The club's youth investment is massive, I know that much, and since the takeover it has gone up even more.
There was a programme on TV discussing that removal of the 90 min rule (travel time for kids to academy) for category 1 academies would result in smaller clubs losing the best players in their catchment area. Several clubs were interviewed, but in an aside they said Southampton didn't participate in the discussion because their spokesman said they would be a centre of excellence anyway. I did sympathise with the smaller clubs, but I also ahd a certain smugness about that.
I think that we may be putting too much into the 90 minute rule being scrapped. How many 9-12 year olds have enough going for them to show they will be that good, and that they will be able to live away from their parents?
The only youth schemes you can associate with Portsmouth is ones where the kids are wearing tags around their legs as Linvoy Primus quotes the bible at them.
