I didn't say it was a reason for their dismissal, just thought your examples weren't good as other clubs did the most important work.
But that shouldn't devalue the job that the coaches have done with these players. We still have to nurture and develop them from young ages. There is a massive difference between buying a Wisdom from Bradford, unheard of, no reputation for £500k - and spending £10m on Walcott/Ox.
I note that you choose to mention 2 that they paid good money for but ignore the dozens of others that they've taken for nothing or peanuts & developed into first teamers, lol. Ironically, they were the pioneers of trawling the globe looking for the best youngsters to develop & therefore the blue print that most others have followed...& yet you're trying to make out that you're somehow doing a better job with the likes of Wisdom, lmao.
of the 4 you mentioned only one i maybe see a future for is Robinson, Flanno isnt good enough,Morgan looks like he is already off, and Kelly is never fit, so need to let him go.
I agree with you - that's why Arsenal have not won anything for 8 years. Time will tell to see if they will win stuff but bear in mind that they've had a manager in Arsene who has been at the club for a long time to implement his academy/philosophies. We overhauled our academy only 4 years ago!
I don't think Jimmy is getting anything wrong there, the point he is making is that the people in place were doing a good job getting talented youngsters in.
Yes there is still an element of doubt over them all but every one of them has pushed for a first team place as have the others mentioned and that doesn't happen often in the PL.
Am I right in thinking that the likes of Kelly, Flanno, Robinson etc all emerged from the academy before it was revamped in 2009?
We're buying Barcelona apparently and so are merging their academy with ours. You heard it here first
I had high hopes for him - looked classy on the ball, strong in the challenge and very quick. His development has somewhat stagnated ...
Fixed For me our academy has been (so far) a total waste of time. Harsh perhaps but the simple fact is we've had not a single young player turn into a regular first teamer for bloody years. Compare how many players we had who came through "pre-academy" and who turned into very good first teamers relative to what we've had since Gerrard and Carra. I'm not quite sure why people always bang on about what a good job Rafa did "overhauling" the academy when it's still produced jack **** other than Championship/Div 1 standard players.
Arsenal haven't won anything for 8 years due to the Emirates & having a net spend less than our ffs! Wenger's success in bringing through youth, meant he was copied & he lost the edge that he had in that area, at a time when his club couldn't compete with the biggest spenders in the transfer market. Benitez brought in plenty of youth, but due to his internal political issue at the time, chose to ignore the academy & kept youngsters with his first team squad, but there was virtually no progression. You've definitely made progress since he got his way though & I'd actually agree with you, that the sackings seem odd - which leads me to think their departure might not be football related, which is enhanced by the wall of silence imo.
Haven't Arsenal been selling off their best products to pay off the stadium debt? That's what I thought
It does seem odd, yes none have really broken through but there is a huge improvement and many potential first team players.
Completely disagree - Rafa brought along the likes of Segura and Borrell to overhaul the academy. Not only did they bring in good quality coaches, but they developed an ethos which starts with the first team, and throughout the club at all ages. There is now a unity at the club, especially in terms of playing style. They did all of this in 4 years - you're never going to develop Xavi's and Iniesta's in such a short space of time. We've had the likes of Suso, Wisdom and Sterling starting a few matches and they didn't look out of place. Not saying they're world beaters because they need time to develop. Look at the type of player in our academy - Rossiter, McLaughin, Ibe etc. Excitingm, attacking, techincal players. Since the overhaul, our youth teams are more exciting to watch and we're always talking about the prospects. I agree - we haven't got a youth player who has cemented his place in the first team but I reiterate - to overhaul the academy, implement the philosophy, develop the players etc in 4 years is almost impossible but Borrell and co have done a fantastic job. The likes of Guardiola have commended our academy set up and said it's one of the best he's seen.
I totally agree with that, it might sound harsh but its true. We seem to be producing championship standard players when we should be producing players for our first team.
