UTD Congrats to Liverpool and Sunderland kids for coming second and third Sorry Chavbus, your kids are not good enough ££££ kids are even worse in 9th (but will finish a little better with games in hand) http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/...r-league-tables.html?paramYouthStage=NATIONAL
Chelsea can still finish 2nd. Our kids have been fantastic this season, hope the can keep hold of 3rd. Check out our Duncan who'll be joining the senior squad from next season. Anybody else got some exciting kids coming through?
Our U21s are too busy being star performers in the lower leagues. Carroll and Pritchard will be able to join Mason, Bentaleb, Kane and Townsend in competing for 1st team places next season . I believe that is the point of U21 teams - not to win meaningless trophies but never see the first team.
How do you get a team out for the U21 matches or are you saying that bar the two you go on to name the rest of them aren't good enough for lower league football? So the point of the U21 teams is to send players out on loan? So really there is no point to the U21 teams as without players they would cease to exist. By the way Pritchard is 22 and Carroll is very nearly 23 so they will either have to compete for a first team place or find another club next season. Januzaj, Blackett, Wilson and McNair are all younger than your two wonder boys and appeared in the United first team as we well as the U21 team this season.
The point is to get them into the first team, surely. Utd have done well on this over the years - not disputing that. I'm just saying I measure the success of the U21 team by how many go on to appear in the first team, not by whether they win U21 trophies. Many of our best recent U21 teams have been broken up by sending them on loan to gain league experience mid season. If that's better for the player, then so be it.
I'd say the point is to make that side of the club profitable. I'd say a club that never produces a first team player but produces a half dozen lower league players which turn a profit every season as having a successful youth system. Every now and again a golden generation comes along if it's being run correctly. Man U have had a few, Southampton have had one recently too. But having a youth system as having half a dozen going on to the first team in say 20 years, no matter how good they are isn't the mark of a successful Youth system imo, football is a business, if it makes money it's successful. Our Youth system paid off the academy but we've stopped producing anything for profit for a while which is worrying.
**** me they will celebrate anything ! if this is to be celebrated then we should be celebrating Arsenal Ladies period of success [no pun intended]
That's a pretty business way of looking at it. I think producing local players to play in the first team is more important than producing a few to sell on to make a bit of cash. Given Gerrard is leaving, it's a subject close to us as going into next year the only scouser we'll have will be Flanno who is injured at the moment. After near on 15 years of having Carragher/Gerrard as the spine of the team and players who can relate closely to the fans, we won't have that next year which will no doubt have an effect. A local academy product is someone that the fans can relate to and brings the terraces together, they're more than just another player... they're an inspiration to the local kids who think one day I could be the next Fowler/Carragher/Gerrard/Spearing
I agree but making it profitable will help achieve the goals you've outlined, if it's making money you can invest more into it, if you can invest more into it you improve your chances of getting a local homegrown player as you can offer them better facilities, better coaches, more one to one tuition time and a better education structure. Nobody is saying hoard the profits or to invest it into other areas of the club, but if that side isn't sustainable then it either suffers or it drains resources from other parts of the club.
