Which is all well and good - but why bother if the results of said academy are sold (Cameron McGeehan) or repeatedly loaned out (The Murphy twins)? Any spare money laying around should be used on first team strengthening, especially bearing in mind our tenuous grasp on the Premier League at the moment http://readnorwich.com/2015/11/05/norwich-city-aim-to-have-one-of-the-top-academies-nationwide/? Bah!! (Humbug...it'll soon be time)
I tend to agree Cromer although one could argue that if we get good fees for eventually selling Loza, Morris, Thompson (), the Murphys, Matthews et al, then the cost could be justified. It's a real shame we nuture all this talent and never see it realised to it's true potential at Carrow Road.
And we need to look no further than Southampton, who have brought on some gems over the years - and they've virtually all been given a shot in the first team set-up to continue their development at the top level. That's where NCFC currently fall by the wayside. Not one of Neil Adams junior cup winners is ever around the full squad, barring Jacob Murphy and Harry Toffolo - very occasionally and not in this division
Excellent comments and I feel the problem is that it's such a massive gamble to risk the youngsters, especially a we're struggling. I'd LOVE us to unearth the odd gem like Saints have done, but I feel we're a few years away from that!!!
We don't sell our young prospects. We let them go on a free and allow other teams to sell them on for a million or 2. Eg. Adeyemi, Korey Smith
From what little we hear about the youth sides, I get the impression the latest crop are quite highly regarded, above the cup winning side. Our youth investment will take several years to show dividends, so its good we're investing now whilst we're reasonably well off. Southampton didn't start churning out talent overnight. That said, I'd say our current clutch of loaned out youths do have the potential to be sold for reasonable fees. Nothing earth shattering, but possibly enough to make ends meet on the academy investment. The cost of bricks and mortar is little compared with even a young talent at league one level.
And with Jarvis out for weeks with knee damage, the stage is set perfectly for Josh Murphy to step in to fill the breach...ahh, hang on a mo
Trouble is if they are not good enough then they cannot be played. We only have to look back to last season where under Adams youth was given its chance and performances were patchy then Neil came in and played more experienced players and up we shot. If the likes of the Murphy's cannot cut it at Championship level then they are probably not going to set the Premier League alight either. I could be wrong but I don't think any of our loanees are making a massive impact on their loan clubs and so it is likely that at some point the rest of the youth cup winners will either be sold on to a lower league or released. The thing with the academy is that you only have to get one right and suddenly you're in gravy. One top class player developed internally will fund the system for 5 years to come and as OCF and DH point out even our current crop will probably realise enough cash when sold on for the development division of the club to be in profit. I think that we all hoped that the players from the Youth Cup win would develop to the point where two or three were in or around the first team but the reality is that this seldom happens anywhere. We just have to accept that they were the best in their age category at the time but sadly none appear able to cut it at a higher level. With all the investment we have made in the past few years there should come a time when the youngsters we develop will have come all the way through our enhanced system and develop into top class players. There are no guarantees but we are moving the odds n our favour which is all we can ask of the management.
Of course none of those mentioned above are a products of our current academy and the fact that none they have broken through into the first team even when we were in the Championship suggests that we do need to invest more (although not just in money terms) in our academy. Maybe the talent we have has been develop to it's true potential, maybe they just aren't going to get any better. After all none of the ones we have loaned out have exactly set the world on fire when loaned out to lower division teams. Although I think their is potential for some of them to get better and perhaps Toffolo has the best chance of becoming a PL player. It does frustrate me when people see players going out on loan as something negative. In my view loans are all part of a players development. Their are very, very few academy players at any club that go from the academy straight into a PL team, including Southampton academy players. The way we are setting up our academy is very much a long term strategy, which certainly shouldn't be sacrificed to spend on a new player. Look how much we spent on RvW which took us nowhere either in the short or long term. I hate to break it to some of you guys, but neither the Murphy brothers or any other of our current batch on loan are currently good enough for the PL. That's not to say that if we continue to develop them through loans 1 or 2 might be good enough in the future. Being around the first team squad and never playing or having the odd 15 / 20 minutes on the pitch in a league or cup game is never going to develop them as well or as quickly as quality loans. In my view the board should be applauded for the money they have invested to give us a Catagory 1 academy.
I was speaking to a Coventry season ticket holder at the weekend, he was saying the Jacob has been superb for them. I feel for both of them their development suffered as before this season they had barely ever started a league game. Redmond has been playing since he was 16 and has only in the last season or even less looked mature and experienced enough. Give them time an there are a couple of good players there. Toffolo has moved up a league this season after a good year in league 1 he is also starting to look like he could be a decent player. I really don't see investing in the academy as a risk or a waste. Or best chance of improving out team is to play the long game.
