I've just seen that our youth team has been beaten 1-5 at Portsmouth in the FA Youth Cup. It makes me wonder if there really is any point in running an Academy team if we appear unable to progress in the youth level's most prestigious competition. (Same as our first team in the League and FA Cup!!!!!) Seriously though, the progress of youngsters at City through to first team is very sparse with only Cole Skuse, James Wilson and Louis Carey in the current first team squad. Ribeiro would be there if he could stay fit for long enough to get regular games. We haven't had much return form the money invested in the Academy since Matt Hill, Tommy Doherty, Danny Coles, Leroy Lita and Dave Cotterill came through nearly a decade ago. Or am I living in the past expecting a whole/large percentage of the youth system to succeed in becoming first team regulars every three to five years? Are the days of Brian Clark, Jantzen, Shadow Williams, Gerry Sharpe, Geoff Merrick, Trev Tainton, Gerry Gow, Tom Ritchie, Ray Cashley, Gary Collier Kevin Mabbutt, Rob Newman (apologies to anyone I've excluded from this list)etc. a thing of the past or do we now expect other teams in lower divisions to develop the youngsters for us to buy in at a cost which may seem high, but is actually cheaper than running a worthwhile and fruitful Academy?
I was at the citys Q&A last night there was a few academy questions and interesting answers from Derek. each age group has one or two prospects in and the rest of the players are there to make up a team for them to play in. He wants young players out on loan from 16 to get them playing mens football, He would like regular reserve football as another way to get them playing mens football, he feels at the moment he has such a large squad that its hard to get the first and second year pros quality training sessions but says this will change next season. I recently saw a reserve game against bath there was a young lad in midfield who was going past 3 or so of there players at a time, I think he is now at bath on loan with holloway who at 16 maybe 17 and already 6ft 2 also look a prospect and there results have improved so far. Bobby reid is on loan at cheltenham and has a passing range tinman would be proud of so the players are there we just mess up at the final stage and i think derek will change that.
Thank you National NI for the information direct from the new manager. I must admit that the logic of the second sentence has never dawned on me and perhaps I should stop remembering past times with "rose tinted" specs. While the game itself is still kicking a ball between opponents goalpost more often than they do it to us, I realise that the says of clubs fielding seven or eight homegrown players out of eleven are unlikely to return. Yet we are spending a lot of cash on the Academy, much more than in years past, and yet with a lot fewer making their way to first team regulars from the youth team. So let's have confidence in Derek McInnes to sweep out the deadwood at the end of this season to allow for good youngsters to at least get half a dozen or so appearances. I've seen Bobby Reid play and I think he has a lot of talent; he reminds me of Gerry Gow at 17. A different type of player but one who we should expect, will grace our first team in the not too distant future. Perhaps the biggest change over the years, has been since the introduction of so many foreign players in the Premier, which has had the effect of forcing a lot of previously Prem quality players into the Championship. This in turn makes it difficult to blood youngsters in such a competitive league - probably the most competitive in Europe, as there isn't an easy match out of the entire 46 match season.
