We've lost a lot of our big academy players to other clubs in recent times, for whatever reasons; a lot of them have left to pursue bigger interests. But how many have actually done that well away from Southampton? Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott and Wayne Bridge are those that have made real progress with their careers. You could say Leon Best has done well at Newcastle and Scott McDonald and Nathan Dyer have done well for themselves to, but what about others? Those that left to further their career; Surman, Baird, Blackstock, Crainie, McGoldrick - have they really done much since they were at Saints? How do you think Chamberlain's career will pan out as well?
Andrew Surman didn't leave to further his career, he was sold off to the highest bidder to keep the club afloat in the dark days of administration. He's doing alright with Norwich and the very best of luck to him! As for the others, don't know and don't care a great deal tbh.
Plenty of very highly rated youngsters go absolutely no where. I remember Josh Dutton-Black who used to play on the other wing to Walcott and was just as highly rated has gone no where and I don't think he's even playing non-league anymore. Jake Thomson was England U16 & U17 captain and I remember people saying that he was an amazing prospect as he could play well in any position (apart from goalie). He was released by Exeter in the summer and doesn't have a club now.
I'm always amazed how many ex-Saints players are on the score sheets at other clubs. I always listen out for them. Most moved on because it suited the club. Andrew Surman didn't want to leave. Neither did Kelvin, but luckily he was rescued during his medical at West Ham. The Oxo saga has been the most unpleasant because there was tapping up, manipulation from his side and disrespect. Hey ho..lots of dosh and our team have shown they play fine without him. There are two possibilities for Alex..he's played too soon and his confidence is shot to shreds (unlikely) or he's allowed to develop slowly which he probably wouldn't have at Saints. Perhaps Saints development side may meet him soon! Youngsters don't always reach their potential. Theo is a good Premiership player but is he that huge star we all thought he would be?
Players leave for a variety of reasons. When we fell from the EPL, many of our players contract automatically kicked in a halving of their wages and the players still want premiership status, so Baird and Niemi left. In the Championship, Bale, Walcott Surman, etc. were sold by the club because they had to, to stay afloat. Chamberlain has gone because he wanted to. The reasons why they left doesn't seem to have a bearing on how successful they will be, I think that is down to their own temperament and frankly luck when you look at the injuries they sustain and also the injuries to others which enable them to get a place in the first team and a chance to shine.
Saints FA Youth Cup final team of 2005... 1 GK Andrew McNeil - Livingston, Scottish First Division 2 DF Craig Richards - Retired from football after injury 3 DF Sebastian Wallis-Taylor - Last seen playing for Bognor Regis a couple of years ago 4 FW David McGoldrick - Nottingham Forest 5 DF Sean Rudd - No trace of him 6 DF Martin Cranie - Coventry City 7 MF Lloyd James - Colchester United 8 MF Tim Sparv - FC Groningen in Holland, Current Finnish international 9 FW Theo Walcott - Arsenal & England 10 FW Leon Best - Newcastle United 11 MF Nathan Dyer - Swansea City Sub FW Adam Lallana - Southampton (and makes Messi look ****e) Sub MF Feliciano Condesso - Ontinyent CF (Spanish 3rd Division) Sub DF Kyle Critchell - Dorchester Town Sub DF Gareth Bale - Tottenham Hotspur
Good work CBK. Actually quite a few did make a career out of football...better than average I would suspect.
lallana and bale on the bench -SCARY. Value now- Mcgoldrick 1.5 mil Crainie 1 mil , Best 2 mil, Dyer 1 mil (but still a twat) Baird 2.5 mil, Bale 30 mil , Lallana 15 mil ( after ripping a few new holes in playersin the premiership Total 53 mil, not bad
Blimey CBK, what a mine of information. Or, too much time on your hands. Not many I'd want back. Walcott and Bale only. I'm glad we've kept Lallane though. He will win us more games than Walcott and Bale put together. COYS
And no mention of Kenwyne Jones either..! Dear oh dear. Or Matthew Mills. Blast from the past, Swansea Captain Gary Monk has just signed another 3 year deal. Quite pleased for him after years of never getting into the Saints team. EDIT: Does anyone remember Jones, Walcott and Dyer featuring in a Saints XI against Eastleigh Spitfires at Silverlake..? What astonished me was that Jones was the fastest of the 3.
Under 21's beat Havant on Tuesday 2 1 see http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10280~2415728,00.html
Fair enough about Mills, but I have never regarded Kenwyne Jones as an academy player - we signed him when he was 19 and he already had two seasons under his belt in Trinidad and Tobago.
