They are doing something right, not like SAFC who have produced Henderson, and a average ginger twat, who is the new mags superhero. After that **** all. Well done Southampton.
I'd settle for 4 or 5 Leadbitters per year, a 2.5 million transfer fee here and there builds up. At least the academy will be paying for itself that way.
Trying to think who has come through the academy and made money on. Henderson, good money. Waghorn was a few million. So not that much really, yet southampton seem to just produce them, and the big clubs pay big bucks for them. That's a sound business sense.
This "Southampton are doing something right" is rubbish - they are lucky same as any club who discovers a gem. You cannot coach what Bale, Walcott, Shearer, Le Tissier etc all have done in their careers - it is a natural ability. I watch Under 10s games and see some players who are already 2 or 3 steps ahead of the lads around them and you can see they might make the grade when they're adults - but I have watched thousands of kids play in the last 4 or five years and I think I have seen 4 of that ilk - and 1 of them was a girl so am guessing she'll not be signing for any of the big clubs. Then when the kids hit puberty and subsequently become old enough to think for themselves they have to have the right attitude - again - nothing a coach can give them. Finding a great player as a kid is lucky - keeping them on the right track is also lucky. Southampton are doing well in spotting them at the young age but keeping them interested in football is the difficult part
So how do Southampton keep doing it, yet clubs like SAFC are falling flat on their arse trying to do the same? Think it was Dario Gradi at Crewe, who also had a knack of over seeing the development of many. a decent player.
Not sure Marcus, I don't think you can just naturally evolve into a great player. There's always going to be an element of coaching required to tap into potential. How many 'local' talents have Southampton produced? I don't think there's gonna be that many. They come from all over. They've also developed the likes of Lallana and Lambert through different leagues, right up to BPL standard and not squad players, they're great players so I reckon their coaching set up is probably fantastic at every level. Won't be long before it's sniffed out by City or Chelsea I'd imagine.
I agree Terry - there is an element of coaching involved (mainly around the tactics and player positioning) but the ability is inherent and can't be coached - Messi, Ronaldo and Bale were not coached to be the players they are - they evolved into them through their ability - the main bit of a coach is to find the best way to get the players ability across (sorry to quote the level 1 FA badge!) but a coach does not give a player ability - nor does a coach provide a player with the balls to say "**** this growing up lark, I want to play football" which is the biggest problem - particularly (IMO) in this country - I've watched kids come through the system from u6 to u16 - when they hit 14 or 15 is when the real issues start - some greatly talented people have been released by clubs due to teenage puberty attitude and, later on, due to liking the odd beer or 5 every night - you can't coach people through that
I wish we'd give more of the academy players a run out in the first team, even if it's only in the last 20 minutes of a cup game, or a dead rubber end of season game (not that we ever seem to get many of those...). A common denominator with all of the exciting English players coming through is that they were given first team minutes early in their development, to get them used to the rigours of the Premiership at an early age. Would like to see more academy lads get loans to Championship teams rather than League Two sides, just to test their ability earlier on.
Completely agree fella, you can't coach talent you just have to make sure that when talent comes and they have an aptitude for football, you've got the right fellas in there to get the best out of them. Natural ability won't always develop on it's own, my mate was part of Liverpool school of excellence as a kid up to age 14 when he went off the rails and now he's just a window fitter. All the natural ability in the world but Liverpool didn't have a coach that guided him in life, not just on the pitch and as a result he made the wrong choices. The kid was like watching Gazza, couldn't get the ball off him at lunch time breaks! Ronaldo puts a massive part of his development down to Fergie and his team, which tells you everything. The current world player of the year and he's humble enough to recognise he'd never have achieved what he has on his own.
Aye that's true to a certain extent but how many have had the natural ability & wasted it? I mean for Gods sake, we've had a few ourselves. Martin Smith & David Rush spring to mind just off the top of my head. I'm sure if I had the energy to sit & think about it I could come up with more. Craig Russell? Never fulfilled his potential did he? Maybe with a bit of different coaching who knows what these lads would have achieved. And then of course you have the likes of Bestie & Gazza. Undoubtedly supremely talented with bags of natural ability but piss heads unfortunately. There's a lot of distractions in football because these young lads have so much money & so much time on their hands. Look at that lad Michael Johnson who played for Man City. Working his way into the England set up & on the **** pile now.
I went through school with a lad, (a former good mate) who was a top talent, a really good footballer, had the lot. Signed by SAFC as a kid, was going through the ranks, doing really well, then got caught nicking in the changing rooms (maybe). Threw it all away, turned into a nutter, and banned from watching SAFC. Some may know who i'm on about. What a waste.
I think it is what Marcus is hitting on. All the talent, but you can never tell which way people will turn out. I bet there are thousands out there, who could have made it, but threw it away. Where's the apprentices, where they clean the boots etc, and learn? Now once they are deemed good enough, even at 17,18 or 19, mega money is thrown at them, and they think they have cracked it.
Aye you're right. Can anybody remember what Arsenal paid Southampton for Oxo? I think it was about £15m with add ons for a teenager. ****ing shocking man.
I think the Southampton answer is that they find a good talent and let it develop rather than coach football ability into/out of them. Terry hit it on the head with Ronaldo when ManU channelled his natural ability into a more streightforward game where he ran on rather than beat his man twice just to show how good he is. Messi does not play a varied game either.
