Pay us to bring on young talent
PREMIER League clubs should be paying their lower league counterparts to develop young talent via the loan system.
That’s the view of Rochdale chief executive Russ Green, who feels the smaller clubs deserve more reward for preparing youngsters for ‘real’ football.
Keith Hill has steered clear of the loan market in recent times, preferring to develop the club’s own youngsters.
And Green can see why – he reckons playing in the Football League offers priceless experience to young hopefuls who have only previously showcased their abilities in under 21s leagues, which don’t offer a realistic representation of the real game.
“I believe that Premier League clubs should pay us – we have to pay for these loans to come in by contributing to wages, but we are the ones developing the lads,” Green said.
“They should come to clubs like us and think ‘this is the best development he can get, we’ll give you so much for developing him.’”
Green spent 14 years at Hartlepool before his move to Rochdale last August, and it was a similar story in the north east.
“I had a couple of players come to Hartlepool from a Premier League club – a centre half in his third year, so he was 20 or 21, and they were going to release him within six months,” he recalled.
“He came to Hartlepool for six months at Christmas and he had a great spell, he grew in stature and became a big part of the squad.
“So this club, who were going to release him in June, saw his progress and all of a sudden they’ve got bids in for him and they ended up selling him to a Championship side for half a million quid.
“They were going to release him! Who’s done the work there? Yet Hartlepool had to pay towards his wages.
“It happened with a striker we had on loan as well and you think ‘we’ve done that work for you, put him in the shop window and done everything for you’.”
Fortunately, Green senses a change in attitudes among parents of talented young players – and that spells good new for clubs like Rochdale.
“We had a very good Academy at Hartlepool, where obviously we were up against Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, like we have City, United, Blackburn, Burnley.
“What used to happen was the kids went to the big clubs but over the years, parents and kids have seen they’ve got a chance if they go to Rochdale or Hartlepool.
“When they get to 16 they’ve got a chance of ‘They learn more playing in the first team here for six months than they will in three years playing under 21s’ getting a YT or a professional contract.
“When you go to City or United, when kids get to that age, they are bringing foreign players in, they just go and buy a player because they cannot afford to wait for a player to come through.
“It’s all instant fix – the managers are under pressure so they can’t afford to wait for Joe Bloggs to come through the Academy. What happens to those kids when they hit 16? They’re gone, their whole dreams are finished and it comes to a dead end.
“But at Rochdale, we’ve seen Aaron Morley come through at 16 and Keith puts him into the team. If they are good enough they get in. Aaron and lads like him know they will get the development here – those last few years of development are very important.
“If they go to a Premier League club, they get to 18, get a contract and they become an under 21 player then in the under 21s league, where it’s played on carpets, tippy tappy football where it doesn’t matter if you win, lose or draw, it’s all about development.
“But you get players who come to us on loan from that and they learn more from playing in the first team here for six months than they will in three years playing under 21s. Playing in front of three, four thousand people every week where every result matters, you become a man.
“I think parents are starting to realise now, because parents were getting caught up in the bright lights of City, United – but now they are getting switched on.”
Green admits that, despite working with an effective Academy at Hartlepool, he was surprised by the quality of Dale’s set-up when he arrived the club last summer.
“I think the biggest shock I had when I came into the club was the Academy – it’s absolutely phenomenal,” he said.
“Of sixty Football League clubs with Academies, Rochdale are in top place. It’s graded by the number of players who come through the Academy and play in the first team – our ratio is unbelievable.
“We have a fantastic Academy at this club and what we are trying to do in future months is open an Academy centre at the club, so we will have a headquarters within the ground.
“The Community team is working closely with the Academy. We have an EDS squad that works through the college, so they get an educational qualifications as well as football, we have shadow squads going on so that any potential player coming through, we get first choice on them.
“This has all been done on a shoestring, but it’s been done by people who are very good at their jobs.”