NEIL MOXLEY Academy award or a big-budget flop?
Fwolwloww. Tew. eurk: @peoplesport HERE’S one for you. Can you find the link between the following footballers?
John Terry (Chelsea), Mark Noble (West Ham), Harry Kane (Spurs), Ross Barkley (Everton), Sam Field (WBA), Ben Gibson and Stewart Downing, (both Middlesbrough), Jordan Pickford and Lynden Gooch ( both Sunderland), and Matt Targett (Southampton).
Struggling? A few aren’t household names, admittedly.
From my research, those 10 were the only players who started during the last round of Premier League matches at the clubs where they were given their professional education.
So, out of the 220 players that kicked off ‘Matchday Three’ just four per cent learnt their trade at the clubs they now play for.
Fair enough, Mox, I hear you say: What are you getting at?
It’s a thorny one this, but here goes... What’s the point of Premier League academies?
Why do Manchester City spend £12million a year and Chelsea half that amount if they aren’t producing a single player? I name two clubs, but obviously there are more.
There will be howls of protests from people reading these words. What about Marcus Rashford? What about so-and-so... blah, blah.
Yes, on any given day the likes of Rashford might play.
But then, others such as Gooch, Pickford and Field – who the majority of you will never have heard of – won’t.
Dismantled
I repeat the question. Why should Premier League clubs foot a bill for millions of pounds on producing youth footballers when they derive little or no direct benefit from it?
What is the point of spending money on footballers you never use?
It was West Ham United co-owner David Sullivan who, shortly after buying his way into the game at Birmingham City, decided to review his cost base.
The publishing tycoon – fed up with Barry Fry buying up anyone and everyone – looked at his outgoings and came up with a solution: He dismantled the club’s youth system.
He was spending £1m a year propping up a series of junior teams who weren’t contributing to the first team. So, he decided to do something about it – and scrapped the lot.
The outcry was predictable. It amounted to people screaming: ‘You can’t do that!’ Only Sullivan did. He was only persuaded to reinstate the Centre of Excellence – as it was called at the time – when the most famous graduate of the club’s youth system, Trevor Francis, made its return a precondition of him becoming boss.
The irony is, however, that at a time when a pathway to first-team football in the Premier League is beset by even bigger obstacles, there appears to be no end to t he l engths people will go to corner the best flowering talent.
For those still reeling at the thought of a string of average players now trousering £100,000 a week in wages, the knockon effect has dripped down into junior levels.
It would be unfair to name the player or those involved, but this week I learnt of a lad plucked from one academy at a Championship club and spirited to the north-west. A five-figure transfer fee changed hands. The youngster is now living in a flat with his mum – who is paid to babysit him with her living expenses paid for – while this 11-yearold (that’s right, he’s 11) is treated to a private education at the behest of his new Premier League paymasters. Good luck to both the youngster and his family. In fairness, his new club’s record at promoting youth is better than most – but this desperate scramble to find the best talent is flawed. If there were a string of successes to shout about from the rooftops, then going t o such lengths would be understandable. But there i sn’t. Several clubs have used loans as a way of ensuring youngsters pick up relevant experience. Most of those who regularly occupy positions in the top four are the biggest culprits. Chelsea could now field three teams NICKLAS BENDTNER arrived at Nottingham Forest on a two-year deal worth £13,000 a week. He couldn’t even be bothered to get out of bed on time to play for Wolfsburg. Why on earth do the decision-makers at the City Ground think he’ll bother tossing back the duvet to do the business for them in the Championship?