Clarke clocks in on FA time

New Belgium boss Roberto Mar tinez gets a £10m pay-off after leading Everton nowhere. If I ever need an agent, I know whose number I’ll be dialling

full of loanees – with no guarantee whatsoever that they will make it into the first team. For all the cash spent, there isn’t a lot of success from the ranks of their juniors.

And who would want to be in charge of Watford’s academy, for instance?

The Pozzo family are breaking no rules, but have populated the Hornets’ side with a glut of imports.

So why do clubs persist with such a policy?

Because in a competition awash with money, bankrolled by several billionaire owners, they can. As the rewards get richer and transfer fees rocket skywards, it obviously makes more sense to produce your own. Only, no one is. Sooner or later someone is going to look at the figures, as Sullivan did, and decide that they can do without spending this money on academies. If the Premier League insist, owners will merely pay lip service to it.

It will be easier to buy and fill any gaps.

And when that time comes – judging from the lack of players coming through – it will be difficult to argue against. WISE words from incoming Football Association chairman Greg Clarke.

He rightly lampooned Greg Dyke’s countdown conundrum of the ticking clock at St George’s Park which is supposed to mark that glorious day at the 2022 World Cup when we lift the little gold pott again.

But his assertion that Brexit might harm our chances of landing a major tournament win n was a waste of hot air.

Whatever your position, th the vote has taken place.

It sounded to me like Clarke (above) was getting in his excuses before FIFA and UEFA turned their backs on the FA for good. It was needless and irrelevant.

In fact, it was almost as pointless as the clock.