Eight home-grown players in the first team by 2013?

[Sothall_Blade]

“What I want, in three to five years, is to have seven or eight home-grown players in our first team. That needs to be the way forward."

So said Trevor Birch in a recent Yorkshire Post article. Presumably this is what he’ll also be saying to Sean O’ Driscoll, Micky Adams, Phil Brown and any other prospective managerial candidates but how realistic a target is it?

By my reckoning, in the last 10 years, the club has produced 10 players currently playing at Championship or Premiership level (Montgomery, Quinn, Lowton, Sharp, Naughton, Walker, Forte, Mellis, Tonge and Jagielka). Of those 10 we’ve only managed to retain the services of 30% as the others have either been sold to raise funds or left of their own accord.

So to achieve Birch’s target, the club will need to produce 21-24 Championship-quality players in the next 3-5 years. That’s more than double the number of good players in less than half the time. So how are United planning to achieve that massive 400+% increase?

Are we going to stop selling home-grown players that we receive attractive offers for? Highly unlikely.

Are we going to retain young players for longer in the hope they come good? That’s possible but for every Forte and Sharp who came good, there are many,many more who never did come good.

Are we simply saying that producing an average of ONE Championship-quality player a season isn’t good enough and we need to produce THREE a season? Have any other clubs at our level have ever achieved this?

It's a very laudable aim but isn't it a bit like Miss World stating she wants to achieve World Peace?

 

[alcoblade]

Sounds like complete load of bollocks to me. The only way this will come about is if we're preparing for a life in league one. Has any team ever achieved anything with such stats, other than for the odd game?

I could imagine a club potentially producing 8 elegible players at any one time - but as with Naughton, Walke and Lowton - there's be an imbalance in the positions they could fill, so inevitably some would be sold and some would need buying.

I'm all for the gist, as long as we're not fooling ourselves that we'll survive outside the transfer market.

UTB

 

[DuncDisorderly]

There was a time when Middlesborough could just about field a complete team out of their academy (Cattermole, Johnson, Downing, Wheater etc). If there is anyone who can get close it is Pembo...

 

[alcoblade]

There was a time when Middlesborough could just about field a complete team out of their academy (Cattermole, Johnson, Downing, Wheater etc). If there is anyone who can get close it is Pembo...

Aye, at some point in the past, some team in some division almost managed it. The odds aren't lookin good, are they?



UTB

 

[GRUMPY BLADE]

“What I want, in three to five years, is to have seven or eight home-grown players in our first team. That needs to be the way forward."

So said Trevor Birch in a recent Yorkshire Post article. Presumably this is what he’ll also be saying to Sean O’ Driscoll, Micky Adams, Phil Brown and any other prospective managerial candidates but how realistic a target is it?

By my reckoning, in the last 10 years, the club has produced 10 players currently playing at Championship or Premiership level (Montgomery, Quinn, Lowton, Sharp, Naughton, Walker, Forte, Mellis, Tonge and Jagielka). Of those 10 we’ve only managed to retain the services of 30% as the others have either been sold to raise funds or left of their own accord.

So to achieve Birch’s target, the club will need to produce 21-24 Championship-quality players in the next 3-5 years. That’s more than double the number of good players in less than half the time. So how are United planning to achieve that massive 400+% increase?

Are we going to stop selling home-grown players that we receive attractive offers for? Highly unlikely.

Are we going to retain young players for longer in the hope they come good? That’s possible but for every Forte and Sharp who came good, there are many,many more who never did come good.

Are we simply saying that producing an average of ONE Championship-quality player a season isn’t good enough and we need to produce THREE a season? Have any other clubs at our level have ever achieved this?

It's a very laudable aim but isn't it a bit like Miss World stating she wants to achieve World Peace?

Assumes we are still in the championship and it's still called the championship??

 

[sheffielder]

I think the days of the likes of spurs giving us up to 10million for walker and naughton are long gone. Every club apart from Man City is going to have to be shrewd and it's not just us talking about having to bring youngsters through.

This is why this new 'ethos' is the way forward. Attactive football played by players you can associate with bringing in the crowds to allow you not to sell your best players to break even.

I wish they had never put season tickets up this summer but as long as they

1. don't put them up again.
2. We get a manager who plays attractive football and will develop youth

that we will be one of a new breed of club becoming self sufficient that fans will want to follow. It could be really exciting times IF we get this right

 

[DuncDisorderly]

Aye, at some point in the past, some team in some division almost managed it. The odds aren't lookin good, are they?



UTB

If its been done once then by definition it is not impossible. With the right effort in the right places, it can be done again. Crewe do it all the time as well.

If the ethos of the club has changed, as it appears to have (and which I welcome), then it becomes a virtuous circle. We can hold on to our young stars because we dont need the money to fund the PL benchwarmers, because we have young stars instead...

 

[Revolution]

As ever with the current management, it's a case of ignore what they say and wait to see what they actually do. In this regard, I'm sure many remember Mr McCabe's statement that "the shutters would come down" if Naughton and Walker were not sold by a certain date. The deadline passed, but it turned out that the shutters were defective, and off they went anyway.

In any event, given that

(a) it is currently impossible to build a Championship quality side and break even and

(b) McCabe has no intention of providing further funding

We will have to keep selling our better players to stay afloat, starting with Henderson and Ward (if fit) this coming January no doubt.

 

[raul]

Looks like another one of those "In five years ti-ii-iime" pledges.

 

[Sharpy]

haha yeah right.

We all know that as soon as we get any decent young player in the side, they will be sold as soon as the slightest bit of interest is shown.

Trev, you cant have 8 home grown players in the squad when you sell them at the first opportunity.

 

[JohnDenver]

Didn't Mike McDonald say a very similar thing around the time he quit pushing the boat out?

At least this time we've the staff and infrastructure to have a chance. Though I'm sure seven is an aspiration, not a concrete target.

 

[FleaPitBlade]

SUFC have made big changes at Shirecliffe over the past couple of years after there was a general acceptance/realisation that the conveyor belt was ending at the first team dressing room with very little left on it!

I speak to a few people who are involved with United's acadamy through various soccer schools and coaching inititives. Some of the younger teams are considered to be amongst the best in the country.

Apparently the U12's in particular are knocking spots off all before them.

There are of coarse a million and one things that can happen between now and the time these lads are first team age, but there are signs that if we can keep things moving that in a few years time we'll be seeing a much better calibre of graduates.

 

[alcoblade]

Crewe do it all the time as well.

To be fair fella, you've proved my point for me.

UTB