Adkins Interview After Rochdale (A)

[alcoblade]

To be fair, alco when we signed Brayford it was seen as a 'statement of intent' and questioned by absolutely no-one. We were still giddy about the Cup runs including that marvellous game v. Charlton and getting into the play-offs. Since then, he's had a serious injury, we've continued to sell/loan out anybody who shone that season (Murphy, McNulty), the true damage that Clough caused is still becoming apparent and I think the signing of Brayford is the least of our worries. When you sign a statement player, you've got to follow it up by making sure he's got similar talent surrounding him. Players such as Coady, McDonald etc.

The fans can't really judge though. Given gerzillions of cash, he's a good signing. Given that a year later the money would have dried up again and you are relying on loans, it's unforgivable.

UTB

 

[Sothall_Blade]

It's the running cost of the academy, not the land. We could still use some if the facilities and sell off the rest.

The accepted heavy running cost of an academy are different to the fixed cost of the buildings.

Most of the land is training pitches. Grass and/or artificial.
Assuming that we are going to keep at least a couple of training pitches for our players, how much land does that actually leave to sell?
How much money would we make by selling that amount of land?

What is the accepted heavy running cost of an academy?
Has it paid for itself by selling Naughton, Walker, Lowton and Maguire for £15M?
Or not?
I would like to see some hard facts and figures but nobody on here seems to know them?
I presume the financial people on the board know them and have deemed the academy to be paying its way or better.
Does anybody really think they would persist with something that's losing them millions of pounds every year?

 

[alcoblade]

Most of the land is training pitches. Grass and/or artificial.
Assuming that we are going to keep at least a couple of training pitches for our players, how much land does that actually leave to sell?
How much money would we make by selling that amount of land?

What is the accepted heavy running cost of an academy?
Has it paid for itself by selling Naughton, Walker, Lowton and Maguire for £15M?
Or not?
I would like to see some hard facts and figures but nobody on here seems to know them?
I presume the financial people on the board know them and have deemed the academy to be paying its way or better.
Does anybody really think they would persist with something that's losing them millions of pounds every year?

Hard facts aren't known. A bit of googling suggests the average running (not setup) cost of our class is between 1 and 2 million a year. It's not about land.

Walker and Nauhton no doubt paid off a big chunk. Did that make it better? Are we a better club for continually raising the hopes of fans with young players that then need to be sold to cover the cost if the thing that paid for them?

And sadly, past returns in players are unlikely to be seen again. The changes to the way academies like ours are compensated have seen to that.

Think of the mental energy directed at it, and what might happen if we turned this effort and resource to young upcoming players from elsewhere. Ones we could afford, in the positions we neeeded, at the right time.

Do I really think the club would sanction a loss maker? Look at the repeated mistakes McCabe makes. I, for one, don't trust him.

UTB

 

[Sothall_Blade]

Hard facts aren't known. A bit of googling suggests the average running (not setup) cost of our class is between 1 and 2 million a year. It's not about land.

Walker and Nauhton no doubt paid off a big chunk. Did that make it better? Are we a better club for continually raising the hopes of fans with young players that then need to be sold to cover the cost if the thing that paid for them?

And sadly, past returns in players are unlikely to be seen again. The changes to the way academies like ours are compensated have seen to that.

Think of the mental energy directed at it, and what might happen if we turned this effort and resource to young upcoming players from elsewhere. Ones we could afford, in the positions we neeeded, at the right time.

Do I really think the club would sanction a loss maker? Look at the repeated mistakes McCabe makes. I, for one, don't trust him.

UTB

I think there is an argument for cutting the costs of the academy without scrapping it. Maybe reduce the number of age levels and coaches?

There are only 3 clubs in the entire football league who don't have any sort of academy at all. Wycombe, Morecambe and Yeovil. Do we really want to join them?

An interesting article here about Watford deciding to drop from a category 1 to category 3 to save costs:-

http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/sp..._between_a_Category_1_and_3_Academy_/?ref=rss

However, they didn't scrap most of their facilities and they've since applied to be category 2 again. To get better quality fixtures like us for one thing:-

http://www.watfordfc.com/news/article/watford-fc-academy-eppp-category-2-vicarage-road-2310555.aspx

 

[Silent Blade]

we've continued to sell/loan out anybody who shone that season (Murphy, McNulty).

McNulty???? He is rubbish!!!

 

[Bladesince59]

About time our fucking goalie was inspired. What a waste of space, Come back when you've grown some balls,