Shirecliffe Academy

[Balham]

If he’s purposefully picked number 80 as his squad number he should be prevented from entering the professional game.

We give ridiculous numbers to the U18s. You can see them every time there's an article on the OS about the next group of scholars turning pro.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

We give ridiculous numbers to the U18s. You can see them every time there's an article on the OS about the next group of scholars turning pro.

Indeed. Sets a dreadful example for the future players.

 

[BushBlade]

Indeed. Sets a dreadful example for the future players.

They have to earn a good number. No free lunches at the Lane.

 

[LoughboroBlade]

They have to earn a good number. No free lunches at the Lane.

Absolutely – in fact really we should have a policy of them being numberless till becoming professional, with each youth player having to go through some sort of harsh initiation ceremony before getting presented with their number. The squad number should also never be higher than 40.

 

[bromtom]

How about giving them fractions.

"Alright lad, you're not bad but you're miles away from the first team, you can be 3/8ths."

 

[PageHallBlade]

But not enough time to learn some forum etiquette and proper grammar?

Odd that you would accuse someone of "Bigger Blade"syndrome when writing like a know all yourself.

could it be that i am fully aware of what is happening on the site.
i was accused of having an ulterior motive for posting (wednesday fan, scc employee, property developer) and then slagged off for being a newcomer maybe the correct etiquette would be not to slag off newcomers.
it doesnt make me less of a fan if i think the site should be used for housing rather than training ground when we've only been in the prem for less than a year, or that if it does get sold to SUFC the citizens of sheffield get a better deal back rather than ripped off as we have been in the past by both football clubs.

 

[Bookers Mullet]

if you read the post you see i said no official assesment ( as in authroised and allowed by SCC) have been done, i can do an assement of the land but without a full ground survey ( which hasnt been done ) it means eff all
im dismissive as the land should be used for housing not for a training ground for a private concern but if sufc did want to purchase i would want to ensure that what the city got back was as good if not better deal that can be cash or a better option would be a land swap.

numerous supermarkets with deeper pockets than us have tried to purchse the site due to its good location

i frankly couldnt care less whether you think im a pig or not the fact i dont have a lot of posts is because i have frankly more in my life your post count suggests otherwise you massive prick bigger blade

You seem in the know, so just a question if I may, as SCC own the land and we (as in Sheffield) need affordable houses, why has it sat derelict for as long as I can remember (best part of 40 years) and yet SCC seem hell bent on flogging off graves park for property development (green belt land) despite them being only a couple of miles apart?

And yes I know SCC are full weight cunts, but I was hoping there is a logical reason for it.

 

[PageHallBlade]

You seem in the know, so just a question if I may, as SCC own the land and we (as in Sheffield) need affordable houses, why has it sat derelict for as long as I can remember (best part of 40 years) and yet SCC seem hell bent on flogging off graves park for property development (green belt land) despite them being only a couple of miles apart?

And yes I know SCC are full weight cunts, but I was hoping there is a logical reason for it.

i'll see if i can dig around in my old stuff to find the exact reason/s ( i know there was talk a few years ago then the economy crashed and i think some part of it was tied up in covenants because it was originally governmnet land) but Graves park hasnt been sold off there was one derelict cottage outside the boundary of the park that was sold and the money from that sale was reinvested into the park ( i think it was for new public toilets ).
and really SCC arent C**** they are the same as any large organisation some things they get wrong and they get correctly called out for it but to tar an entire company isnt on.
i mean SUFC and SWFC owe the council around £500,000 for the failed world cup bid and agreed to split the costs with the council when it was unsuccesful they reneged on paying it back which left us to pick up the tab does that make either clubs C**** ( well one are )

 

[Berkshire Blade]

Piece in the athletic about the new plans but I don't subscribe

 

[HarryHaslam]

Sheffield United’s renowned ability to hone budding young talent is such that choosing a best XI from those players to have graduated from the academy over the past two decades is far from an easy task.

Some pick themselves. Any team in the Premier League, for instance, would surely be happy to have Harry Maguire and Kyle Walker — two of the five most expensive defenders in the world — lining up in defence.

But scratch a little further below the surface and there are some big decisions to make. Does David Brooks, so scintillating in his first year at Bournemouth but who still has only 38 senior League starts to his name after injury put his career on hold last summer, make the cut?

Who is best suited to the right wing-back role if the 3-5-2 set-up that has served Chris Wilder so well is the formation of choice? And has Aaron Ramsdale, another United academy graduate spirited away to the south coast by Eddie Howe, done enough to pip Hull City’s highly-rated George Long to the goalkeeper’s jersey?

So many questions, though for what it’s worth, The Athletic’s XI has Ramsdale in goal behind a back three of Walker, Phil Jagielka and Maguire. Nick Montgomery anchors midfield, allowing Brooks and Stephen Quinn to get forward along with wing-backs Matty Lowton and Kyle Naughton. Billy Sharp leads the attack alongside Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

It’s quite an XI and a vivid illustration of why United, despite only being promoted last season, regularly occupy a lofty position in the table of academies with graduates who have played the most minutes of Premier League football each season.

In 2018-19, Maguire, Walker et al spent a combined 12,400 minutes on the pitch in the top flight — giving the South Yorkshire club the sixth-highest tally in the country. The previous campaign, United were fifth in the same table and eighth in 2016-17.

United are rightly proud of this record. Now, though, Chris Wilder being the sort of manager who believes to stand still is to go backwards means that this conveyor belt of young talent is due for an overhaul.

The Category 2 status the club’s academy has operated under for the best part of 20 years is to be upgraded on the back of the riches that a second season among the elite will bring. And that means moving to a new site, something that the United hierarchy believe will be crucial to the club’s future both in the long and short term.

Building United’s academy in a part of the city regarded as staunch Sheffield Wednesday territory early in the new millennium could have been taken in one of two ways.

Either, it was a deliberate two fingers up at the enemy, whose Hillsborough home lies just a couple of miles down the hill from the Shirecliffe site that, since 2001, has been United’s training base. Or, the choice of location in the north of the Steel City was a straightforward blunder, manager Wilder having joked a few times over the years that “whoever put our training ground in Sheffield Wednesday territory wants shooting”.

The reality behind the decision to buy the land that lies up Herries Road from Wednesday’s stadium is rather more prosaic. Forgemasters, producers of steel in the city since the early 1800s, owned the site, which had been the company’s sports field for many years, and were looking to sell.

A deal had been agreed only to fall through at the final minute. With the end of the financial year fast approaching, Forgemasters — a quoted plc — needed a quick sale, so a call was made to then United owner Kevin McCabe.

The lifelong fan turned director and then chairman was on holiday with his family in Spain. But the property developer knew the site well from his days playing football as a kid, Forgemasters having hosted several Cup finals each year.

An agreement was quickly reached and construction started soon afterwards. Sean Bean, actor and lifelong supporter of the club, and former Minister for Sport Richard Caborn opened the new academy in 2001.

At the time, the facilities were state-of-the-art. The main building housed an indoor artificial pitch, canteen, gym, classrooms and offices. Several full-sized grass outdoor pitches were also created, including one specifically set aside for academy matches in front of the top building — basically, the old sports pavilion from the days when Forgemasters owned the site that remains to this day the domain of the first team.

United have worked hard to maintain the site’s upkeep. Upgrades have been made over the years to a facility that now also houses a women’s regional talent centre, particularly last summer in the wake of promotion to the Premier League. Drainage was improved, as was the quality of the pitches via the introduction of Desso technology, whereby artificial fibres support the natural grass.

But if Wilder’s wish for United to join their top-flight peers in boasting a Category 1 academy is to be granted, then there is no option but to move away from a site that is hemmed in by housing on two sides, a busy road on the other, and backs on to protected woodland area.

Shirecliffe has four outdoor grass pitches, plus an artificial surface complete with floodlights. But to make the step-up in category, that number will have to be increased significantly, possibly to as high as 15 or 16 to accommodate all the various age levels.

There must also be at least one floodlit grass pitch, enclosed with perimeter fencing and featuring designated areas for spectators, plus another floodlit artificial surface pitch. Every top-level academy must also boast an indoor pitch, no smaller than 60 yards by 40 yards, plus a minimum of three classrooms that can all hold at least 20 students and 20 computers.

Staff levels will also have to go up to satisfy the new Category 1 criteria, which again would be nigh on impossible at the current site due to those space restrictions.

Any upgrade will be timely. No-one can doubt United’s commitment to bringing youth through, as their record at Shirecliffe vividly illustrates.

But the supply to the first team has slowed in recent years to such an extent that the club is the only one in the Premier League yet to field a player under the age of 21 this season. Until the debut of Sander Berge, 21, at the start of this month, United’s youngest player had been on-loan goalkeeper Dean Henderson, who will be 23 next month.

Part of this can be put down to Wilder believing any talented youngster is best exposed to men’s football via the loans system.

Rhys Norrington-Davies (Rochdale), Regan Slater (Scunthorpe United) and Tyler Smith (Bristol Rovers and Rochdale) will all spend the entire 2019-20 campaign in the Football League, while highly-regarded striker David Parkhouse made a temporary switch to League Two strugglers Stevenage in January.

It should also be noted that but for the financial constraints at the time and the desire of both Brooks and Ramsdale to make the step up to the Premier League, chances are the Bournemouth duo would still be at Bramall Lane.

United’s rapid rise through the divisions is another factor. Any emerging talent is now trying to break into a top-flight team rather than, say, Maguire, who played the vast majority of his 100-plus games for the club in League One. In many ways, the academy is playing catch-up with Wilder’s first team.

Uprooting from Shirecliffe to custom-built facilities is designed to help bridge that gap. But where in the city will United go? Several potential sites have been considered but The Athletic understands what used to be Norton Aerodrome has emerged as the clear front-runner.

Home to many of Sheffield’s anti-aircraft barrage balloons during the Second World War, RAF Norton closed in 1965 and the intervening decades have seen mother nature gradually reclaim what is a huge site to the south-east of the city.

Various development projects have been mooted from time to time, including plans for housing. A driving school also operated on part of the land for a number of years. As yet though, no scheme has got further than the drawing board of various architect firms.

Prince Abdullah, the club’s owner, was part of a reconnaissance visit by club officials to the area just last month and plans are believed to be at an advanced stage.

Crucially, the site dwarfs United’s current base at Shirecliffe. It is also much closer to what are regarded to be the club’s heartlands, with the old training ground from the Dave Bassett era at Warminster Road just a short drive away.

No firm decision has been made but if, as seems likely, United do plump for the site then, chances are, at least initially, the academy will make the move, with the first team remaining at Shirecliffe.

Extensive works were undertaken at the club’s current base last summer, while the coming close season will see a new building erected next to the pitch on which Wilder’s squad currently train during the week. This will be a welcome addition, not least because preparations for the Burnley home game in early November had to be conducted amid buckets being positioned through the current first-team building due to the roof springing a leak.

Only once the academy has settled in to its new home will the seniors possibly follow, a time-span that may stretch to two or even three years. By then, the hope is that United are not only still in the Premier League but the next generation of Maguires, Walkers and Ramsdales are coming through.

 

[PageHallBlade]

i'll see if i can dig around in my old stuff to find the exact reason/s ( i know there was talk a few years ago then the economy crashed and i think some part of it was tied up in covenants because it was originally governmnet land) but Graves park hasnt been sold off there was one derelict cottage outside the boundary of the park that was sold and the money from that sale was reinvested into the park ( i think it was for new public toilets ).
and really SCC arent C**** they are the same as any large organisation some things they get wrong and they get correctly called out for it but to tar an entire company isnt on.
i mean SUFC and SWFC owe the council around £500,000 for the failed world cup bid and agreed to split the costs with the council when it was unsuccesful they reneged on paying it back which left us to pick up the tab does that make either clubs C**** ( well one are ).

ok to update the reason is that it was sold to SCC from the governmnet with the stipulation it was to be used for exclusively for housing.

if i was sufc i would look to move to attercliffe its has the athletics area the eis olympic legacy and all that and large areas of land that are industrial so planning is not much of an issue it also has good transport links (tram etc).

 

[BushBlade]

ok to update the reason is that it was sold to SCC from the governmnet with the stipulation it was to be used for exclusively for housing.

if i was sufc i would look to move to attercliffe its has the athletics area the eis olympic legacy and all that and large areas of land that are industrial so planning is not much of an issue it also has good transport links (tram etc).

Do councils still build council properties? I thought most social housing was provided by housing associations these days. If they bought it for housing, why aren’t they building housing on it? That’s what they bought it for.

 

[PageHallBlade]

Do councils still build council properties? I thought most social housing was provided by housing associations these days. If they bought it for housing, why aren’t they building housing on it? That’s what they bought it for.

i haven't mentioned social housing i would assume the reason is that as its such large site it would need significant investment from a company to build on and we have other sites that are easier to build on that are empty that need housing first ( parson cross etc) the economy crashes havent helped either.

 

[Charlieblade]

It’s ironic that McCabe has gone now. His property empire would be well placed to build a new academy site supplemented by social housing a community facilities, such as swimming, cycling and gymnasia.
Objections from the other Sheffield club are obvious based on conflict of interest. I.e. it doesn’t suit theirs.

 

[Bookers Mullet]

i'll see if i can dig around in my old stuff to find the exact reason/s ( i know there was talk a few years ago then the economy crashed and i think some part of it was tied up in covenants because it was originally governmnet land) but Graves park hasnt been sold off there was one derelict cottage outside the boundary of the park that was sold and the money from that sale was reinvested into the park ( i think it was for new public toilets ).
and really SCC arent C**** they are the same as any large organisation some things they get wrong and they get correctly called out for it but to tar an entire company isnt on.
i mean SUFC and SWFC owe the council around £500,000 for the failed world cup bid and agreed to split the costs with the council when it was unsuccesful they reneged on paying it back which left us to pick up the tab does that make either clubs C**** ( well one are )

Having lived in S8 all my life it's hard not to have a bad opinion of SCC, but that's an entire other topic.

And it wasn't just cobnar cottage, there was the whole st Luke's debacle (who were funnily enough recommended to look at Norton aerodrome rather than slapping it in the middle of the park, which they went quiet on), also the flats on chesterfield road whose back gardens encroach into the park and not really planning but where they were using the old Norton garden centre (part of the park ) as a dump for the collected cities dog mess.

They look at graves park with envious eyes, and really it's a shame that friends of graves park has to exist when really the council should be proud and honest enough to keep such a beautiful place as is, for the people of Sheffield. Anyway sorry for derailing the thread

 

[Bladezz]

The plans for sufc look very exciting! In every aspect! The requirements for a category 1 academy (I didn’t realise as much was needed). But if we could get it or close it would be a real statement. Chris Wilder is taking us light years ahead of them on and off the pitch.

I would like some stadium improvements too, but I understand there’s work going on elsewhere in our club.