Speaking of Dom Solanke, he's literally just agreed to join Liverpool it seems.
As for our academy - well, it's going to continue to happen and it's going to continue to piss us all off, until the regime leaves.
Is it really their fault? Was it their fault when Defoe went? Palmer? Not being funny their was no attempt at Cat 1 before they came as far as I saw.
I agree you can't only blame the regime for young players departing although they have made it worse.
There were plans for Cat 1 prior to the Belgian invasion. Plans had been drawn up and external funding from grants etc found. Collapsed when Varney fell out with Spivs and left.
But you can blame them. They have stated that their plan is to develop young talent and sell it. We get to see the stars of the future, and they get a return. Key to that is keeping the young talent until you can get real money back. That would make a Cat1 acadamy priority 1 in their plan, as we know first team results don't matter.
And yet here we are, after years of talking about it, and they still have not make any significant progress to Cat 1.
We may not like the develop/sell strategy, but it has some merit. But if the management can't even execute even that basic strategy - at least setting up the infrastructure to make it viable, then I fail to see how they can be trusted to do anything right.
I do not think you can blame the club when any player chooses to leave. It's the usual bright lights, shiny car park and a better tracksuit mentality. People here have posted the very same about other players elsewhere choosing what they think is the quick fix, the acid test is whether a player wants to kick on or is more interested in the cash in the early days. The academy will continue to produce players at a higher level than the category they are in. That's why other clubs constantly sniff around. I agree Cat 1 is a key strategy to help stop this and to be fair they have started, they are being audited regularly around the training infrastructure and education piece, they just need the rest of the facilities. That has moved on a bit, over the last few months and fingers crossed this year will see some start on the foundations of the main building. Hopefully they will move to Cat 1 at some point albeit it I think everyone hoped it would have been last year. The second year group to start this season in my view will be one of the strongest for a while - hopefully a positive platform to build on.
Seriously? They've had 3 years to get their shit together regarding the minimum requirements for being a cat 1 academy.
Where are we at now in comparison to where we were when Jiminez and his mates left the building?
Speaking of Dom Solanke, he's literally just agreed to join Liverpool it seems.
As for our academy - well, it's going to continue to happen and it's going to continue to piss us all off, until the regime leaves.
Is it really their fault? Was it their fault when Defoe went? Palmer? Not being funny their was no attempt at Cat 1 before they came as far as I saw.
I agree you can't only blame the regime for young players departing although they have made it worse.
There were plans for Cat 1 prior to the Belgian invasion. Plans had been drawn up and external funding from grants etc found. Collapsed when Varney fell out with Spivs and left.
But you can blame them. They have stated that their plan is to develop young talent and sell it. We get to see the stars of the future, and they get a return. Key to that is keeping the young talent until you can get real money back. That would make a Cat1 acadamy priority 1 in their plan, as we know first team results don't matter.
And yet here we are, after years of talking about it, and they still have not make any significant progress to Cat 1.
We may not like the develop/sell strategy, but it has some merit. But if the management can't even execute even that basic strategy - at least setting up the infrastructure to make it viable, then I fail to see how they can be trusted to do anything right.
I do not think you can blame the club when any player chooses to leave. It's the usual bright lights, shiny car park and a better tracksuit mentality. People here have posted the very same about other players elsewhere choosing what they think is the quick fix, the acid test is whether a player wants to kick on or is more interested in the cash in the early days. The academy will continue to produce players at a higher level than the category they are in. That's why other clubs constantly sniff around. I agree Cat 1 is a key strategy to help stop this and to be fair they have started, they are being audited regularly around the training infrastructure and education piece, they just need the rest of the facilities. That has moved on a bit, over the last few months and fingers crossed this year will see some start on the foundations of the main building. Hopefully they will move to Cat 1 at some point albeit it I think everyone hoped it would have been last year. The second year group to start this season in my view will be one of the strongest for a while - hopefully a positive platform to build on.
Seriously? They've had 3 years to get their shit together regarding the minimum requirements for being a cat 1 academy.
Where are we at now in comparison to where we were when Jiminez and his mates left the building?
A lot more stable is the answer. They invested nothing - you only have to see the shoestring budget they worked to. You need to see the investment to be cat one. Those minimum requirements also keep moving as does the cost. It's not just yes please - Palace tried that and were removed after one season. Charlton are in Division 1 not the Premier league. In my very limited knowledge, I think you can only ask at certain times to change or keep certain cat status. So in three years the opportunity may only have been once or twice tops. The merry go round of the first team managers clearly does not help a stable investment to the academy. It is a massive undertaking and trying to justify that with other priorities, most clubs in this league don't even bother let alone run at cat 2.
Young players from a Cat 1 academy can still be poached, all that changes is that the compensation level is a bit higher, e.g. Chelsea (again) taking Izzy Brown from WBA
Young players from a Cat 1 academy can still be poached, all that changes is that the compensation level is a bit higher, e.g. Chelsea (again) taking Izzy Brown from WBA
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Where are we at now in comparison to where we were when Jiminez and his mates left the building?
You need to see the investment to be cat one. Those minimum requirements also keep moving as does the cost. It's not just yes please - Palace tried that and were removed after one season. Charlton are in Division 1 not the Premier league.
In my very limited knowledge, I think you can only ask at certain times to change or keep certain cat status. So in three years the opportunity may only have been once or twice tops.
The merry go round of the first team managers clearly does not help a stable investment to the academy. It is a massive undertaking and trying to justify that with other priorities, most clubs in this league don't even bother let alone run at cat 2.
https://www.expressandstar.com/sport/football/west-bromwich-albion/2013/07/02/jeremy-peace-could-scrap-west-brom-academy/