What about us?

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What about us?

Postby Tony P » Wed Sep 09, 2009 7:15 am

Article in the Guardian bemoaning the state of academies but no mention of the one academy which has produced 26 first team players!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/david-conn-inside-sport-blog/2009/sep/09/chelsea-fifa-premier-league-academies


Clubs leave lost youth behind as academies fail English talentThe Gaël Kakuta affair has highlighted the flaws of a system which ruins careers but produces few results

In the aftershock of Chelsea's sanction for signing Gaël Kakuta when the teenager was contracted to play for Lens, the most vital issue highlighted by the scandal is only slowly dawning. It is not whether Fifa should really have classed Kakuta's agreement with Lens as a contract, or whether Chelsea's lawyers will successfully nitpick the detail to claim a reduction of the two transfer window ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

No, the real challenge is to understand why one of England's top football clubs, which like 40 others has spent millions of pounds developing an academy, and can sign up huge numbers of boys from a very young age, has failed to bring a local player through since 28-year-old John Terry, and scours other countries' clubs for teenage talent.

It is 12 years since Howard Wilkinson's FA document, Charter for Quality, overhauled youth development, removing good, young players from representative school and youth club football and establishing academies, thereby granting extraordinary power to the professional clubs. Wilkinson's view was that professional football clubs had expertise in coaching which schoolteachers and volunteer amateur coaches did not – although the clubs then mostly recruited schoolteachers to run their academies.

Clubs' academies – there are now 41 in the Premier and Football Leagues – were accorded the right to register 40 boys each year from as young as eight until 12. After that, youngsters are progressively shedded until, at the age of 16, 20 or so are selected as full-time "scholars".

This, according to a new book, Every Boy's Dream by Chris Green, which skilfully analyses the successes and deficiencies of the academy system, constitutes "recruitment of children on a massive scale". It also institutionalises mass rejection of young people as too few of those who come through are actually given opportunities to play in clubs' first teams.

Green, while acknowledging the investment and improvements made in the system, laments this futile recruitment of infants, finding that youth development experts themselves admit it is too young. He chronicles the disappointment, educational underachievement, even trauma, suffered by some boys who give much of their childhoods to academies only to suffer inevitable rejection at tender ages. The Premier League's general secretary, Mike Foster, is quoted as accepting that although efforts are made – not always successfully – to break bad news sensitively, his league and its clubs do not bother to find out what happens to the youngsters who are released.

Some 10,000 boys are currently performing in top clubs' academies and centres of excellence, and uncalculated thousands more in development squads and "shadow" development squads, run because youth directors have to be sure no child is being missed. Green gives due credit to the system's merits: the clubs have invested abundantly and continue to spend an estimated £66m a year on staff and mostly excellent facilities. Some of the coaching is expert, many of the staff are highly professional and dedicated.

Huw Jennings, who resigned as the Premier League's head of youth development this year to run Fulham's academy, argues this has borne fruit: "The skill levels, ball mastery, balance and flexibility of our young players is better than ever," he claims.

Yet while parents give family life over to ferrying boys to training three nights a week and matches on Sundays against other professional clubs' academies many hours' travel away, the reality is that just 1% of the trainees will ultimately play football for a living.

Even the few who survive the annual cuts and make it to a "scholarship" at 16 are likely to fall away. Research tracking academy boys is itself difficult to find but it is accepted that only a minority of boys awarded "scholarships" remain in the professional game at 21. Of those who win the golden ticket of a proper, professional contract at 18, the vast majority, Green found, are also not playing professionally at 21.

This summer, Jennings made his farewell speech to the clubs' owners and chief executives, imploring them to give academy youngsters more opportunities. In Europe, he says, players make first-team debuts at 21-22; here they are thrown into Carling Cup games or substitute appearances at an average of 18 years and four months, and judged critically on those performances. "Players are not afforded the chance to mature," he argues. "Reform is desperately needed for the 18-21 age group."

There is, startlingly, broad agreement among those who actually coach that clubs should not be signing boys as young as eight because their potential cannot be reliably assessed, and too much pressure and expectation is loaded on them at pre-teen ages. Children, most youth coaches accept, should be playing all sports recreationally, with the best coaching available, to develop all-round skills. Yet because football clubs need to stock academies beginning at Under-nine level, they are scouting children at six and even younger. Green cites the desperate instance, famed in youth football circles, of a four-year-old, scampering about in a Premier League club's development squad with a nappy clearly visible under his shorts.

Brian Jones, head of Aston Villa's academy, is scathing. "Aston Villa spend a fortune looking at boys from six years old onwards," he complains. "With the best will in the world I wouldn't know if a six, seven or eight year old is going to play in the Premier League in 10 or 12 years' time. It's ludicrous."

Dave Parnaby, another former schoolteacher who heads Middlesbrough's successful academy, agrees, arguing that registration to an academy should not start until boys are 12 and at secondary school. "No one disagrees," Parnaby asserts. "I have written to the FA and Premier League but what is being done?"

The answer, is inertia. On this most fundamental of the sport's responsibilities, there is a vacuum of leadership and a familiar, dismal turf war between the FA, Premier and Football Leagues. Trevor Brooking, the FA's director of football development, seethes with frustration that the FA is not permitted to monitor the quality of academies, and there is no central body, staffed with actual football experts like himself, to reform and run the system. The leagues argue they do not want the FA overseeing their clubs' work and that Brooking should concentrate on rolling out coaching courses tailored specifically to different ages. He argues this has been done, but the FA's Professional Game Board has failed to invest in recruiting more than a pitiful, single national coach for each of the 5-11, 12-16 and 16-plus age groups.

Jennings laments the absence of strong, national leadership. "It is football governance at its worst," he says. "We desperately need unity of purpose but youth development is in a state of limbo."

This, then, is the state we are in. Professional clubs, rich as oligarchs, trawling for boys their own coaches know are too young, giving scant opportunities to the few who come through, while waving their wallets to likelier lads in other countries. It is a system crying out for reform, from top to bottom.

david.conn@guardian.co.uk

Every Boy's Dream, by Chris Green, is published by A & C Black, priced £9.99
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Re: What about us?

Postby Ted Hughes » Wed Sep 09, 2009 9:37 am

The premise of the article; that the academy system is failing, has quite a few supporters including Sir Baconface & they may have a good point. This Green bloke who's written the book sounds more like part of the problem than the solution though. Sending more kids back to their Play Stations isn't the answer.

Lack of raw material, greedy interfering parents & a terrible lack of quality coaches is my take on it. Brian Roy from the Ajax academy was interviewed the other day saying that English coaches are often poor & are too stubborn to learn from abroad. Luckily Paul Power did research the methods of Ajax academy etc when he was involved in setting up the blueprint for academies over here so we are probably one of the more forward thinking organisations, ready to learn & improve as we've shown recently rather than bury our heads in the sand.

Tony Carr from West Ham was bemoaning the lack of interest in sport amongst kids & saying that there's not so much raw talent around to choose from these days as well as the problem of a lack of competition at young kid's schools etc; everyone is equal whether good or bad, everybody wins so no reason to strive for excellence.

Whatever the details, Imo we need to teach as many small kids as possible to use a football with skill; pass, control, dribble, shoot & enjoy it, then turn the best ones, with skill, athleticism & mentality into pro footballers when they get older. From what I've been told, a lot of little kids around the country are still running around on big pitches with the ball sailing over their heads whilst being ploughed over by the more developed big kids as the parents cheer their big future stars lumping it & running after it. Tony Pulis must be delighted.
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Re: What about us?

Postby Fish111 » Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:00 am

I don't think the academies are failing. It's the way coaches over here are trained that is utter shite imo. I've seen kids coaches treat games like the kids lives depended on them, it's a kick about FFS enjoy the game for what it's worth. Most talented kids give the game up during this period or if they do continue in the game they have no place to go once they reach 16 years old, pub teams are the only way it seems when they reach this age.
The pressure put on kids is unbeleivable by both the coaches and especially the parents. I stopped going to kids games as i was sick of listening to the abuse that was being hurled onto the pitch at kids of just 9 years old.
If any kids are left playing the game then they will undoubtedly be picked up by a football club and if they are good enough then they will succeed but again i've seen English kids think they've made it just because they are at an academy, their attitude stinks whereas i've seen kids from abroad treat academies as a next step toward their dream. It's no wonder to me that clubs look abroad for better, hungrier kids to work with.
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Re: What about us?

Postby Ted Hughes » Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:13 am

Fish111 wrote:I don't think the academies are failing. It's the way coaches over here are trained that is utter shite imo. I've seen kids coaches treat games like the kids lives depended on them, it's a kick about FFS enjoy the game for what it's worth. Most talented kids give the game up during this period or if they do continue in the game they have no place to go once they reach 16 years old, pub teams are the only way it seems when they reach this age.
The pressure put on kids is unbeleivable by both the coaches and especially the parents. I stopped going to kids games as i was sick of listening to the abuse that was being hurled onto the pitch at kids of just 9 years old.
If any kids are left playing the game then they will undoubtedly be picked up by a football club and if they are good enough then they will succeed but again i've seen English kids think they've made it just because they are at an academy, their attitude stinks whereas i've seen kids from abroad treat academies as a next step toward their dream. It's no wonder to me that clubs look abroad for better, hungrier kids to work with.


Agree 100% with what you're saying but if lots of talented kids are leaving football & everyone's having to get players from abroad then perhaps that amounts to the academy system failing? Perhaps they should be finding these kids & turning them into quality footballers rather than spending years flogging dead horses. Perhaps some of the academy kids are not actually better prospects than some of the kids who don't get chosen?
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Re: What about us?

Postby ronk » Wed Sep 09, 2009 10:56 am

I think it's a fair article. There are individual successes at academies because individuals coaches and set-ups do it right.

Clubs want academies because it means they get the benefits of players. The whole transfer system for kids is a huge problem.

It would be far better to just have kids playing in local leagues and have professional coaches giving them occasional tuition and skills classes. More kids would actually be playing the game and it wouldn't be 100% about trying to make a career at the top level of the game.

Clubs are more willing to damage a kids chances than see them do well in another academy. They do not have the interests of the kid at stake. In their present format they should not be permitted to do what they do.

The reason kids are being poached from France is that France have a really, really good national academy and clubs here would rather pay £1m each for 20 kids than £25m for one player later.

It's one thing to identify players who others passed on because they didn't think they'd make it, guys like Ireland, SWP, Agbonlahor. But throwing money at the very best players from other academies is wrong, especially when the club doesn't get compensated. These guys will have plenty of time to make money in their later careers. It would be better for almost everyone if seriously talented players stayed at the clubs and moved at an older age.
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Re: What about us?

Postby Fish111 » Wed Sep 09, 2009 11:08 am

It's a hard one and i haven't got the answer, i wish i had but all the academies are being run differently as you'd expect. City's is obviously better than Chelseas as they have only produced John Terry from their academy compared to City who have produced numerous players who have gone on to play for not only Citys first team but have played lower down the leagues as well. It is no surprise that Chelski have been lambasted for being the major club that has brought nearly 50 kids over and most of them have been dodgy aquisitions allegedly culminating in them being hammered by FIFA. We are under investigation but as i understand it Rennes are clutching at straws with this one.

I can only comment on what i have seen down the years and i have seen kids coaches go onto these courses to improve their training techniques and coaching skills and get badges from the FA and all that and they come back and are even more serious than they were when they went on the course.

In Holland no competative football is allowed by the Dutch FA until kids are at least 9 years old, over here there are no rules to govern this. Over here i see kids playing with adult sized footballs on full pitches using full adult goals - utter ridiculous. Kick and chase, that's all the game descends into. I lived in Germany and saw kids playing with a small ball playing across the pitch with small goals and the emphasis was on ball possession and passing and most of all....... enjoyment. They couldn't beleive we had league systems for kids of 7 years old over here.

The whole coach qualification and teaching system over here to me is failing our kids and failing the grass roots coaches. I could go on forever about it but a hell of a lot needs to change but i fear we have gone too far for people to adopt anything other than ultra-competative 7 year old kids leagues.
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