19 Sep 2017 13:54:09
Hi Ed91, they haven't got a page, so I thought I would just post here as I'm interested in your opinion.

What do you think about Huddersfield's decision to close the academy, especially the timing of it, with the club surely boosting local interest and becoming more attractive to the young player now they are in the premiership?

{Ed001's Note - I don't think we have an Ed91 so I am going to assume you typoed 01, though it could be Ed02 just as easily if it is a typo!

It is quite simple, the academy system as it is only benefits the mega wealthy and they have to do something else. Whether their development squad will work out or not, I have no idea, but they have to do something different.}

1.) 19 Sep 2017
19 Sep 2017 14:47:41
Wow! That's a shame if you ask me. Something was amiss financially?
Nothing more satisfying in football for me than to see local talent come through.

{Ed001's Note - there are more and more clubs giving up on the academies due to the EPPP (I think that's the right acronym). I can see there being many more academies that are unaffiliated to clubs in the future, similar to how the Glenn Hoddle Academy worked. They are basically just fighting for the scraps dropped by the big clubs.}

2.) 19 Sep 2017
19 Sep 2017 14:48:48
I remember ed91. Was a top bloke, why did he stop posting?

{Ed001's Note - oh yes, you are right we did have an Ed91! I wasn't sure. At my age it is about all I can do to remember what number I am.}

3.) 19 Sep 2017
19 Sep 2017 15:34:59
He stopped posting shortly after Klopp took the Liverpool job. Perhaps Ed091 was in fact Jürgen himself!

4.) 19 Sep 2017
19 Sep 2017 15:48:34
Ah right, thanks.
Vardy has something similar I think for younger lower league players who don't quite make it if memory serves.
They need a chance too and sometimes a 2nd or 3rd chance.
Everyone develops at a different age.
So many quality players who nearly didn't make it but did in the end luckily and through perseverance.
Vardy himself of course, Ian Wright, David Platt etc. just off the top of my head.
There's probably only a small percentage of players who've never been rejected by a club at some point.
Biggest one for me was Denis Irwin at Leeds I think it was.
Arguably one of the most underrated and consistent players the PL has ever seen.

{Ed001's Note - you are correct, he does. I believe one of the players from it joined an EFL club during the summer.

Irwin is one of the best players the PL has ever seen as well.}

5.) 19 Sep 2017
19 Sep 2017 16:00:49
My son was on a football camp in the summer, most of the 50 odd kids there had been in a professional academy, none were still in one, most were in the 10-14 age bracket, the churn rate can be really high. Realistically take a look at the 16-20 year olds in most pro clubs, it isn't the hot bed of local talent you think. Many will have been released by a higher level or bigger club's academy, or snapped up from a smaller club, rather than developed from within. Or the usual brought in from the manager's home country. Club's use foundations (which I wouldn't exactly call stellar coaching levels from what I've seen) to cover their commitments to the community. Plus certainly around where I am, the scouting is lazy and poor, I've seen really good kids playing at bottom level league/ clubs who no one is watching and kids no better (or worse) than them getting into academies or trials because they're at the right club or know the right person. You also get big clubs hoovering up talent into the void between foundation and academy, where they keep them hanging around until they develop or are definitely not good enough, Chelsea have done that. Put Chelsea in front of most kids, even if it is sub academy stuff and they'll take that over someone like Brentford or Wimbledon offering them an academy place. In some cases so they can claim to their mates they're in Chelsea's academy. Just from my perspective but the whole thing seems a bit screwed up these days.

{Ed001's Note - you have to be careful what you say, but I totally agree with you and have been regularly called nasty things for suggesting that these coaches with all their badges have not improved matters. At least in the past kids were being coached by people who were enthusiastic and wanted to be there. Now they are just there until something better comes along, they want it to be a career but you don't earn until you get to the higher levels, so a lot of them have a chip on their shoulder thinking they are too good to be at that level. However you try telling them anything or discussing anything with them and all you get is 'how many coaching badges do you have?' That is all they ever have as a comeback, followed by name calling. You can't question them at all. That is the sole reason why the article on youth academies I was putting together I have put aside as it is difficult to be fair when most of the people you speak to involved have just been such pricks. One was a 'coach educator' for the FAW as well.

I have been trying to find out what the failure rate for coaching badge courses actually is, to find out how difficult it is to get them but so far not been able to find out. However, I have yet to find anyone who has failed one, so I am beginning to think any talentless moron could get a coaching badge simply by putting in the time and money! That worries me as they are working with impressionable kids. There is a reason why you need a high failure rate if you are trying to produce the highest quality coaches. It seems like the badges are just a money making scheme for the English FA sadly.}

6.) 19 Sep 2017
19 Sep 2017 16:07:00
True, hard to say but irwin was a real unsung hero. Never missed a pen. Pl legend.

7.) 19 Sep 2017
19 Sep 2017 17:26:58
I'm still waiting for Ed91's input.

8.) 19 Sep 2017
19 Sep 2017 17:56:55
Irwin didn't get rejected did he.

9.) 19 Sep 2017
19 Sep 2017 19:31:28
By Leeds Ron yes.