Maidstone manager’s thoughts.

[Gurnelista]

SOS wrote:

“Disadvantaged? Not around Scunthorpe… have you seen the cars parked up on Sunday mornings? It’s very much a middle class domain nowadays.”

[/quote]

Being able to afford an old Mercedes doesn’t make the owner middle class, SOS! Same if the Merc is spanking new and fresh off the forecourt. Money and social background are completely different things.

My point was that as well as producing the occasional professional player, the club’s academy has an important role in the community. It’s different for a worldwide brand like MCFC which, apart from producing the occasional world-class player, also does other things like generate international interest in the club, which is important for merchandising, tv, etc. and (probably) has other financial advantages, such as tax.

[Anonymous]

£200 million was the cost of the new facilities (in Manchester) back in 2014.

Spend nowt – you get nowt.

Technically, they’ve spent billions on their ‘Academy’.

If you ain’t in the MCFC first team at the Etihad, then you’re in a development team / Academy.

They are simply playing the numbers game – hoovering up all the talent wherever they’ve a foothold.

Their worldwide scouting network is massive – it all costs money.

They shop at Harrords / F&M – we shop at Heron / Oxfam.

[Iron-awe]

Well of course they do they are funded by billionaires, it’s how the world operates under the capitalist system but it doesn’t change the fact that it’s affordable for them long term and they have assets plus resources to cover their arse. It ain’t rocket science and is not a comparison for Scunnys situation which is based on peanuts but in the climate the Iron operate in it should still produce results if run correctly. It all comes back to the top being rotten, you can question the ethics or morals of the Man City ownership but when it comes to business acumen and the financial muscle to back it up, Man City’s leadership at the top is not rotten, ours is, that’s the difference ultimately.

[Anonymous]

You expect / want Fodens, Rashfords, Rooneys, Scholes, Beckhams, Gerrard’s to be unearthed & developed from a rotten 2nd hand port-a-cabin on a lumpy bumpy school field?

Spend nowt = get nowt.

[Anonymous]

Always on the lookout for the next Charlton!

[Anonymous]

SOS wrote:

“Disadvantaged? Not around Scunthorpe… have you seen the cars parked up on Sunday mornings? It’s very much a middle class domain nowadays.”

Being able to afford an old Mercedes doesn’t make the owner middle class, SOS! Same if the Merc is spanking new and fresh off the forecourt. Money and social background are completely different things.

My point was that as well as producing the occasional professional player, the club’s academy has an important role in the community. It’s different for a worldwide brand like MCFC which, apart from producing the occasional world-class player, also does other things like generate international interest in the club, which is important for merchandising, tv, etc. and (probably) has other financial advantages, such as tax.

True – let’s substitute Rich or massively financed (debt) in to the sentence as opposed to ‘middle class’.

The number of high quality, high end vehicles doesn’t reflect the ‘Kes’ image you are portraying.

Driving along Doncaster Road one Sunday morning, I saw one lad exit his (I guess) fathers new, shiny Ferrari in his SUFC kit.

I get the impression that a certain level of affluence is required to support & ferry about ‘pupils’ at these academies? 3 or 4 sessions and a game each week doesn’t come cheap; especially with the price of petrol these days.
The away games aren’t even local – I believe they travel up to about 2 hours away.

[Northumbiron]

To look at it the other way round. Do you think the likes of Cameron Wilson and Tom Pugh would be prospective PL players had they been at City, United or Liverpool?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Academies don’t work.

Too many poor players just making the numbers up so as clubs can put a team out for the one or two ‘half decent’ players that they might have.

Applies from the top of the pyramid down to the bottom of L2.

Look to see how many first team players came through that clubs own Academy. Very, very few.

The big boys bring their ‘junior galacticos’ from overseas in as Apprentices – releasing their local boys who might have been there since age 6 or 7.

These released players then drop down to a smaller Championship club.

The Championship clubs then clear their decks and their released players turn up at L1 and L2 clubs.

Get released from a L2 Academy… where do you go?

End of the line!

They’ve created an ‘industry’ – jobs for the boys – old school network.
Let’s face it, most lower league clubs only run an Academy for the funding.

Parents are caught in the ‘bright lights’ with most fulfilling their or wanting to fulfil their childhood dream of being a professional footballer through their child.

So many think that their son is the next Kane, De Bruyne, Van Dijk or Schmeichel (Peter).

Players are released by Academies because they are deficient in one or more mandatory skill sets for that level.

It’s a filtration system.

Pugh came via Leeds – he might be at his level with us.

I doubt if more than one SUFC U16 & U18 releases have gone on to bigger things.

We pick up the ‘rejects’ from higher clubs. They are rejected (released) for a reason.
We then have to try to patch their deficiencies up with a bandaid.

You can’t make a silk purse from a worn flip flop… or summat like that 😂

[Iron-awe]

Anonymous wrote:

You expect / want Fodens, Rashfords, Rooneys, Scholes, Beckhams, Gerrard’s to be unearthed & developed from a rotten 2nd hand port-a-cabin on a lumpy bumpy school field?

Spend nowt = get nowt.

No that wasn’t the point being made, everything is a level of expectation based on the facilities in place but some players of a certain standard should be produced over time to compete relatively competently at the required standard. Nobody mentioned producing the type of player you stated on a small budget, you missed the point I believe.

[Gurnelista]

That’s right. And, in a club like ours an academy is a community asset which develops young players not just in the footballing sense but in a wider more social sense, especially as schools are so stressed at present and unable to dedicate time to talent, and to those lacking in soft skills, such as following instructions, helping your team mates, dealing with disappointment, etc etc. A recent tv documentary showed this in action at Crystal Palace, who under chairman Steve Parish, are exemplars of how to do this.

Oh, and as for parental wealth, cars and academies, I don’t think you can assess anybody’s wealth from a glance at their wheels. And, there are plenty of youths with special needs – social or otherwise – from wealthy families, as any teacher will tell you.

[Anonymous]

So, do you think the facilities are of the standard you’d expect of an ‘elite development programme’?

A second hand port-a-cabin in a school yard and a lumpy bumpy school pitch?

Surely a football club should be teaching / coaching football and developing footballers? The fluffy, soft ‘stuff’ that some seem to like in 2022 should be taught in schools and at home where they have much longer contact time with the kids.
One of my grandsons is an elite schoolboy boxer, another is an elite schoolboy rugby player – no ‘fluffy stuff’ taught there.
It’s (football academies) just an industry now, with too many outside bodies and organisations having an influence on programmes.
What next, cooking classes, bereavement counselling, LGBT & non binary awareness sessions?
Teach / coach football to develop and ‘produce’ footballers.

Schools are stressed?
They are closed over a quarter of the year… 13 weeks I believe?
Stressed… oh dear!

Special needs?

Ferraris & wealth… ok.
Maybe owning (outright) a Learjet would qualify a person as being wealthy?

Time to get back to basics.
Football, football, football.

[Iron-awe]

You sound a bit stressed yourself TBH.

[Anonymous]

They say that I’ll be home for Christmas if I continue taking the medication.

[Iron-awe]

Now that is a good film, we can agree on that.

2 users thanked author for this post.

, Awaywego

[Anonymous]

Agreed.

[Author]

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