Probably. Definitely a tougher task when our pro-level CB isn't in the lineup
NYCFC Academy - General Discussion
- Thread starter NYCFC_Dan
- Start date
Question for the board - Has the EDS really done that good of a job?
I know they have spent a ton of money there and we hope it is the model for our own Academy, but it's not like they have brought anyone of value through. Iheanacho was signed from Nigeria. Angelino is on loan. They have a couple of quality CBs that are looking to leave because they won't get promoted. I don't know if any of the guys down there have really grown. They want it to be La Mesia, but it's not.
I know they have spent a ton of money there and we hope it is the model for our own Academy, but it's not like they have brought anyone of value through. Iheanacho was signed from Nigeria. Angelino is on loan. They have a couple of quality CBs that are looking to leave because they won't get promoted. I don't know if any of the guys down there have really grown. They want it to be La Mesia, but it's not.
They may want it, but they don't treat the first team like they want it. So I think you're right to call it out.
Ridiculous that they don't give any time to the youth they develop with the first team. Hopefully, we are run differently that them.
In fairness, the youths are getting shafted by the first team managers, including the supposedly-legendary-at-youth-promotion Guardiola. Successive managers come in at the Etihad and find that while playing 18-year olds in Spain or Italy is easy as they can be brought through in one of the many dead rubber matches, doing it in England can be career suicide as there are very few games where you can afford to have an inexperienced player dragging the side down. Some managers take the chance anyway, others decide that results are more important. The EDS genuinely has some amazing prospects coming of age at the moment, they simply don't have the chance to be utilised but it's not for lack of skill.
You could also comment that the lack of a B-team system in the UK means that players at a younger level simply never really get any experience of genuine competitive football until they get completely dropped in at the deep end with their first senior cap, but British football culture makes changing that a huge no-go zone.
They should send the lower rated academy kids to ours so we can have them as homegrowns.
Yes I know.
Yes I know.
You say that, but what if they killed one of our DPs? (And you guys thought I was going to say his family or something. Suckers.)
Last edited:
Is that purely a matter of culture and norms, or are there rules that forbid it also?
There are no rules that forbid it. At lower-league (i.e. for teams below the Football League) level it actually happens all the time. There were also a few big clubs (Spurs are one name that comes to mind) who used to play reserve teams in the amateur divisions before those divisions were linked to the Football League through pro/rel about 50 years ago, too.
Theoretically it could happen right now if PL teams were to create a B-team all the way down in a county-level league, where the organising body would be far less picky about who they admit as a new team, because I guarantee you that if a B-team were to be promoted into the Football League rather than being placed there from scratch, they would be allowed in (there would still be disapproving mutters but they would likely be no more than mutters). Thing is, what team is going to invest in a B-team that will require 5-10 years of successive promotions before getting to a level acceptable for fostering youth talent?
No, the real stumbling block, basically, is that English (and to a lesser extent, British) football has a long and storied history of treating its Football League teams as the equals of its top flight teams - remember it was only in 1992 that the top flight separated off to organise itself in its own competition. That's not to mention that very few of the FL teams have any shorter a history than the big PL teams, and many of the teams in the lower reaches of the FL are the teams who, 100 years ago, were winning the inaugural versions of many of the cups and leagues which are now some of the biggest prizes in the game. If you just look in League One (the third tier) you can find cumulatively 14 FA Cups, a League Cup and a top flight trophy between them. If you look at the 12 teams that contested the first ever Football League season in 1888-89, only three of them now play in the PL (and for the record, they are all still playing football - none have gone out of business in 129 years). If you look at the list of top flight winners, fully 36 seasons were won by a team no longer in the PL.
These kinds of team may accept that they operate now on smaller budgets for smaller prizes, but they and their fans won't be persuaded that they are lesser clubs than those who now play in the PL. In fact, most will have considerable resentment for the teams in PL, and see the money in the game now as cheapening any accomplishments that PL teams achieve. In this kind of atmosphere, it's pretty much impossible to persuade these clubs and the league which organises them that they should have to suffer the indignity of competing against the reserve sides of those who have taken their places at the top table.
Last edited:
Damnit, man. I was counting on a couple of paragraphs distinguishing what we said. You took the wind from my sails.
Crafty, this one.
ETA: and then I just saw the post above and realize you were indisposed.
Damnit, man. I was counting on a couple of paragraphs distinguishing what we said. You took the wind from my sails.
Crafty, this one.
ETA: and then I just saw the post above and realize you were indisposed.
Nah, in fairness when I started writing I didn't realise how much my reply was just going to end up reiterating your comments, so it's on me.
In fairness to you, you actually explained why instead of just conclusory statements.
I'd recommend putting a ©Midas notice on that post the same way I did. You probably don't want to go against what his team of "lawyers" might suggest in that dark alley, ya know?
