Youth players to play now Europe is over?

Doing away with the reserve leagues is largely responsible for lack of good youngsters coming through. Our national team (Scotland) have also suffered because of this.

 

haha, that's the one.

Good old Hansen, always was good value for a * quote.

 

Ye kidding??

You no see the moustaches on some of them?

And don't even get me started on the boys.

 

I think its about striking a balance. I dont see any reason why we shouldnt

 

Was a wee joke mate. Something Alan Hansen said just before Man United won the league with a team full of kids.

 

Fraser, Waters, Fisher, Henderson, Kidd, George, McGregor, McGeouch, Watt. I'm sure they are all capable of performing in the SPFL, especially with the protection fo top quality, experienced players around them.

The problem with our youngsters is not a lack of quality, it's a lack of game time. We need to take a chance and give a few of them more first-team exposure. I don't think it matters whether that is here, or elsewhere. But they need to learn the game, and they can't do that to the same extent in the Youth League.

 

Seriously though, how much money has gone in to the academy that has produced very little that could have been used to improve the first team?

Whether its lack of quality or lack of chances the academy produces next to * all and is essentially a waste of money, unless we start to utilize it properly.

 

Losing Tommy never helped.

 

That song at half time of the Aberdeen game and the Milan game got me going. What a man he was. There will never be another like Tommy

 

I honestly believe at least 6/7 of them could make it here if they were given a proper chance. And I mean an extended run in the team.

 

Aye, just realised that

 

I agree to a certain extent.

I agree that a youth academy is a waste of time if we can't identify players who have a chance of being up to standard early doors.

We are in a position to get the best young talent in Scotland for example, yet we are not doing this.

I doubt it costs them millions as you suggest though.

The business model should be that the youth academy pays its way by being a self funding enterprise that generates its own income by being given a fee for every player that gets promoted to the main squad.

That may sound ruthless, but that's life.

If the problem is cultural, then we should share a youth Acadamy with one in the likes of Holland.

I could go on.

 

The youth academy costs us well in excess of £1m per season.

I agree with the rest of your points.

 

An academy must cost millions to run surely? Think of the facilities, the equipment, the kits, the meals, the drinks, the coaching staff, the scouts etc. Would be interesting to see how much we have spent on youth development in the past ten years and how much we've recuperated in transfers. Doubt you could get that sort of information though.

 

I'm quite sure it does, but it's not millions.

My mates boy is under 17 captain Calum Waters.

Will he make it.

I don't know, but Celtic should.

That's my point.

If he is considered good enough, he should be getting first team game time.

Every youngster should also be given a first team mentor, and their mentor should be part of the process of determining their potential.

 

The facilities are there anyway regardless of the Academy.

Nike probably supply the kits free as part of the deal.

Food? Hardly a major overhead.

Drinks? Freebies from sponsors like lucozade.

I'm not seeing millions spent on the Academy.

More importantly though, I'm not seeing the results of having an Academy.

 

Another salient point is that if a first team player gets a playing bonus, then there would potentially be a problem if they were overlooked in favour of playing youngsters.

 

yes we are, we have an extensive scouting network throughout Scotland and we try to sign the best players from Scotland. This can be seen from how many of our academy players are in victory shield and other youth international teams every season. However our quota of players in these squads gradually shrinks as the age of the players goes up because the players from other teams are getting first team game time. Because of this they get more exposure and more experience which helps them to improve.

 

I think it would be easier to play youth players if the players around them are consistent or able to cover in case they get caught out. But when you have Samaras swanning about the pitch like a fairy it makes it harder!

 

Hmmm... McGeady, Maloney, McManus is about £15m-£16m right there.