posted Aug 21, 2008

thing about that is we need players now not in the future! and we already have a great academy....weve bin bringing up stars for years!

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posted Aug 21, 2008

Is this the academy that has already produced

David Unsworth, Michael Ball, Leon Osman, Wayne Rooney and Jose Baxter to name but a few....not too mention the younger Rooney making his way through at the moment!

All these players (except Baxter - yet!) have attracted hefty transfer fees in their time for the club and/or given a good few years service.....

Odd post

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posted Aug 21, 2008

This is a bit of a random ppost. Everton has one of the best academies in the country already, and it's only been getting better under Moyes. Also there's Finch Farm.

We're already doing what you say, the thing is we're unlikely to be able to progress or even maintain our recent standards without buying players now.

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posted Aug 21, 2008

not wishing to start an arguement but PNLF, you mention 5 players to name a few but they are spread over a 10 year period if i am not mistaken. in the current team, there's only Osman Hibbert and Vaughan who have come through, i am discounting Baxter and Rodwell at the mo until they are established players. what i am trying to say is how comes there aren't more players coming through of the required standard to make it in the 1st team on a year by year basis.

we lose to Arsenal's 2nd/3rd team on a regular basis, when do we get a 2nd team like that that can do it to them ? or anyone else in the PL for that matter ?

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posted Aug 21, 2008

No sorry, Arsenal have been buying up kids from all over for some time. Our academy s excellent, and there's Osman, Hibbert, Vaughan & Anichebe right now, with several, such as Rodwell coming through. You can't just churn out4 or 5 internationals every season, even if you buy them up they way Arsenal have in the past.

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posted Aug 21, 2008

4 or 5 internationals every season ? 4 or 5 players would be a start. most of them are released year after year. how long ago have Osman, Hibbo, Vaughan and Vic been out of the Academy ? i would say 5, 4, 3 and 2 years respectively. what i am still trying to say is that 1 player every season of unknown PL talent isn't enough.

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posted Aug 21, 2008

1 or 2 capable of getting in the 1st team squad is pretty good actually, You could get a starting line up of your own players in around 5 seasons. It's possible to imagine a cup game this season or the next that could have Vaughan & Anichebe up front. Rodwell, Baxter and Osman in Midfield and Hibbert at LB. That's not bad going, and there are more on the way.

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posted Aug 21, 2008

Nice sentiment in the article, but the responses have pretty much said it all!

Everton's youth system is amongst the best in the game, the quantity and quality of players coming through is consistent with what you would call successful already.

I think that England as a whole needs to raise the bar in terms of coaching standards, but Everton are probably in the group of teams leading the way with that.

Arsenal, Utd and Chelsea all recruit the best youngsters from around Europe (esp Holland and France) and in general the standard of European youngsters is better than the UK equivalents. They have to pay a lot of money to do this and at the same time it means the UK lads in their academies get the boot.

We have Kieran Agard in our reserves who was a victim of the Arsenal youth system. Too many European players in his way.

I would also note that in terms of club status the Big 3 should more accurately be considered European Clubs, same as Milan, Real, Barca and Bayern etc. These clubs are so big and rich that they really do operate above the national boundaries. Just take a look in their academies. In fact Real, Utd and Milan could even be considered World clubs!

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posted Aug 22, 2008

If your youth players are any good they'll only end up at united. although experience will increase the price. Thankssssssssssssssssss

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posted Aug 28, 2008

This is a very good article which points out a major problem with football, not only at Everton, but in this country in general.

What alot of the negative responses also show is that there's not much hope of this problem being resolved in the near future. Football in this country is too much about short-term success, which is leading most clubs lower and lower on a downward spiral. This constant pressure for short-term results has been a big factor in the very high transfer fees, wages, and price tickets.

The South American clubs are the leading producers of world-class players. Although they loose their top players year after year they're still able to keep producing more and more top talent year after year. This is surely not a coincidence.

Where are the future Rooneys, Gerrards, and Lampards?

If just a small portion of the huge sums of money avalible in English football today is invested in developiong young talent in this country, and invested in the right way, I believe England would be the outstanding team in world football. The recent Olympics in Beijing are a good example of this.

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