Category 1 Academy

[GrangetownLurker]

Would having a Category 1 Academy be linked to developing our own training ground at Hensol?

[Loramski]

It's hard to say whether the talent has always been there cos only recently they've introduced competitive football for those age groups.

I'm torn whether it's a good thing or not to be honest. I think it's important to try to get the kid's buying into the winning mentality but often the coaches buy into it more than the kid's and are more focused on winning than player development.

I've been watching the younger age groups for a while and the problem used to be when the kid's switched to 11 a side football.

I don't think this is such an issue these days as there is a bigger focus on shape and game understanding at younger levels.

My fear would be now that we are building teams and not players maybe. If you look at Chelsea and Arsenal at these age groups, very little focus is on winning tournaments and football matches but they encourage individual creativity and expression.

I'm not sure what the right answer is if I'm honest and only time will tell I suppose.

One thing that is a contradiction though is that we have 11 year olds playing football that resembles Barcelona or Spain and then we have our first team playing a brand of football that is totally the opposite. Unless the club as a whole can find a way of becoming more fluid in its vision it will be impossible to ever realise any of the talent currently in the academy.

It's so complicated. I've got no idea if we should be concentrating on producing successful teams or on player development either, hopefully the two will go hand in hand. Even if we're settling on one style of play I'd like to think we're encouraging some flexibility, both positionally and tactically, so players aren't too fazed when they get sent out on loan to play in a 4-4-2 at Port Vale or find an 80-year-old Warnock is still in charge when they're ready for the first team here.

You may be interested in this report on the Benfica academy. They've made £230m on the sale of academy products in the last 3 years, I'm sure Tan would settle for that.

https://www.theguardian.com/football...ball-transfers

[thehumblegringo]

It's so complicated. I've got no idea if we should be concentrating on producing successful teams or on player development either, hopefully the two will go hand in hand. Even if we're settling on one style of play I'd like to think we're encouraging some flexibility, both positionally and tactically, so players aren't too fazed when they get sent out on loan to play in a 4-4-2 at Port Vale or find an 80-year-old Warnock is still in charge when they're ready for the first team here.

You may be interested in this report on the Benfica academy. They've made £230m on the sale of academy products in the last 3 years, I'm sure Tan would settle for that.

https://www.theguardian.com/football...ball-transfers

Great article that mate. That 360 simulator looks awesome

[Blue in the Face]

Swansea showing no signs of slowing their academy expansion in Wales (apparently)....

SWANSEA CITY HAVE NAMED FORMER WREXHAM AND LIVERPOOL STRIKER LEE JONES AS THEIR ACADEMY’S FIRST DEVELOPMENT MANAGER FOR NORTH WALES.
https://www.swanseacity.com/news/swa...velopment-boss

[City123]

One thing that is a contradiction though is that we have 11 year olds playing football that resembles Barcelona or Spain and then we have our first team playing a brand of football that is totally the opposite. Unless the club as a whole can find a way of becoming more fluid in its vision it will be impossible to ever realise any of the talent currently in the academy.

well you know my stance on children and youth football gringo but the fact still remains what i,ve been harping on about for the last 10 years on here is nurturing futsal to the younger generation in the uk but the depressing fact is we are about 20 years behind the rest of the major footballing nations to make any difference

will be interesting if england go out of the world cup early doors and the back lash that will follow in the media about the state of our game like every major tournament in the last 20 years whilst the prem league is considered the best .

https://www.theguardian.com/football...d-messi-neymar

the above article is good but far too little too late to make an impact . a good point you made about our under 11's regarding playing like spain in reality most kids want to play the passing game these days which as you mention goes against the grain in terms of our first team . Looks like the fulham owner has wound up a few people on here too regarding that [/QUOTE]
Wasn't a lot of passing going on when I was playing youth football a couple of years ago, it was for parks football mind

[City123]

I think a lot of city fans are kidding themselves regarding an Academy.

The chances of bringing a couple of players on are slim. I can't help thinking its a case of tokenism.

We need to be successful and working within the community. That'll bring more positive benefits for the club.

There are plenty of examples of academies providing players, including our own in the past

[Ianto13]

If only our academy had picked up Gareth Bale and Craig Bellemy we wouldn’t have been talking about the lack of success?

[Blue in the Face]

Would having a Category 1 Academy be linked to developing our own training ground at Hensol?

It's part of it I think. I gather in our case it's also numbers of qualified staff too plus a tie in with secondary education. I may be wrong on all counts but I have long thought that these were the reasons...