Category 1 Academy

[Blue in the Face]

Academies - overrated.!

Id scrap them if that could happen.

I'd say they are probably pointless if they are half hearted. One look at Liverpool's academy and the players they have and are currently producing paints the opposite picture. They also poach many a talent from across the Welsh boarder, territory that I feel Cardiff at it's full potential should be tapping into.

Getting a bit of deja vu here

Not a dig, I think you're one of the best posters on here. Can you expand on that? Is it the repetition of us same names complaining about the academy set up that is a problem? Or is it that the club has never delivered on a top rate academy?

.... However, City would seem to have lost the art of completing the final stage of young player development where the transition is made from mid teens "prospect" to senior first team player. It seems that the raw talent is there, so I can only wonder at how good those who are there to oversee the whole of the development process are at doing their jobs because the Academy has been coming up a long way short of producing Sam Hammam's one first teamer a season for the best part of a decade now.

I think you're hitting on something there and is perhaps something that hasn't been said much. I'm getting the impression that there is a complacent attitude at the club when it comes to the 18 - 21 age category. I would like to see some ambition, specifically there. Maybe the club needs to think outside the box and bring in someone to oversee the entire academy set-up? Much like the way Osian Roberts does for Wales under his "head of technical" banner. Perhaps the club need to take a look at some of the staff? If there is a consistent failing at certain age groups, then the evidence to suggest that we are falling short at coaching levels is pretty damning.