Quote Originally Posted by J R Hartley View Post
How can you compare the set up now to 50/60 years ago? Even 20-30 years ago.

Football is now a global game, especially the Premier League and the Championship is getting there too. There’s all manner of different internationals playing in the league. All the best clubs in this division have players from all around the globe and most have foreign managers too.

Cardiff City alone have players who are from Germany, Canada, Philippines and the Caribbean. Weve had all manner of different nationalities in the last decade.

Expecting to have a load of local lads coming through when we are playing Championship football mixed in with the odd Premier League season is wishful thinking I’m afraid.

Merthyr are in the 7th tier of English football and barely have any local lads playing for them.
Thanks for that justification of the often pointless and over extravagant spending during the period since we stopped.developing our own first team players. All of this spending in the new global game has produced what? Seems to me we've always been a natural second tier club that has enjoyed the occasional spell in the top flight, but we used to be able to make those First Division stays last longer than a single season. For the last five years or so, we've used the new horizons offered by the global game to put together sides which tend to play in a very British, antiquated, way while spending far more on youth development than we did to run an Academy which doesn't produce first team players or make us money in the transfer market.