Starting them very young.

[MOZZER2]

i have read this thread with great interest .My lad was taken on at 7 years old and like those in the report signed for a year .

Just to point out don't mix an academy with a development centre like one or two are doing here .

Yes kids do get spotted at 6 and 7 years old and get invited to trials and they pick a squad of 16 at the start of the season . Not all kids make it the full season either even at that age . The debate is , is it too young to sign for a pro club at that age . I say an emphatic YES .


The kids get taken out of local football and expected to train at least twice a week with games on Sunday .I,m all for pro clubs taking on kids that age but not taken out of local clubs as the figure is now less than 1 per cent with actually go on to make it at pro level

out of the 16 kids at my lads age not 1 made it to pro level , and only looking at some photos last week only 4 of them still play football at some kind of level . when you look at thousands upon thousands of kids go through this process in the UK I have come to the conclusion it's a mugs game

[the other bob wilson]

i have read this thread with great interest .My lad was taken on at 7 years old and like those in the report signed for a year .

Just to point out don't mix an academy with a development centre like one or two are doing here .

Yes kids do get spotted at 6 and 7 years old and get invited to trials and they pick a squad of 16 at the start of the season . Not all kids make it the full season either even at that age . The debate is , is it too young to sign for a pro club at that age . I say an emphatic YES .


The kids get taken out of local football and expected to train at least twice a week with games on Sunday .I,m all for pro clubs taking on kids that age but not taken out of local clubs as the figure is now less than 1 per cent with actually go on to make it at pro level

out of the 16 kids at my lads age not 1 made it to pro level , and only looking at some photos last week only 4 of them still play football at some kind of level . when you look at thousands upon thousands of kids go through this process in the UK I have come to the conclusion it's a mugs game

I tend to agree with you Mozzer - shouldn't football just be about enjoying the game up until the age of ten at least?

That said, as has been mentioned already, it only needs one to break into the first team or earn a team millions of pounds in a transfer for the clubs to claim their approach is working and, leaving City out of it for now, this is what the current system manages to do for most of them.

The subject of players who do not like the game is one that comes up with increasing frequency (Danny Gabbidon was saying Bobby Zamora was no great fan of football on the Elis James podcast only a week or two ago) in online discussions and, looking at what now seems to be the typical route to becoming a pro footballer, I can imagine there are plenty who are heartily sick of the game by the time they finish with it.

[Tuerto]

I tend to agree with you Mozzer - shouldn't football just be about enjoying the game up until the age of ten at least?

That said, as has been mentioned already, it only needs one to break into the first team or earn a team millions of pounds in a transfer for the clubs to claim their approach is working and, leaving City out of it for now, this is what the current system manages to do for most of them.

The subject of players who do not like the game is one that comes up with increasing frequency (Danny Gabbidon was saying Bobby Zamora was no great fan of football on the Elis James podcast only a week or two ago) in online discussions and, looking at what now seems to be the typical route to becoming a pro footballer, I can imagine there are plenty who are heartily sick of the game by the time they finish with it.

The thing is, Once you're involved at professional level it becomes a job, and the enjoyment goes with it. I can only go on my limited experiences, i hated the whole process, i was completely out for myself, i didn't give a **** if we lost as long as i played well, if i wasn't in the team then i wanted the team to lose or atleast the player in my position to have a stinker, they were my competition and i wanted them to fail. It's not a nice environment.

[Bluebina]

i have read this thread with great interest .My lad was taken on at 7 years old and like those in the report signed for a year .

Just to point out don't mix an academy with a development centre like one or two are doing here .

Yes kids do get spotted at 6 and 7 years old and get invited to trials and they pick a squad of 16 at the start of the season . Not all kids make it the full season either even at that age . The debate is , is it too young to sign for a pro club at that age . I say an emphatic YES .


The kids get taken out of local football and expected to train at least twice a week with games on Sunday .I,m all for pro clubs taking on kids that age but not taken out of local clubs as the figure is now less than 1 per cent with actually go on to make it at pro level

out of the 16 kids at my lads age not 1 made it to pro level , and only looking at some photos last week only 4 of them still play football at some kind of level . when you look at thousands upon thousands of kids go through this process in the UK I have come to the conclusion it's a mugs game

It makes perfect sense, a few of my mates had boys in the Cardiff academies, one got kicked out at about 12, the other who was tipped for great things at about 15 or 16 before the chance to sign the first Dad was not too bad, but the second one was gutted!