Correct me if i'm wrong, but was Aaron Ramsey the last player of any note that was nurtured through our youth system? If so, what a player to produce, but it could be argued that four or five players maybe with half the ability of Ramsey would serve the club better than one brilliant player every ten years or so. The question is,why isn't the club producing young players with the character and ability to play at this level, it really does seem like a dour situation and from the outside, looks to me that the youth policy isn't working for the club.

Things have changed massively for young footballers over the last ten to fifteen years, emphasis is on education off the field, technique, nutrition, recovery, touch and awareness on the pitch, as well as being intelligent during a game whether with or without the ball, it's supposed to be the way of an academy, young players are supposed to be more rounded footballers. Go back to the early nineties, when none of the things i've mentioned were really implemented, we produced Nathan Blake, Damon Searle, nurtured a very young and inexperienced Gavin ward, three players who could play at Championship level. Then a little later, Scott Young, Nathan Jones, Earnie, James Collins, Chris Gunter, all could have, were, or are decent Championship players. The science wasn't really prevalent when these players came through the ranks, so why aren't we producing players when young players are supposedly being coached and nurtured in a much better way than when previous players were making the step up?

One of the reasons i believe that we're not seeing a return on the Academy is that they play these u23 games, which seem to me like glorified youth matches, and not even close to the competitiveness and physicality needed to step up in the professional game. I'm not sure when this change came about, but i recall the club playing reserve football, that would include youth players and seasoned professionals, as well as trialists released by other clubs, there was a competitive edge with young players pitting their wits against seasoned players who new every trick in the book and with a point to prove or an imminent move, that 'edge' just can't be there in these u21-u23 games, they don't reflect a real footballing environment, how can they?

Of the players i've mentioned above, all were decent, some better than others, but what they did have in common-and you can include Jason Perry-was character, an edge, a mental toughness that may have been produced by playing in a more real and competitve enviroment, that doesn't seem to be the case now, and there has to be a reason or reasons for it.