Quote Originally Posted by LeningradCowboy View Post
We released Hughes in 2008 and Lockyer in 2011. We can't hang on to every player who comes through the academy just in case they turn out to be good enough to be a squad player for us 10 years later.
Hrughes has been a Championship player for quite a bit of that time and I see you ignore my point about the money we would have saved. The line of argument from those defending the club's abysmal record in this part of the game seems to have developed into almost congratulating them for not taking a punt on youth because our Academy players are not good enough, yet all of these players were considered worth taking a punt on at one time. If it is correct that we've not had good enough youngsters, what does that say about City's recruitment? Were either hopeless at spottingyoung talent, hopeless at developing young talent or, most likely, a mixture of the two.