| Academy player 'production' 09:54 - May 28 with 1729 views | Dubtractor |
Just reflecting on that other (now slightly gossipy) thread on the academy, and wondering what the issue is that's resulted in seemingly so few players of a football league standard coming through in recent years.
We've obviously seen Woolfy, Dozzell and Downes have decent careers, but they are all 26 now so produced a while back. Humphreys and Baggot will have decent careers, as recent ish graduates, and we've lost a couple to bigger clubs (though not that recently unless I'm misremembering).
I think I'm right that the loan deals for our current youngsters are all a fair way down the pyramid too? There isn't anyone close to knocking on the door of the first team, or even being lined up for eg a league one loan move is there? I get that we've moved the goal posts for the first team standard with the double promotion, but you'd think there would still be a few players of league 1/2 standard at least?
So what has gone wrong?
Is it about years of under investment? Is our youth recruitment not up to scratch? Is category 1 really the be all and end all? Is at that gamechanger have deprioritised the academy too much?
I don't have any of the answers, but I'm definitely in the category of fans who love to see our own 'homegrown' talent play a part in the team, so I hope we can start producing quality players again.
Or are my expectations out of kilter with what we should expect? |  |
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| Academy player 'production' on 09:59 - May 28 with 1660 views | sjg |
We lose a lot of our highest rated prospects to academies of the bigger clubs which probably didn’t used to be the case. Clarke, Knight, Flores etc |  | | |
| Academy player 'production' on 09:59 - May 28 with 1659 views | Dyland |
Academy issues? by itfcjoe 28 May 9:46The academy was cut back a few years back and whilst funding has returned there’s not really seemingly any coherence to it currently.
All the Ipswich lot at top of academy have been pushed out - Nash, Atay, Hogg, Dyer, etc. Faces didn’t fit in new regime and they knew never would - it happens
Then Dean Wright has come into run the academy, from Norwich. Brought a load of his staff with him especially on scouting and tried to rip it up and start again but by basically discarding the whole of Suffolk and looking for big bruising 14 year olds from London when recruitment relaxes distance wise
He then left
We’ve now got Hlajko, he’s got his own ideas - from what I gather it’s tapping into the areas Col U were strong in - Brentwood, Billericay etc and going toe to toe with West Ham, or trying and failing too…but from what I gather he isn’t going to be long for this role here so we’ll need someone else in to come in with their own ideas
It’s a pretty haphazard way to run things, so think new owners take some criticism there.
At younger levels where I know parents of boys in it, or in local football, Norwich are still absolutely streets ahead, Col U still dominate in that fertile South Essex and London area and we just go backwards in recruitment and losing staff at key lower levels who aren’t happy
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| Academy player 'production' on 10:14 - May 28 with 1552 views | Reuser_is_God |
Is it about years of under investment? Is our youth recruitment not up to scratch? Is category 1 really the be all and end all? Is at that gamechanger have deprioritised the academy too much?
I’d say it’s also a combination of all of those things, you also have to take into consideration that the first team has had back to back promotions so has kind of left the other departments of the club trailing behind. |  |
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| Academy player 'production' on 10:27 - May 28 with 1472 views | Bobbychase |
| Academy player 'production' on 10:14 - May 28 by Reuser_is_God |
Is it about years of under investment? Is our youth recruitment not up to scratch? Is category 1 really the be all and end all? Is at that gamechanger have deprioritised the academy too much?
I’d say it’s also a combination of all of those things, you also have to take into consideration that the first team has had back to back promotions so has kind of left the other departments of the club trailing behind. |
Our decline under Evans allowed Norwich to really get a foothold in Suffolk. That will take years to reverse despite our recent success at first team level. |  |
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| Academy player 'production' on 10:28 - May 28 with 1459 views | Sharkey |
| Academy player 'production' on 09:59 - May 28 by Dyland |
Academy issues? by itfcjoe 28 May 9:46The academy was cut back a few years back and whilst funding has returned there’s not really seemingly any coherence to it currently.
All the Ipswich lot at top of academy have been pushed out - Nash, Atay, Hogg, Dyer, etc. Faces didn’t fit in new regime and they knew never would - it happens
Then Dean Wright has come into run the academy, from Norwich. Brought a load of his staff with him especially on scouting and tried to rip it up and start again but by basically discarding the whole of Suffolk and looking for big bruising 14 year olds from London when recruitment relaxes distance wise
He then left
We’ve now got Hlajko, he’s got his own ideas - from what I gather it’s tapping into the areas Col U were strong in - Brentwood, Billericay etc and going toe to toe with West Ham, or trying and failing too…but from what I gather he isn’t going to be long for this role here so we’ll need someone else in to come in with their own ideas
It’s a pretty haphazard way to run things, so think new owners take some criticism there.
At younger levels where I know parents of boys in it, or in local football, Norwich are still absolutely streets ahead, Col U still dominate in that fertile South Essex and London area and we just go backwards in recruitment and losing staff at key lower levels who aren’t happy
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I guess Colchester have an advantage over Town in that playing at a substantially lower level they can show parents or agents a whole list of names of players who have gone into the first team and been 'professional footballers' and then gone on to be L1 or (more rarely) Championship players. Typically on average at least two academy players will make their debut in the first team each season, and then maybe one of them will go on to play quite a few games in the next season. Some of these have been at the club since they were nippers (Szmodics-style) but others have joined pretty late, at 17, 18, and 19 year olds, sometimes from 'big club' academies.
Having said that, Town's biggest successes in the last three or four few years, Humphreys and Baggott, both come from Colchester. (Tristan Nydam too, and we'll sadly never know how good he might have been.) [Post edited 28 May 10:33]
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| Academy player 'production' on 10:55 - May 28 with 1343 views | cressi |
Harsh but times have changed if you put all the effort in from when they are 7 or 8 . Then comes along a man city or Arsenal when they are 16 plus and buys them for next to nothing. I can see why Brentford do it their way. | | | |
| Academy player 'production' on 11:29 - May 28 with 1271 views | Marshalls_Mullet |
To be fair we produced, but lost the following prospects to other academies too;
Harry Clarke.
Marcelo Flores.
Liam Gibbs.
Ben Knights.
Tawanda Chirewa.
Silva Mexes.
Theres probably a few more that I have missed. But basically our most promising prospects seem to get snatched away. |  |
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| Academy player 'production' on 11:46 - May 28 with 1186 views | franz_tyson |
The new regime are getting a bit of flak....but before Woolfy and Downes ( who have played in the PL) Who else have ww developed since Wickham got his PL move (2011?). Bishop and Lankester are lower league level and Dozzell is lower Championship ( at best). I think our academy needed a shake up and I can understand we needed to do something different than produce good age-level kids who couldn't make it to the highest level because they weren't physically strong enough. Somethings not right with our current academy, but it was hardly producing top quality players before the new regime like with the Dyers, Scowcrofts, Bramble, Wright's, Bent, Ambrose. | | | |
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| Academy player 'production' on 13:17 - May 28 with 1007 views | PhilTWTD |
| Academy player 'production' on 11:29 - May 28 by Marshalls_Mullet |
To be fair we produced, but lost the following prospects to other academies too;
Harry Clarke.
Marcelo Flores.
Liam Gibbs.
Ben Knights.
Tawanda Chirewa.
Silva Mexes.
Theres probably a few more that I have missed. But basically our most promising prospects seem to get snatched away. |
Indeed, and Gibbs and Chirewa came through and joined then-Premier Leagye clubs in the latter years of the Evans years, at the same time as Humphreys and Baggott, which isn't a bad return in the modern era. We were doing OK, Youth Cup semi-final in 2021, for example.
Add to that list Calum Logan, who went to Spurs, and Teddie Bloomfield, who was recently in the Villa squad which won the Youth Cup.
This post has been edited by an administrator |  | | |
| Academy player 'production' on 16:41 - May 28 with 746 views | Dubtractor |
| Academy player 'production' on 11:29 - May 28 by Marshalls_Mullet |
To be fair we produced, but lost the following prospects to other academies too;
Harry Clarke.
Marcelo Flores.
Liam Gibbs.
Ben Knights.
Tawanda Chirewa.
Silva Mexes.
Theres probably a few more that I have missed. But basically our most promising prospects seem to get snatched away. |
In fairness I'd forgotten a few of those.
So how do we keep them here? Is it about having a level 1 academy, or is it about league status? | |
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| Academy player 'production' on 17:17 - May 28 with 652 views | tractorboy1978 |
| Academy player 'production' on 13:17 - May 28 by PhilTWTD |
Indeed, and Gibbs and Chirewa came through and joined then-Premier Leagye clubs in the latter years of the Evans years, at the same time as Humphreys and Baggott, which isn't a bad return in the modern era. We were doing OK, Youth Cup semi-final in 2021, for example.
Add to that list Calum Logan, who went to Spurs, and Teddie Bloomfield, who was recently in the Villa squad which won the Youth Cup.
This post has been edited by an administrator |
If you exclude Woolfy, the number of academy player appearances for ITFC in recent years is pretty tragic though!
We've moved at such a pace that in the short-medium term, it feels unlikely we will see any academy graduate establish themselves in the first team here? It'll be interesting to see what happens with Humphreys next season. If he isn't being integrated as a regular sub next season then I am not sure he is even going to make it here and he is the best prospect by a distance I would say. | | | |
| Academy player 'production' on 17:24 - May 28 with 616 views | PhilTWTD |
| Academy player 'production' on 17:17 - May 28 by tractorboy1978 |
If you exclude Woolfy, the number of academy player appearances for ITFC in recent years is pretty tragic though!
We've moved at such a pace that in the short-medium term, it feels unlikely we will see any academy graduate establish themselves in the first team here? It'll be interesting to see what happens with Humphreys next season. If he isn't being integrated as a regular sub next season then I am not sure he is even going to make it here and he is the best prospect by a distance I would say. |
I'd imagine Gibbs would have made a fair few appearances had he stayed but the climb so swiftly has had an impact and the academy has suffered from a swift turnaround in staff since the takeover, as well as some of the more highly rated players moving on at a young age.
I think Humphreys will be in and around the first team next season, Baggott more of an outsider to be in a similar position, given this season has been impacted by injuries, and I would expect Somto Boniface to get some time in the first team, assuming he isn't sent out on loan. | | | |
| Academy player 'production' on 17:26 - May 28 with 610 views | PhilTWTD |
| Academy player 'production' on 16:41 - May 28 by Dubtractor |
In fairness I'd forgotten a few of those.
So how do we keep them here? Is it about having a level 1 academy, or is it about league status? |
Club status as well. Whether we're in the Premier League or cat one, if Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal, Tottenham etc come calling then it's difficult to keep players here. | | | |
| Academy player 'production' on 19:01 - May 28 with 473 views | Dubtractor |
| Academy player 'production' on 17:26 - May 28 by PhilTWTD |
Club status as well. Whether we're in the Premier League or cat one, if Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal, Tottenham etc come calling then it's difficult to keep players here. |
Unrelated to the thread, but I was in your neck of the woods today. Out in Alderton to see the parents, and lunch at the ramsholt arms. | |
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| Academy player 'production' on 19:05 - May 28 with 465 views | PhilTWTD |
| Academy player 'production' on 19:01 - May 28 by Dubtractor |
Unrelated to the thread, but I was in your neck of the woods today. Out in Alderton to see the parents, and lunch at the ramsholt arms. |
Very nice. Not been down there yet this year. | | | |
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