| The Academy 17:39 - Jan 12 with 1692 views | Chris_ITFC |
Humphreys gone, Clarke gone, a pretty sorry state of affairs that I can barely remember ONE single academy graduate who is active and good enough to play at our current squad level (or higher).
Is it just Downes? How far do we go back to get any kind of success stories now?
I would guess most clubs in the country can produce at least 1 to play at their level right now. |  |
| |  |
| The Academy on 17:55 - Jan 12 with 1593 views | SheffordBlue |
There have been a few who were with our academy earlier in their careers who then got poached and have went on to play at a decent level e.g Marcelo FloresLiam Gibbs. Hopefully Cat 1 status reduces that a bit and we have more of a pathway into the first team. |  |
| |
| The Academy on 17:57 - Jan 12 with 1575 views | Churchman |
Sadly, like everything at the club, for years the yoof system was allowed to rot away. Add in the hoovering af all young talent of note by the big boys and we are where we are.
On the upside the club is trying to do something about it but it’ll be years and a lot of money before we see any benefits. |  | | |
| The Academy on 18:02 - Jan 12 with 1523 views | positivity |
we've had a league one academy for several years, not a massive surprise that we don't have a team full of academy graduates now we're a top championship side!
we've just got cat 1 funding, so i'd expect that to change as we attract the better players and they start trickling through in 5-10 years. | |
| |
| The Academy on 18:03 - Jan 12 with 1508 views | TheBoyBlue |
| The Academy on 17:57 - Jan 12 by Churchman |
Sadly, like everything at the club, for years the yoof system was allowed to rot away. Add in the hoovering af all young talent of note by the big boys and we are where we are.
On the upside the club is trying to do something about it but it’ll be years and a lot of money before we see any benefits. |
Additionally the first team has improved at such a pace that the academy - which as you rightly say had been neglected for years - hasn't been able to keep up.
If we hadn't gone straight up to the Premier League I think the likes of Humphreys and Baggott would've been more established in the first team. | |
| |
| The Academy on 18:08 - Jan 12 with 1450 views | _CliveBaker_ |
Woolfenden has played semi regularly (certainly lately) for table toppers Cov.
But yeah, certainly been a long time since we produced what you would call a proper premier league player. |  | | |
| The Academy on 18:08 - Jan 12 with 1447 views | redrickstuhaart |
Not a sorry state of affairs at all.
We have only just got to cat 1 and invested properly in it. The best prospects have been poached over the years, for peanuts.
Assess again in about 4 years. | | | |
| The Academy on 18:09 - Jan 12 with 1436 views | waveneyblue |
The academy was pretty much on its arse for years till Gamechanger came in - and then by their own admission it wasn't priority.
Now its Cat 1 with a lot of investment, I would imagine things will change - but its clearly not going to be instant. |  | | |
| The Academy on 18:18 - Jan 12 with 1359 views | ArnoldMoorhen |
Woolfie is playing reasonably regularly for a team above us in the League.
Nick Pope is the highest performing current ex-ITFC Academy player. | | | |
Login to get fewer ads
| The Academy on 18:29 - Jan 12 with 1278 views | Churchman |
| The Academy on 18:18 - Jan 12 by ArnoldMoorhen |
Woolfie is playing reasonably regularly for a team above us in the League.
Nick Pope is the highest performing current ex-ITFC Academy player. |
Woolfenden is a reserve covering for injuries and Pope was released and went to Bury Town at 16.
Downes is probably the best of the last 20 odd years having played in the Premier League.
Thin pickings really. | | | |
| The Academy on 18:42 - Jan 12 with 1213 views | ArnoldMoorhen |
| The Academy on 18:29 - Jan 12 by Churchman |
Woolfenden is a reserve covering for injuries and Pope was released and went to Bury Town at 16.
Downes is probably the best of the last 20 odd years having played in the Premier League.
Thin pickings really. |
Pope is an ex-Academy player who has played regularly in the Premier League.
The overall hypothesis is sound, but you can't just discount evidence which doesn't fit it! | | | |
| The Academy on 18:44 - Jan 12 with 1191 views | Chris_ITFC |
| The Academy on 17:55 - Jan 12 by SheffordBlue |
There have been a few who were with our academy earlier in their careers who then got poached and have went on to play at a decent level e.g Marcelo FloresLiam Gibbs. Hopefully Cat 1 status reduces that a bit and we have more of a pathway into the first team. |
Ahem - Liam Gibbs does not play for a club anywhere near our standard!  | |
| |
| The Academy on 21:52 - Jan 12 with 832 views | Churchman |
| The Academy on 18:42 - Jan 12 by ArnoldMoorhen |
Pope is an ex-Academy player who has played regularly in the Premier League.
The overall hypothesis is sound, but you can't just discount evidence which doesn't fit it! |
We let Pope go at 16 for nothing. Yes, technically he was at the academy so if you want to hang on to that as an example of how well we’ve done, fine. Let’s all rejoice. Woolfy too if you like, since he has proven to be a good Championship player and has the medal to prove it. At least we got a small fee for him.
Regardless of throwing a party over those two, the reality is that the Academy has been in decline for years, but with investment, infrastructure and facilities will begin to produce players hopefully. If others can do it, so can we.
Sadly we won’t be able to count Somto Boniface from our Academy, who I think might be the real deal. One can’t discount the evidence that to age 17 he was Chelsea’s Academy. Or is he?
Academic really. I’m very much with Burley on this. A club like ITFC needs to produce its own players where possible. [Post edited 12 Jan 23:37]
| | | |
| The Academy on 22:05 - Jan 12 with 774 views | ParisBlue |
Callum Logan at Spurs (on loan at Braintree)
Silva Mexes (Rob Earnshaw's son) at Man Utd
Fairly common nowadays though, once the big clubs have hoovered up the best talent, and world wide scouting networks. Noticeable how, having become Cat 1, we've started poaching lower level talent (the lad from Barnsley for example, England U15 captain) |  |
| |
| The Academy on 22:12 - Jan 12 with 732 views | Nutkins_Return |
I agree to an extent but if course this isn't really on our current regime. They will be judged a few years down the line on the success of the academy.
Under this regime the rapid rise of the team/club has gone at such a pace and beyond what our academy was capable of to a degree.
The flip side of the coin is we have produced a good number of players regardless having good careers (or set to): Woolfy, Dozzell, Downes, Humphreys, Clarke, Ndaba, Baggott, Flores, El Miz, Chirewa etc. I think making it in the top few leagues is successful. If we were say in L1 and 4-5 of these players were playing for us we'd probably be singing the academy praises. That we got to the prem and came down and are now at the top end of champ/prem squad shouldn't automatically mean we downplay the successes.
The next stage is producing the next level of player! | |
| |
| The Academy on 22:37 - Jan 12 with 642 views | RetroBlue |
OP: I think thats why we are recruiting top young players ( who are further down the development road) to join our academy now at ages from 18-22, some occasional 16yr old? ( Barnsley lad recently) if theyre seen as better than what weve git at thst age group.... so we're kind of plugging the development gap until the current younger Town academy players develop more and by bringing in players further down that pathway from other clubs to hurry things along in the interim.
I feel we are attempting to recruit on multiple levels simultaneously, and have done so for a couple of seasons or more.... |  |
| |
| The Academy on 22:42 - Jan 12 with 625 views | PhilTWTD |
| The Academy on 18:09 - Jan 12 by waveneyblue |
The academy was pretty much on its arse for years till Gamechanger came in - and then by their own admission it wasn't priority.
Now its Cat 1 with a lot of investment, I would imagine things will change - but its clearly not going to be instant. |
Actually, the academy was doing pretty well at the time of the takeover, the U18s reached the Youth Cup semi-final that year and there are probably more players currently in the top four divisions from that period than at any other time. As you say, it wasn't a priority at the time of the takeover and they lost or moved on those who were working well in difficult circumstances and it's taken until now really to push forward. |  | | |
| The Academy on 23:19 - Jan 12 with 468 views | pointofblue |
| The Academy on 22:42 - Jan 12 by PhilTWTD |
Actually, the academy was doing pretty well at the time of the takeover, the U18s reached the Youth Cup semi-final that year and there are probably more players currently in the top four divisions from that period than at any other time. As you say, it wasn't a priority at the time of the takeover and they lost or moved on those who were working well in difficult circumstances and it's taken until now really to push forward. |
Exactly. Alongside Downes, Woolfenden and Dozzell are still playing at this level as well. But the club was such a mess it's understandable they took a step back from the academy whilst sorting everything else out. | |
| |
| |
By continuing to use the site, you agree to our use of cookies and to abide by our Terms and Conditions.
