There's a big difference between academies at different levels of the game, it's far more brutal at the top end (the perspective from the guys in the video who were at Liverpool) in terms of conveyor belt approach by the clubs and even a minor drop off in performance will see you axed pretty quickly, even as young as a 7 or 8 year old kid, it's brutal. At lower level there's more leeway for growth and improvement, but you'll still be replaced if better options become available. However, these are proper club academies and are based at the clubs HQ, alongside 1st XI and the kids are supported and looked after, whilst they're on the books of course. Once you're off the books, my experiences of my sons friends suggests that essentially, they just want you to go away, like I said, it's brutal, the kids need to be extremely resilient. I think a lot of parents expect the game to operate this way at this level though, for better or worse, so at least there is some sort of expectation that it could all come to an end quickly, but that doesn't help the kids mental state.
IMO worse issues are being created in local communities, as clubs have realised how to monetise families dreams of their kid being the next big thing and they ruthlessly capitalise on it, at every age level. There's been a huge rise in RDC's (Regional Development Centres) by lots of clubs in the last 5 years, essentially they align themselves with the best local football team they can in a chosen area (could be local, or bloody miles away) and run training sessions at various age levels during the week, Ipswich and Norwich both do this, amongst many, many other clubs. They charge for the training, you're expected to buy full club kit to attend sessions, they organise trips, events etc, which are all chargeable and they make money hand over fist, it's a significant new income stream for clubs, plus they may just convert a few kids to fans, making new season ticket holders etc etc. Kids at these centres never, ever move on, they just keep playing and paying for years, so they can tell there mates they "play for X club" the parents do the same, maybe they think it looks good at school switching time etc, they are pretty much paying to use the club name.
These RDC's are not the clubs academy, nowhere near it, they are barely affiliated with the main football club from a playing perspective, they're just cash cows for the clubs, but they use the badges and kits and tell you there is a pathway, but the reality is, that there's no pathway at all from these remote sessions, unless you are very gifted and would have been spotted somewhere anyway. The parents are completely hoodwinked by the experience and genuinely believe their kid is on the pathway to superstardom and no price is too high to help them achieve it, it's exactly what the clubs want them to believe so they can continue to milk money from them at every available opportunity, it's scandalous in many respects. Most of the boys are bang, bang average and would never get near a proper academy set up, but their hopes and dreams are built up and up by coaches and parents alike, so I imagine by the end of it, when they are too old to attend any more, they probably feel similar to the kids released from the proper academies, but it has all been a lie, they've never been in the running for anything.
A lot needs to change about how football clubs interact with local communities in this regard, they're creating a lot of unhappy kids and it should be looked into before it proliferates further and we end up with major issues down the line. |  |
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