Has the Academy had its day? Huddersfield’s move to close down their talent farm has re-opened a divisive issue
Top clubs have been hoovering up the top young talent around the country to the detriment of the smaller teams
IT’S one of the most divisive issues in football – has the Academy had its day?
Huddersfield’s move towards closing down theirs has reopened the debate, with the Prem new boys feeling the money would be better spent elsewhere.
On the face of it, you would struggle to argue.
After all, Philip Billing is the only current graduate to make the first team – and he was brought in from Denmark at 16.
Yet the argument isn’t as simple as that. It isn’t as basic as the two ultimate questions – are you producing players for your club and your country?
Of course that remains the dream. Unearthing the next Wayne Rooney, Gareth Bale or Marcus Rashford.
But that’s a one in a million.
Just like Manchester United’s Class of 92 was a freakish, once-in-a-lifetime collection of young talent.
Yet this is no black and white argument. No right or wrong answers here. No clarity of vision when the waters are so muddied.
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Clearly the Academy system is worthwhile for the top dogs.
They know even if they haven’t found a diamond, at least they’ve someone whose “rent” will pay to continue the search.
For while the bigger clubs will effectively drop a dredging net and gather up any schoolboy with a glimmer of talent, they know that in some ways it is a no-risk gamble.
Discover a gem and great. You’ve got him from day one, and kept him from the clutches of serious rivals.
If not, then send him to another club – as the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea do by the barrowload – and that loan fee will help pay for the running of your Academy.
The reality is that for a Category One Academy – one that takes kids of young school age, the chances of an Under 9 eventually making the first team are around 0.5 per cent.
But if that never-to-be-seen in your club shirt kid can still contribute indirectly – back to that loan fee – then it becomes a no-risk gamble to a large extent.
That’s why the harrumphing about the hordes of youngsters being farmed around the leagues breaks down.
Kids will still get football, lower clubs get a young prospect who could help them to the next level, and the owning club don’t lose out financially.
For all the doubts over whether Academies have a role to play, a staggering 95 clubs still run them. The real issue at what category clubs choose to operate.
Those in category one can trawl every kid going, handing out schoolboy contracts from the age of nine, a scholarship at 16 and then hopefully – but in reality unlikely - a pro deal.
The problem comes when smaller clubs try to follow suit, but are always fighting an uphill battle.
If they have a potential superstar, there is nothing to stop the big guns coming in at 16 and cherry picking them.
The groundwork has been done elsewhere, they know the kid has a chance, and they are prepared to take the gamble of a tribunal.
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That’s because they are safe in the knowledge that compensation payment will only be around £300,000 as the youngster has little or no first team experience to justify a high fee.
And while that might be a hefty wedge for a lower league outfit, unless clauses are in there, you’re also losing a potential jackpot.
Those downgrading to Category Four, like Brentford, are using common sense.
That level means they only pick up youngsters at 17, rather than school age, and by then it is a lot clearer as to whether they have a chance of making the grade.
That’s why Brentford have given seven of them a first-team break.
It becomes less of a gamble.
It makes more financial sense, you know by the late teens if they have a chance, and if you are prepared to risk missing out on a kid at nine or ten, you have a better idea of what you are taking on.
But whatever the level, and however good the talent you find, it’s worth bearing one thing in mind.
The best through-the-ranks product in the Premier League right now is Paul Pogba at Manchester United – and it cost them £89 million to make him a first team regular.
Clearly the system won’t stop you getting stung, however big you are.