Regarding youth, years ago at a coaching convention i met Paul Power (u 18 man city head coach) and Jim Cassel (Man city academy director). This was when Mancini was managing them.
They were very gracious down to earth lads and entertained me and a pal over a cuppa.
The thing that shocked me the most, is that they said, our goal is not to produce pros for the man city first team, but pros for other teams. He cited that in his whole tenure, Mancini had been to watch one u-18 game. They were just trying to give lads the opportunity of a making a living from playing the game they love!
Really surprised me that, but that modern football i guess.....pressure at some clubs mean the gaffer cant take the risk.