Jimzk5 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 The only academy that brings through serious talent on a regular basis is ajax, barca have done it over the last decade, united havnt since the mid 90s and arsenal take on kids from other academys. Our academy is something to be proud of. Mayby bannan, alby, Delfouneso, Clark aren't world beaters but slating the club for bringing through youth talent, just don't get it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 It is a great honour to be quoted as best academy, but people shouldn't read too much into it, we are not the only grade one club in the midlands, wolves have also got it... Think another 14 clubs are also applying or have been granted it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brommy Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 It is a great honour to be quoted as best academy, but people shouldn't read too much into it, we are not the only grade one club in the midlands, wolves have also got it... Think another 14 clubs are also applying or have been granted it Are you saying we are 'joint best' along with the other grade one academies? It would appear they have ranked us at the top of all the grade one academies. In the same way, some five star hotels are significantly better than other five star hotels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Are you saying we are 'joint best' along with the other grade one academies? It would appear they have ranked us at the top of all the grade one academies. In the same way, some five star hotels are significantly better than other five star hotels. I agree, just saying that it doesn't necessarily mean that all the best youth will automatically join us, even those from the local vicinity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brommy Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I agree, just saying that it doesn't necessarily mean that all the best youth will automatically join us, even those from the local vicinity I don't think anyone would claim that so I'm still unsure of your point. It's a nice award that won't do our club any harm and may just be the difference in persuading a young player and his family in choosing Villa if other factors are similar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condimentalist Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 We are top of the league, say we are top of the league! In all seriousness I think this is something to be incredibly proud of. Well done to all involved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keefa3011 Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Mon got some stick for not using the youth players much but which ones were good enough? Most are barely good enough now to play for a team battling relegation let alone be good enough to help a team challenging for 4th 3 years ago. Perfect example. Mon got booed for not bringing on delfonsou. He's now failing at Blackpool. Good news about the academy but its still not really helping us. We're not making big money from selling top young players and we're not yet producing top class youngsters. Hopefully this will change. Playing first team football is a key factor in a young player's development, imo. They learn more from playing a better standard of football, than from watching. One of my biggest gripes with MON was that he didn't use his squad enough, but hey, this isn't a thread about that. Keep up the good work all involved at the AVFC Academy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 think its something we should be proud of but as mentioned above except Ajax how many other academies have actually consistently had great talent filtering through. not many in Europe. maybe they arent world class but Agbonlahor, Cahill, Davis, Moore, Ridgwell, Gardner etc are all solid players playing at Premier League clubs. think of the players we sold we made at least £15 million back which probably has funded the academy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaGoMarching Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Can we just change the title to 'the excellent academy' Regardless of what level some players eventually play at, we've bring through a hell of a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 The academy is producing first teamers ergo it's doing a very good job. The fact that is doing that means we don't have to piss money up the wall on average players that can fill in and do a job (e.g. the Reo-Cokers and Sidwells of this world). You shouldn't really measure the success of the academy based on its turnover of 'top class' players, that seems like a very stupid piece of criteria to me. Top class players really are few and far between. I'm personally happy with it 'producing' the likes of Weimann, Bannan, Clark and Baker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Feyenoord Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 The only academy that brings through serious talent on a regular basis is ajax, barca have done it over the last decade, united havnt since the mid 90s and arsenal take on kids from other academys. Our academy is something to be proud of. Mayby bannan, alby, Delfouneso, Clark aren't world beaters but slating the club for bringing through youth talent, just don't get it. The ajax academy is quite overrated. They haven't produced a lot of talent over the past 5 years. They have only managed to sign some good foreign players at around age 16 like Vertonghen, Fischer, Eriksen and, Andersen. They play these guys in the U19's for a year and they will then move to the first team. That's not really producing players. The Dutch players they have produced from a younger age are very minimal. Van der Wiel, Van Rhijn and Siem de Jong are the only ones worth mentioning. Feyenoord's academy has been the best by far over the past few years. The Dutch national team will be overloaded by Feyenoord youth products within the next 5/10 years. Now that Johan Cruijff has returned to ajax...he is copying everything that Feyenoord have done in the youth academy over the last decade. It will take them a few years before they are ready to be considered a proper youth academy again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romavillan Posted November 13, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted November 13, 2012 does the title change mean that the excellent academy wasn't a myth? superb, coz i always thought we did actually have an excellent academy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 United night not have produced a large amount recently but the likes of wellbeck and cleverly are good enough to play for a team trying to win every trophy. We produce a large amount that seem to fail at anything above mid table premiership and at the moment the best they can manage is premiership survival. It's always nice to have recognition but until it actually helps us be anything other than survivors i don't really see much to sing and dance about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 I reckon we've got some real talent coming through in the next 2-3 years. Hopefully Lambert's still around then to bring them through properly. Bannan and eventually Gardner should finally fulfil their potential too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHV Posted November 13, 2012 Share Posted November 13, 2012 Even though the academy might be rated as the best it does not mean we produce any quality players. To be honest I cannot think of one quality player our academy has produced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pelle Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Define quality. Gabby, Barry, Cahill? Ok, Barry was in our academy over a decade ago, but he's won the PL and numerous caps and we made some good money on him. Gabby, whilst inconsistant, has been a vital part for our team for a long time now, and also won a few caps. We made money on Cahill who's gone on and won the CL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 Define quality. Gabby, Barry, Cahill? Ok, Barry was in our academy over a decade ago, but he's won the PL and numerous caps and we made some good money on him. Gabby, whilst inconsistant, has been a vital part for our team for a long time now, and also won a few caps. We made money on Cahill who's gone on and won the CL. Also add in to that whittingham who has been the stand out player in the championship (he may not be top top quality but would certainly do a job in the prem), hitzelsperger who was a full German international and vassell was a full England international. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 The ajax academy is quite overrated. They haven't produced a lot of talent over the past 5 years. They have only managed to sign some good foreign players at around age 16 like Vertonghen, Fischer, Eriksen and, Andersen. They play these guys in the U19's for a year and they will then move to the first team. That's not really producing players. The Dutch players they have produced from a younger age are very minimal. Van der Wiel, Van Rhijn and Siem de Jong are the only ones worth mentioning. Feyenoord's academy has been the best by far over the past few years. The Dutch national team will be overloaded by Feyenoord youth products within the next 5/10 years. Now that Johan Cruijff has returned to ajax...he is copying everything that Feyenoord have done in the youth academy over the last decade. It will take them a few years before they are ready to be considered a proper youth academy again. By that merit many of Barcelonas (and every other clubs academy players) would'nt count as their products as they joined in their late teens. Pedro, Busquets, Cuenca, Fontàs... Not saying your wrong, but it's a bit harsh to dismiss the work that Ajax does Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted November 14, 2012 Share Posted November 14, 2012 what would a Villa XI of academy products be of last 15 years, for me Siegrist(couldnt think of any others and he did well at underage tournaemnt a few years ago Gardner Cahill Ridgewell Hitzlsperger Hendrie Barry Davis Whittingham Gabby Vassell Subs Myhill Weimann Moore Fahey Clark cant remember many full backs in past few years but them 2 played there and counted Barry though he was mainly Brighton but still a decent enough team. more than 10 internationals too 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romavillan Posted November 14, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted November 14, 2012 Even though the academy might be rated as the best it does not mean we produce any quality players. To be honest I cannot think of one quality player our academy has produced. Cahill. that's 100% nailed on top quality player that we have produced. what level is "quality" though? first team premier league i'd say is high quality in terms of even just european football. we regularly have 4 or more academy players in the team. that's an exceptional turnout surely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts