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Old 08-09-2017, 11:41 AM
Wycombe Eagle#2 Wycombe Eagle#2 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by adman50 View Post
Woosie- what is your opinion of teams like Brentford ditching the whole academy set up in favour of a B team. I recently read that Huddersfield were going to save over £2m a year doing so.
A wifes colleague of mine is the physio/kit woman of their B team and big Brentford fans. Apparently the academy wasn't productive. Big costs, nothing coming through and having to compete with other clubs taking players. They therefore ditched the academy and started a B team. The B team is a squad of u23 players, many from Europe. The hope is they then progress to the full squad. Basically their fixtures are invite games against the like of Man City u23s for example.

A shame for local youth talent you'd think but they now have a similar set up to Wycombe like a community trust project. We played Brentford in a tournament in the summer actually. There are quite a few clubs like this now. Wycombe were one of the only clubs without an academy until recently but they have this community trust scheme. Other clubs they've played are Reading, Swindon, MK, Northampton, Luton, Coventry, Dartford academy, Gillingham, Oxford and even Fulham. I've known some age groups to be invited to play the odd full academy. For instance the U13s &14 elite boys are playing Reading academy on Saturday at the Madjeski complex. The highlight last season was the U13s elite playing Boulougne who were won tour. This was Kante team as a youth player and they beat PSG academy 2 weeks prior.

These set up have a loose link to the main team. For example Wycombe can't sign these kids on until they're 16. Training appears very good with the development players having a 2hr training session each week and elite players having 2 x 1.45hr sessions a week. Facilities are also excellent and the advantage is the players can also play for their local Sat/Sun side still. Most of the fixtures happen in school hols and only the odd invitation not in school hols to have minimal impact on local sides.

Interestingly Wycombe results and performances from all age groups have been very good and are now looking to start their academy back up. They are also now planning to enter the u15s mixed with u16s into the allied counties league to give them more exposure. It'll be tough but a good experience for players.

The whole academy set up is very confusing though. I don't think it has had the desired impact it was set out to have and has really only benfited the big clubs, who no longer have to pay larger sums to smaller clubs which helped support the pyrimid. Chelsea are an example of utilising the system to its full potential. They're not interested in actually bringing anyone into the first team unless they're a Messi, Ronaldo or Bale. The shame is their academy is excellent. Its a businees for them as they stock pile player's. Give them a footballing education and rent or sell them on making huge profits very year.I imagine now most clubs just struggle to compete with them. Southgate has a bit to answer for
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