Should football clubs invest more into youth academies to find new talent or buy big-money names? And why?

Answer 1

Invest in youth.

It is nothing to do with the national team. (We failed to qualify for USA 94 and had few 'foreigners' in the English game then.)

It is to do with local support. Look at teams like Wigan and Bolton in the premier league. There are loads of empty seats. Yes, this is in part to do with the high price of tickets, but if you get local lads playing, you will get more people coming to the games. Football clubs should be part of the local community. In addition to helping the game develop and putting something back in the local community, it also makes good business sense, as more locals willl come to the games.

I do admit that there is a danger that devloping players like that will end up costing clubs, as with the example of Ajax which had a great team that left, leaving the club out of pocket. (Or rather, not as well of as the club deserved.) In addition, buying big gets a manager instant returns, where as investing in the long term will not.

Big money names can be great for clubs, but the other danger is that they may want to leave. Clubs are meant to have traditions, and investing locally can maintain them. It is just a pity that at present, the transfer system does not reward clubs for doing that.

Answer 2

There is a feeling that the buying of foreign big names has had a detrimental effect on the development of English players through into the national side. This appears to be a problem in some other countries as well, e.g. Spain, though, surprisingly enough that is not the case in Italy.

Italy is the counter-argument to the current popular groundswell. In Italy, there is enough money which has already been put into the youth academies and more goes in each year. Maybe, this is why Italy stands I World Cup win behind Brazil and still has some of the best club sides in the world.

And there is your answer - yes, football clubs AND the FA should invest more into such academies. I know that real talent will always shine through, but a lot does need polishing, which today the clubs don't really have the time to do. Hence the youth academies.

Answer 3

Personally buying big names is a good way to create a good football team if you have that sort of money which many clubs do not and there is always a risk that the BIG NAMED players may not adapt to the english style of football. An example i think was Schevchenko. It took him a long while to find some form in the prem.
But i really believe that clubs should invest more money into youth academies because the young people are the future of any football team. If more money is invested training camps/ academies and youth set ups at clubs then i believe the talent will emerge from them.

Answer 4

I support Coventry City and they have had a youth academy for a number of years and though we have had some very good youngsters come through the ranks it is only now that the club is benefiting from the academy.
This has happened only in the last few years because the club realised that the set-up they had wasn't working and 4 years ago there was a radical shakeup to the academy and in the current Coventry squad there is now half a dozen players from the youth squad and 2 of them are now first teamers.

If a team are going to start youth academies I would suggest that it should be modelled on the West Ham system which has produce half a dozen players in the current England squad.

If you are a club with plenty of money of course a big money signing is good for a club and gives you a sense of well being but its not the answer.

Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool etc have all spent big this season and yet Arsenal who haven't spent big and again brought players in that people never heard off are now sitting on top of the premiership and the rest will have to play catch up.

So in my opionion if you are a team like Coventry then invest in the youth acadamy and get the right team in and reap the rewards in a few years and don't go for the big names and end in administration. Finally get the right manager and stick with him and let him unearth the jewels that are out there.

Answer 5

I think there has to be a much higher investment in youth development than there currently is. I know one of our local SPL clubs has a very well reputed youth academy and many of the players have progressed on to Premiership clubs. They also sponsor youth teams both home and abroad.
I believe that by developing local and native talent can only be a good thing as the future of our own national teams depends upon it.
On the other side of the coin to remain in a position where sufficient funds come into the club they also need to have some big names. Its almost a catch 22 situation. But just buying big names does not necessarily make a good team as there could be too many divas in the team all looking to be the lead player

Answer 6

Yes they should, no question. I can only speak from a Scottish point of view, but 10 -15 years ago, we all thought that the buying of imports was great, big names fantastic.

What actually happened was that the national team suffered as a consequence of such investment.

Now with less money available, Scotland has seen players coming through to the national side and playing with passion. Not that the others didn't, we just had nothin to follow them.

Investing in youth and grass roots, will give ALL clubs an incredible scouting network to benefit from. The clubs should look to investing monies into one stadium per city rather than an "elite". This would open up the doors to many rather than just those that follow their team. By doing this it would start to get rid of inherit jealousies that surround the clubs and their rivals.

All these issues however have only come to light since England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, and you have to ask if they had succeeded, would Y!A have posted this question in the first place?

Answer 7

No because the football clubs are not directly reasonable for producing young talent and i feel that there are more than enough youth academies around the country and other countries so if new talent is out there then it will be found. I understand that England didn't qualify but that's because of the lack of understanding between the players. Manchester united, Liverpool, Chelsea and even Aston villa produce loads of young English players but it doesn't make a difference. Same goes for any country around the world without understanding nothing will be achieved.

Football is a business and to survive you have to do whatever it takes to win so if that means buying some match winners then that's what should happen. Young talent is important and so i feel that the academies should maybe extend there scouting network but if they have to buy big money players then so be it.

Answer 8

Football clubs should definately invest in youth academies and improve their youngsters. It is extremely crucial for clubs to do this because the benefits they gain from a new superstar is unreal. Teams will not need to spend 30 million pound on an imprsessive forign player when they can be helping their country gain better players(and thus giving them a greater chance to progress into major tournaments). At this moment in time, there is probably hundreds of potential talent in our youth academies but some just dont have the funding to improve their resources and pay fr better coaching. So here is a message to the head of Youth development or whoever deals with stuff like this
" Do you want our country to compete?! Start investing more money into youth football and maybe some day, Scotland will win the world cup!".

Answer 9

If you look back many years ago to the old Scottish Premier League we had a similar situation, everybody was buying average/poor foriegners because it was the done thing. After a few seasons and many clubs going into administration it became clear that it all had to change, and how it has.

Under Dick Advocaat Rangers once fielded a team without a Scot, much the same as Wenger freequently does now, the Rangers team that played on Saturday consisted of 9 Scots. Most of which start regularly in the Champions League, however 4 of these players got their chance at other 'smaller' clubs. With the fans must win mentality at the big clubs there is little chance of the youth breaking their way into the top teams 1st XI. The cost of loosing is so high for the major teams that they will rarely take a chance on young English players but would rather those playing with winning sides and a winning mentality. (i.e. Nani and Anderson who joined Man U for next season and beyond both understand the requirements of top teams because they played with the top Portugese teams).

The only way I can see the big clubs, and ultimatley England, can improve the quality of players is to spread the wealth the Premiership has, not from attendances but TV revenue, down through the lower leagues and improve the quality of their training facilities, pitches, coaches, everything. The youth need to be playing at the highest available standard on good quality pitches and perhaps this could even bring a revival of people supporting their local team, and not just glory hunting as many do.

If the ridiculous sums of money that is being put into the English game via TV revenue continues to be spent elsewhere on the continent there is little chance of the national team improving. Money MUST filter to the lower leagues or the press will be writing about 1966 in 2066!

Additionally Terry is a fantastic defender, but why should he be able to command a reputed 140,000 basic salary per week? According to the Spanish papers Barcelona pay Ronaldinho between 70 & 80K per week (depending on where you read it). Is Terry really worth almost twice in wages than Ronaldinho?

You have too many good footballers making more than whole communities! Perhaps that is the major flaw.

Answer 10

Having read most of the answers there are some that cover my own thoughts.

I would add that it's not worth spending any additional money, or even have any youth academies if our clubs at the top level don't utilise these players coming through the system.

While I understand the top clubs, especially the top four have the money to buy any player, from any country at any age which doesn't help grass roots football in this country, no matter how good our players are.

I've seen so many very good Liverpool youngsters shine at academy and reserve level but never get the chance to shine and develop in the seniors and just fall by the wayside. It's a shame but until we have a system of developing these players, by reducing the number of foreign players in each side will continue to face the problems at National level.

Don’t get me wrong, we all need academies but ask any young academy footballer these days if they really believe they will play for their clubs at senior level and I think most would say no, a sad indictment for football in this country.

Answer 11

improve their youngsters. It is extremely crucial for clubs to do this because the benefits they gain from a new superstar is unreal. Teams will not need to spend 30 million pound on an imprsessive forign player when they can be helping their country gain better players(and thus giving them a greater chance to progress into major tournaments). At this moment in time, there is probably hundreds of potential talent in our youth academies but some just dont have the funding to improve their resources and pay fr better coaching. So here is a message to the head of Youth development or whoever deals with stuff like this
" Do you want our country to compete?! Start investing more money into youth football and maybe some day, Scotland will win the world cup!".