Another youngster being poached ??

[Bluemike]

This is getting silly now, first Ben Knight, Arsenal looking to take Marcelo Flores and now this !!! Is there a point to having a youth academy anymore ? There is not a bloody thing the club, or any club for that matter can do about itm people seem to think a Million for Knight and maybe 500K for Crowe is good business but it really isn't, these boys could well turn out to be bloody stars worth so much more, it would be nice to at least get a chance of finding out after putting so much work into bringing them through. Marcus Evans was ridiculed for his Five point plan but there is zero doubt that his investment into the academy is bearing fruit even without the category One cobblers, there is a lot of talent coming through only for the grubby bastards of the premier league to cherry pick them.

Academy youngster Dylan Crowe is reportedly a target of Manchester United, Brighton, RB Leipzig, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Benfica.

According to Goal.com, the clubs are all eyeing the 17-year-old right-back, who has won nine caps for the England U17s, and are said to be willing to pay the Blues up to £500,000.

Second-year scholar Crowe, who broke into the U23s side at Portman Road last season, is yet to sign a contract with Town, despite having turned 17 - when players are permitted to sign their first professional deals - in April.

The Blues recently lost 16-year-old Ben Knight to Manchester City for a fee of just over £1 million, while academy schoolboy Marcelo Flores, whose father Ruben is a coach at Playford Road, is interesting Arsenal.

Chelsea, Liverpool and Barcelona are also among the clubs believed to have been tracking the Canadian.

[marko69]

How long before Flynn Downes is targeted?

[marko69]

And after reading that....... another reason why it’d be a really good thing for ITFC to be in the EPL for a season or two. You see the names interested:
Man Utd
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Leipzig
Benfica

&

Brighton?

Ffs! Brighton. A fkn league 2 team a few years ago.

[Dubai Blue]

This is getting silly now, first Ben Knight, Arsenal looking to take Marcelo Flores and now this !!! Is there a point to having a youth academy anymore ? There is not a bloody thing the club, or any club for that matter can do about itm people seem to think a Million for Knight and maybe 500K for Crowe is good business but it really isn't, these boys could well turn out to be bloody stars worth so much more, it would be nice to at least get a chance of finding out after putting so much work into bringing them through. Marcus Evans was ridiculed for his Five point plan but there is zero doubt that his investment into the academy is bearing fruit even without the category One cobblers, there is a lot of talent coming through only for the grubby bastards of the premier league to cherry pick them.

Academy youngster Dylan Crowe is reportedly a target of Manchester United, Brighton, RB Leipzig, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Benfica.

According to Goal.com, the clubs are all eyeing the 17-year-old right-back, who has won nine caps for the England U17s, and are said to be willing to pay the Blues up to £500,000.

Second-year scholar Crowe, who broke into the U23s side at Portman Road last season, is yet to sign a contract with Town, despite having turned 17 - when players are permitted to sign their first professional deals - in April.

The Blues recently lost 16-year-old Ben Knight to Manchester City for a fee of just over £1 million, while academy schoolboy Marcelo Flores, whose father Ruben is a coach at Playford Road, is interesting Arsenal.

Chelsea, Liverpool and Barcelona are also among the clubs believed to have been tracking the Canadian.

Bluemike, this IS the point of having the academy. It's a revenue stream for the club. These rumoured deals are the proof that ME has got the academy right.

[Bluemike]

To me it's a load of investment just to get back some of your outlay , it's pointless, the days of seeing kids progress to the first team will soon be a thing of the past, make the most of Dozzell, Downes and Nydam as that type of scenario will not happen too much more.

[J4ck22]

How long before Flynn Downes is targeted?

At least with Downes we'd be able to negotiate a much better price than an U17 without a professional contract yet. £1m is nothing for a club like Man City which is what they supposedly paid for Knight and we have to just bend over and accept it otherwise it will go to a tribunal who would most likely screw us even harder.

[number 9]

It's pretty sad when you can't even afford your own Academy players!

[Ricco]

Bluemike, this IS the point of having the academy. It's a revenue stream for the club. These rumoured deals are the proof that ME has got the academy right.

Do you think half a million here, a million there is really a valid revenue stream considering their potential and the cost and aim of the academy?

We last got promoted by keeping hold of academy players, promotion is worth something like £200m, it might not bring promotion, but these players are clearly rated by us and the top teams, If even one is brought in to the first team and impresses enough to sell in the Mings, Cresswell, Wickham price range, then you've made far more right there. What we're doing if we lose these players is like investing a load of money in to training a top thoroughbred and then selling them for cheap before they've even raced, it's ludicrous.

A risk has to be taken, by selling these players now it guarantees we make some money, but it also guarantees we can't make loads of money or get to use them in the first team. I don't know intimately what's going on, I don't know who's making these decisions, but I've seen it all too much in recent seasons that as a club we take the safe conservative approach to everything, we'll take the draw because if we gamble and attack then we might lose, we'll just spend as little as possible, just enough to probably keep us up and then we might get lucky. It's a negative mentality that guarantees mediocrity at best and that simply doesn't work in a gambling, large risk-reward entertainment business that football is.

[Bluemike]

There isn't anyone making decisions to sell these kids, that's the annoying thing, we as a club are powerless to stop this from happening, there is absolutely nothing we can do, the whole bloody thing has been set up to help the Premier league cherry pick the best youngsters and if we or any other club doesn't like it the threat is there that clubs outwith the Premier league risk losing their handout payments, its a joke.

[J4ck22]

There isn't anyone making decisions to sell these kids, that's the annoying thing, we as a club are powerless to stop this from happening, there is absolutely nothing we can do, the whole bloody thing has been set up to help the Premier league cherry pick the best youngsters and if we or any other club doesn't like it the threat is there that clubs outwith the Premier league risk losing their handout payments, its a joke.

Exactly. These clubs are free to just approach the player and convince him to join them, they don't need to go through the standard procedure of making an official offer with the club first, they can just come in and take him. All we can do is try to negotiate the compensation with the other club, but they hold all the cards and can basically tell us to 'accept this or risk the tribunal fee'.

[Dubai Blue]

I think that last point is the key here. The system is not as we would wish it to be but it is what it is. If we continue to see our Academy stars going to big clubs like Man City than we will continue to attract better potential stars to develop.

It's a production line and seeing some high profile sales to big teams makes our stock better.

I agree with Ricco to a point and I also don't have the numbers but I would like to see an annual P&L statement for the Academy as a self contained business.

[Dubai Blue]

There isn't anyone making decisions to sell these kids, that's the annoying thing, we as a club are powerless to stop this from happening, there is absolutely nothing we can do, the whole bloody thing has been set up to help the Premier league cherry pick the best youngsters and if we or any other club doesn't like it the threat is there that clubs outwith the Premier league risk losing their handout payments, its a joke.

Exactly. These clubs are free to just approach the player and convince him to join them, they don't need to go through the standard procedure of making an official offer with the club first, they can just come in and take him. All we can do is try to negotiate the compensation with the other club, but they hold all the cards and can basically tell us to 'accept this or risk the tribunal fee'.

Don't forget that the kids and their families will be well keen to sign with a big club too. It's a big stepping stone in their potential future.

[hallamblue]

I’ve actually just cancelled my £10 a month funding in to the academy. I’m sick of us providing decent players for the PL Clubs to keep up their “ quota” of home talent, and never intending to progress them. Why should I fund PL Clubs development of players that won’t ever play for Town. Sod em!

[Bluemike]

Good for you, the Premier league really is a glutinous set up.