Town's academy ....

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hallamblue
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Town's academy ....

Post by hallamblue » Tue Sep 01, 2020 1:03 pm

Given the undoubted departure of Downes, and maybe even Woolfie before the window closes. It got me thinking .

Is it really any use keeping our academy going with a running cost of something £5-6m a year? We never seem to get a good deal / return on our best youngsters when leave this club, or effect / benefit of the money offered to the Club is so watered down by the drip, drip feed of instalments that it surmounts to being of no benefit to a manger whoever he is, in his search to replace the departing player. Nor do we ever seem to fully invest the money into replacing like with like standard of player. So what is the point ?

Thoughts guys ?

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number 9
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Re: Town's academy ....

Post by number 9 » Tue Sep 01, 2020 3:16 pm

I think the current financial climate and salary cap restrictions make the Academy even more important. It's really the only back up plan we have. It will become extremely difficult to replace our departing best players and remain under these financial constraints. I know it's kind of scary to say, but I think now the Academy is our only hope! :astroll:

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marko69
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Re: Town's academy ....

Post by marko69 » Tue Sep 01, 2020 3:53 pm

number 9 wrote:
Tue Sep 01, 2020 3:16 pm
I think the current financial climate and salary cap restrictions make the Academy even more important. It's really the only back up plan we have. It will become extremely difficult to replace our departing best players and remain under these financial constraints. I know it's kind of scary to say, but I think now the Academy is our only hope! :astroll:
Why did I see Princess Leia after reading that part?

hallamblue
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Re: Town's academy ....

Post by hallamblue » Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:28 pm

Coz yer a perv ?? 😂......I’m only joking x

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marko69
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Re: Town's academy ....

Post by marko69 » Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:45 pm

No pervs allowed! May the sussies and leather whips be with you, young Hallam. :D

hallamblue
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Re: Town's academy ....

Post by hallamblue » Tue Sep 01, 2020 4:51 pm

:lol: :lol: ...you got your video cam on then marko ?.

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Dubai Blue
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Re: Town's academy ....

Post by Dubai Blue » Wed Sep 02, 2020 8:59 am

Remember that it's not just the transfer revenue that the academy contributes to our bottom line but the inwards transfer fees that would have been paid for players that would be needed if our home grown boys were not available. I would suggest also that we probably get academy graduates at a lower salary rate than the players that would be needed if they weren't there. At least for the first year or two.

It would be interesting to see how the club assesses the balance sheet of the Academy and how they calculate the cost/benefit.

Tangfastic
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Re: Town's academy ....

Post by Tangfastic » Wed Sep 02, 2020 4:23 pm

Dubai Blue wrote:
Wed Sep 02, 2020 8:59 am
Remember that it's not just the transfer revenue that the academy contributes to our bottom line but the inwards transfer fees that would have been paid for players that would be needed if our home grown boys were not available. I would suggest also that we probably get academy graduates at a lower salary rate than the players that would be needed if they weren't there. At least for the first year or two.

It would be interesting to see how the club assesses the balance sheet of the Academy and how they calculate the cost/benefit.
I think we had a discussion not long ago about the revenue made from academy players. And i couldn’t remember any academy player who played for the first team since Wickham in 2011 that we made money from. We got money for 15 or 16 year old kids who were poached by Man City or Chelsea, though. So not sure how financially viable the academy has been for the last 15 years or so. If it does cost 4 or 5 or 6million a year to run, then I can’t see it paying for itself. I can see the point that if we’ve kids as squad players then that means we don’t have to bring in journeymen from outside. Except we have - we have a massive squad of non-academy players on the wage-bill.
With the salary cap, I can see that makes young players more useful as cheap makeweights in the squad, but they’ve got to be good enough. I can see both sides. I’d like to be convinced that it’s paying for itself, but I’m not sure from the outside.

hallamblue
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Re: Town's academy ....

Post by hallamblue » Wed Sep 02, 2020 5:26 pm

I think the Club is hamstrung this season as regards this salaries cap purely due to the ridiculous size of our squad. 40+ players , 28 of whom ( I think ), are on contract until 2021/2. We can’t off load coz no one can afford their wages , and we can’t bring anyone in due to the squad size restrictions .


Temporary measures are to loan out younger players ( every little reduction in wage costs and numbers will help), and potentially trying to temporarily off load Norwood it seems . What a bloody mess we are in , in this pathetic league .

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Dubai Blue
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Re: Town's academy ....

Post by Dubai Blue » Thu Sep 03, 2020 8:40 am

Personally I don't believe that we are trying to loan out Norwood, unless he is short of fitness and can get some games in Scotland until December, but I don't really believe this either.

It's a shame the club is not more transparent about the academy and its contribution to finances since if the fans were behind it they might also have a different approach to some of the young players when they make the kind of mistakes that only experience will allow them to prevent.

Tangfastic
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Re: Town's academy ....

Post by Tangfastic » Thu Sep 03, 2020 9:26 am

I also can’t see how we’re looking to loan out Norwood. If you want to free up the wage bill, then offload midfielders. Easier said than done.

Hawkins wasn’t brought in to replace Norwood. I’d say with the formation we’re going with, Norwood would be our No. 1 central striker. Not that I think the club wants rid of Jackson, but he would seem more likely not to fit in with our formation. We’d have to replace Norwood and I think it would be tough to replace him with a cheaper player.

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