I don't know how much the academy costs to run per annum but as long as the expectations are not too high to start then it is potentially a great investment. Take into account selling AWB for £50m and Wilf who has help keep us in the Prem for years, which is worth huge millions then that alone is worth it.

The next step surely though has to be a la Arsenal rather than Chelsea and bring through more first team squad players from the academy.

I think signing a 16 year old and bringing them through is still relevant - we 'signed' Phillips, Banks, O'Brien, Reid, Balmer from Irish and Scottish clubs, but they're very much part of our academy, and if any make it to the first team would be considered graduates of the academy.

Brighton 'signed' Evan Ferguson and West Ham 'signed' Declan Rice' - I don't think anyone argues they are not products of the clubs though.

We also 'signed' Mitchell from Brentford when they decided to close the academy, and JRS from Chelsea when he was released - still very much our products.

Regarding the cost of the academy, Parish provided eye-watering figures during his interview with Gary Neville. If you missed it, it is well worth a watch (generally, as well as in relation to this subject). It certainly gave me a new perspective on the investment, and therefore the hopes the club must have for it. From memory, the costs were comparable to the new Main Stand project, certainly in the long run when you factor in running costs.

Yes, promoting youth is of course as old as the hills. The subject of this thread, however, is what expectations we should have for the academy. Specifically, would we hope to A. produce players that will make a noticeable difference to the team (i.e take us into the top ten positions), or B. save millions in the transfer market by growing our own, whilst still maintaining a premier league standard team, or C. sell enough players to at least cover the costs, or a combination of all three, etc.

To achieve any of the above, we would need to produce more players more often than we historically have, and than most clubs historically have, if you take the big sides out of the equation.

My own response to the original post therefore is that I think it is necessary to spend money to have a top academy, but probably not realistic to expect it to produce first-team players any more frequently than the old youth team historically did, or to hope that it will lead to an upturn in player sales. Thats fine by me, but I do sense that some have higher hopes than might be realistic.

Edited by TheBigToePunt (06 Nov 2023 3.03pm)

Sullay KaiKai has nearly 200 football league appearances and is an international for Sierra Leone.

Hiram Boateng also pushing 200 professional games across League One and League Two

Jason Lokilo is with Hull in the Championship.

Rob Street is in league one.

Ryan Innis has 100+ football league appearances and now with Forest Green in League Two.

There's also Keshi Andersen and Freddie Ladapo who are both Championship forwards - we signed both for our academy, as opposed to developed them from kids.

Again to hammer the point, we've had below average academy facilities for nearly all of the last 10 years, so I think it's a poor measuring stick as to what we'll be capable of moving forward.

Let's just look at the top clubs this weekend, utd had Garnacho,mctominay and Evans, City had no players, arsenal had saka and Nketiah and Liverpool had trent, 6 out of 44 players starting. other academy players, utd had awb and arsenal had rice and white. Not great for what would be 4 of the best academies in England.

6/44 is over 13% of starters, and that's at the best clubs in the country - not bad at all.

City also had Foden, Lewis and Bobb all play in the game.

13% of starters being from the academy would mean 1-2 in the Palace XI every week - I don't think even the most passionate academy fan would expect much more than that.

Also, again, if we're talking £5m a year investment for 13% of your starting line-up... that's an incredible return in the context of PL recruitment - how much would a Saka or Foden cost to buy?

Edited by EverybodyDannsNow (06 Nov 2023 4.05pm)