Academy - is it worth it?

[paddy20]

Reading seem to be ploughing all their hopes and investment into the Academy for its future but is this necessarily the best place for any money we have?

Since out Category 1 status in 2013 how many players have we produced that are Championship standard?? We ofter hear we have fantastic talent but over the last 5 years there does not seem to have been much return. Kelly is really the only one that is playing and his performances over the last year suggest a very average player.

Should we be, instead, focussing more on a much better scouting network which in the past has bought in players like Long, Kebe, Kitson, Sonko,Convey, Doyle etc etc. When did we last sign a young player that has achieved the heights that these players did?

[Hendo]

Jake Cooper
Michael Hector
Aaron Tishbola
Andrija Novakovich
Omar Richards

Are all playing, or should be playing, Championship standard football.

[Forbury Lion]

Jake Cooper
Michael Hector
Aaron Tishbola
Andrija Novakovich
Omar Richards

Are all playing, or should be playing, Championship standard football.

For the ones who have left, we could factor in the transfer fee received and estimate the fees the others would command, then you have a cost/benefit ration.
If we uncover some real talent, like another Gylfi Sigurðsson once every 5 years or so (we sold Gylfi for somewhere over £6.5m) then the academy would be paying for itself.
My fear though is that with Eamon Dolan (RIP) no longer running the academy we may not see the same level of outputs, plus there is a concern that the "dutch" way of doing things may have filtered down to academy level with the trend for inadequate first team signings being replicated at that level too (hopefully not the case)
Looking forward though, the trend does seem to be for "home grown" players, with Brexit we may also see some European players requiring work permits as well so at the very least the transfer fees for our accademy outputs will be higher.

[Hendo]

Jake Cooper
Michael Hector
Aaron Tishbola
Andrija Novakovich
Omar Richards

Are all playing, or should be playing, Championship standard football.

For the ones who have left, we could factor in the transfer fee received and estimate the fees the others would command, then you have a cost/benefit ration.
If we uncover some real talent, like another Gylfi Sigurðsson once every 5 years or so (we sold Gylfi for somewhere over £6.5m) then the academy would be paying for itself.
My fear though is that with Eamon Dolan (RIP) no longer running the academy we may not see the same level of outputs, plus there is a concern that the "dutch" way of doing things may have filtered down to academy level with the trend for inadequate first team signings being replicated at that level too (hopefully not the case)
Looking forward though, the trend does seem to be for "home grown" players, with Brexit we may also see some European players requiring work permits as well so at the very least the transfer fees for our accademy outputs will be higher.

Thinking about it, in the market today, how much do you think we could get for Gylfi? £15m? £20m?

[muirinho]

Jake Cooper
Michael Hector
Aaron Tishbola
Andrija Novakovich
Omar Richards

Are all playing, or should be playing, Championship standard football.

For the ones who have left, we could factor in the transfer fee received and estimate the fees the others would command, then you have a cost/benefit ration.
If we uncover some real talent, like another Gylfi Sigurðsson once every 5 years or so (we sold Gylfi for somewhere over £6.5m) then the academy would be paying for itself.
My fear though is that with Eamon Dolan (RIP) no longer running the academy we may not see the same level of outputs, plus there is a concern that the "dutch" way of doing things may have filtered down to academy level with the trend for inadequate first team signings being replicated at that level too (hopefully not the case)
Looking forward though, the trend does seem to be for "home grown" players, with Brexit we may also see some European players requiring work permits as well so at the very least the transfer fees for our accademy outputs will be higher.

Need to include as well the transfer fees and wages you might have had to pay otherwise, for backup players, if you didn't have the academy there. Rinomhota, Holmes, Richards, Watson etc have all come in and done a job when needed - who would have done that job if we didn't have the academy there?

Bear in mind too that "gems" from elsewhere need to be polished, and you can't make the first team squad too big - there has to be a "reserve" team and coaches for them, anyway. If the club spotted another shane Long now, given his lack of experience when he joined, they wouldn't be able to take a player at a similar stage of development unless they had the kind of coaches that the academy has.

Also Reading's academy takes players all the way from U8, and provides a pathway the whole way through to the senior side. That embeds the club in the community as much as anything. If you're not giving local kids the chance to see themselves in the local team, you might as well be FranchiseFC.

[Forbury Lion]

Jake Cooper
Michael Hector
Aaron Tishbola
Andrija Novakovich
Omar Richards

Are all playing, or should be playing, Championship standard football.

For the ones who have left, we could factor in the transfer fee received and estimate the fees the others would command, then you have a cost/benefit ration.
If we uncover some real talent, like another Gylfi Sigurðsson once every 5 years or so (we sold Gylfi for somewhere over £6.5m) then the academy would be paying for itself.
My fear though is that with Eamon Dolan (RIP) no longer running the academy we may not see the same level of outputs, plus there is a concern that the "dutch" way of doing things may have filtered down to academy level with the trend for inadequate first team signings being replicated at that level too (hopefully not the case)
Looking forward though, the trend does seem to be for "home grown" players, with Brexit we may also see some European players requiring work permits as well so at the very least the transfer fees for our accademy outputs will be higher.

Thinking about it, in the market today, how much do you think we could get for Gylfi? £15m? £20m?

Probably about that, or £35m if Nicky Hammond was still here.

[Snowflake Royal]

Yes. It is. That was simple wasn't it.

[Sutekh]

Yes. It is. That was simple wasn't it.

This. Next question.

[Hound]

Also Reading's academy takes players all the way from U8, and provides a pathway the whole way through to the senior side. That embeds the club in the community as much as anything. If you're not giving local kids the chance to see themselves in the local team, you might as well be FranchiseFC.

Very much this. It’s a good thing for the local kids to aim for, knowing there are scouts about etc

Solely on a financial basis, reckon we’d pull in a couple of million for novakovich, Loader is prob worth a few quid as well already

[Snowflake Royal]

Also Reading's academy takes players all the way from U8, and provides a pathway the whole way through to the senior side. That embeds the club in the community as much as anything. If you're not giving local kids the chance to see themselves in the local team, you might as well be FranchiseFC.

Very much this. It’s a good thing for the local kids to aim for, knowing there are scouts about etc

Solely on a financial basis, reckon we’d pull in a couple of million for novakovich, Loader is prob worth a few quid as well already

Not so much the last few years, but we've had oodles of first team starts out of Academy products, just counting their first two or three seasons post first team debut.

When you think how much that has saved in transfer fees and wages (Academy products likely to enter the first team on lower wages than signings), it's got to be huge.

How much would Kelly have cost us as a signing? £500k? £1m? More?

[Ranty McRantface]

There is a lot of young players living in Reading that were once on our books and have been snapped up to Spurs, Arsenal or Chelsea. My mate teaches secondary school kids in Hugh Faringdon and I remember a couple of years ago he said that half of his class are playing academy football for one of those 3 clubs.

I think the academy is definitely worth the investment but we need to do more behind the scenes and on the pitch with opportunities to convince the youngsters that staying in Reading's Academy is the best way forward to become a professional footballer.

[Ranty McRantface]

There is a lot of young players living in Reading that were once on our books and have been snapped up to Spurs, Arsenal or Chelsea. My mate teaches secondary school kids in Hugh Faringdon and I remember a couple of years ago he said that half of his class are playing academy football for one of those 3 clubs.

I think the academy is definitely worth the investment but we need to do more behind the scenes and on the pitch with opportunities to convince the youngsters that staying in Reading's Academy is the best way forward to become a professional footballer.