Heighway leaves Reds academy post

[dom9]

A real difference is though that Man Uniteds youth team has produced a string of £500k-£1m players they have sold on which has helped finance youth development.

I don't recall any.

[ineednewfootwear]

whatever happens, i hope parry and the new owners take into account that when rafa does leave to become real madrid's boss (and it will happen eventually) he'll very likely take his entire management and scouting team with him.

a bit of forward planning now will mean a somewhat seamless transition when the time comes.

[dww]

This season David Jones to Derby and apparently a deal has been done for Bardsley to Villa next season. There have also been other sales which were done for reasonable sums although I'm not sure how much like Luke Chadwick to Stoke. The highest profile sale of recent years was Healy obviously but the championship and below is littered with United rejects, many of whom have been sold for good money.

[dom9]

Have you got any figures in terms of fees?

To be honest I don't really care. There's a few of our rejects in the lower leagues too.

[dww]

The BBC says that Jones went for £1m+, Healy £1.5m to Preston, Bardsley is rumoured to be around £750k. I have no overall figures though.

[homer1]

Think DWW is right, seem to remember the likes of Curtis & O'Kane moving on for a few quid despite not having made an impression in the first team - I'm sure there were others too but can't think off the top of my head

[enema of the state]

It seems to me that Heighway was more intrested in developing the youngsters as people first and footballers second. While this is admirable, Rafa wants players that can fit into the first team sqaud within a reasonable period of time. This means importing youngsters frm further afield.

good post - nice to get a sensible response

i think the above is more heighways excuse for not providing quality players for the 1st team for the last 7 or 8 seasons than the actual reason.

I accept houllier made things very difficult for him but i have also been told rafa has been counting the days until his own people ie elias...wrest control of the development set up from the old guard

[dww]

good post - nice to get a sensible response

i think the above is more heighways excuse for not providing quality players for the 1st team for the last 7 or 8 seasons than the actual reason.

I accept houllier made things very difficult for him but i have also been told rafa has been counting the days until his own people ie elias...wrest control of the development set up from the old guard

The excuse vs reason thing is quite interesting. The only team to regularly bring young home grown players into their first team in the PL is Middleborough. They have recruited purely locally and I suspect that playing football is probably at least as popular in Liverpool as it is there.

So the differential must be either poor development, the higher standard of our team and connected to that the difficulty in players getting games. I have to say that the latter clearly has a large effect but it is hard to know from outside about the coaching.

Does your contact have any information about what Rafa wants to see doen differently at the academy, other than bringing in more foreign kids?

[enema of the state]

poor development

i think heighways view that local talent had to be the focus was as extreme as houlliers attitude in its own way.

lfc are "global" brand the impression of rafa's "vision" for the academy/development set up of the club that i was given is that the best players will be recruited from the 4 corners of the earth not just an hour from kirkby.

My "source" is simply that i have had the fortune to be - on several occasions including the night before the fa cup final last year - in the company of someone prominently involved in the lfc reserve setup who was previously involved in the academy setup. I got this privelidge through another friend so i'm not in a position to ask him questions / phone him up but i always listen carefully to what he says after a pint or 2!

[dom9]

The only team to regularly bring young home grown players into their first team in the PL is Middleborough. They have recruited purely locally and I suspect that playing football is probably at least as popular in Liverpool as it is there.

I would add West Ham to that.

[El Jefecito]

Winning the Youth Cup two seasons in a row obviously is too much success for Rafa.

Wasn't last years and this years squad the first that SH has taken from beginning to end. If so, he's done a pretty good job by all accounts.

You've got to reckon, based on previous experience, that a youth cup winning side, will at least get you two first teamers.

That's not a bad record.

[enema of the state]

You've got to reckon, based on previous experience, that a youth cup winning side, will at least get you two first teamers..

lets hope so

That's not a bad record.

the "record" that counts with benitez etc is the standard of player provided for the 1st team squad.

[El Jefecito]

lets hope so



the "record" that counts with benitez etc is the standard of player provided for the 1st team squad.

Sure and this is the batch that's been all the way through the academy process. So let's see how they do.

BTW For the last two years the best players into the U18 team have been locals not those brought in by Rafa

[enema of the state]

BTW For the last two years the best players into the U18 team have been locals not those brought in by Rafa

agreed

but its been far to long since ANYONE - local or not - came through from the academy

I think its the whole "development" set up that rafas been unimpressed with and thats why elias has been recruited

[El Jefecito]

agreed

but its been far to long since ANYONE - local or not - came through from the academy

I think its the whole "development" set up that rafas been unimpressed with and thats why elias has been recruited

True, I think SH has done as good as he can given the constraints of the English system. Hopefully, Rafa will bring a new perspective and maybe a bit of "out of the box" thinking will get us past the obvious hurdles.

BTW I'm loving the fact that Rafa is so concerned about the long term future of the club.