Exclusive: Youth Cup live tonight

[Redspin]

What a top post, we won the bloddy thing 2 years in a row and not 1 of those players has been good enough to break through (yet, I know some are still in the reserves and have time on their side)

It's the same at every club really, although many of our fans seem to be deluded into thinking only Liverpool's academy isn't doing enough.

What summed up perfectly to me the difficulty of making the breakthrough was Liverpool's youth team captain last season, Joe Kennedy. He went from captain of the losing finalists and looking to be a reasonable player to not being offered a professional contract and went to college instead.

I'll be surprised if any of Liverpool's current youth team make it in the first team. A Gerrard, Owen or Fowler looks nailed on to make it even at youth team level. Unfortunately none of the current crop looks to have that star quality. Of course I hope I'm proved wrong

[Vermilion]

Should have been 1-1 this, gutted, scored a goal deep into injury time and the lino gets it wrong, watched it earlier having not known the result and jumped off my chair when we scored so late, was made up for the lads....untill.

[lfc]

Should have been 1-1 this, gutted, scored a goal deep into injury time and the lino gets it wrong, watched it earlier having not known the result and jumped off my chair when we scored so late, was made up for the lads....untill.

yep the ref ,lineo what a ****** been robbed by the men in black i aint saying we would have gone on to win it as we were poor i think we could not finish,but we may have had a chance ,Andree wisdom and Deale chamberlain were my main players last night solid at the back and nine times out of ten you can count on them two what was happening up front god knows
they took the game for granted they thought its only Watford and came unstuck better luck next year

[Vermilion]

yep the ref ,lineo what a ****** been robbed by the men in black i aint saying we would have gone on to win it as we were poor i think we could not finish,but we may have had a chance ,Andree wisdom and Deale chamberlain were my main players last night solid at the back and nine times out of ten you can count on them two what was happening up front god knows
they took the game for granted they thought its only Watford and came unstuck better luck next year

[ronanm]

It's not as simple as that. Most smaller clubs pick up many very good youth players for the simple fact that the bigger clubs can only sign and play so many players. The result is that the youth cup very often shows a big club losing to a very small club. Not that many years ago we were knocked out at home by Gillingham

This season's youth cup results reflects the fact that "big" clubs have no divine right to beat "smaller" clubs. Arsenal - the current holders and famous for their "kids" (copyright Sky Sports) were dumped out of the competition at home 2-0 by Ipswich. Man City, who also have a reputation for their academy products, were beaten 2-1 by Preston in the 3rd round. Man U were also soundly beaten by a smaller club - albeit a premier league one - 3-0 by Blackburn.

In fact the only youth team of a "Big Four" club still in the competition is Chelsea, who we would have played had we beaten Watford - and Chelsea's academy system is so good, despite also spending millions on it, that the last home-grown player to break through was John Terry, 11 years ago!

So a cheap shot at our academy is well off course. The same factors affect all big clubs and the days of their producing a conveyor belt of premier league stars are long gone. Arsenal's "kids" (Copyright Sky Sports) are practically all foreign buys and only rarely do any of them get into the team, let alone become established stars. Wilshere is a fringe squad player there and is now out on loan and Gibbs got a run when Clichy was injured. Otherwise Arsenal, like Liverpool, Man U, Chelsea and just about everyone else, get by on transfers in and most, if not all, of their better younger players were the products of other clubs' academies - Fabregas from Barcelona being a classic example of the type

When the academy starts producing single players, I'll knock off on the cheap shots.

[BillobShaisley]

Players capable of a 1st team game or premier league career? Players like Guthrie, Warnock, Darby, Kelly, Pacheco, Plessis or Spearing for example?

[ronanm]

Players capable of a 1st team game or premier league career? Players like Guthrie, Warnock, Darby, Kelly, Pacheco, Plessis or Spearing for example?

Arguably those capable of a Liverpool career - the ilk of SG, Carra, Owen. Warnock is hardly a product of the current setup and neither were they.

[Redspin]

When the academy starts producing single players, I'll knock off on the cheap shots.

Practically none of the top players at any of the big clubs has been produced by their academies in the past ten years, so to criticise Liverpool as if they were alone in this regard is indeed taking a cheap shot

[ronanm]

Practically none of the top players at any of the big clubs has been produced by their academies in the past ten years, so to criticise Liverpool as if they were alone in this regard is indeed taking a cheap shot

Spin by name...

[BillobShaisley]

Well you started by saying a single player. Now its world class stars you need, you also now limit it to the current set-up which was established...about 9months ago. Do you think that's realistic?

Who should we look to copy or learn from in the search for excellence, which conveyor belt of world class talent should we aspire to? What club in the world has a youth system which lives up to the standards you are demanding?

[MrMichael]

Ajax c.1998?

Apart from that...... errrr, Crystal Palace?

[BrianF80]

Ajax c.1998?

Apart from that...... errrr, Crystal Palace?

West Ham have always set the benchmark in England. Barcelona and Real Madrid do a pretty good job too.

[MrMichael]

West Ham have always set the benchmark in England. Barcelona and Real Madrid do a pretty good job too.

The Spanish sides have a big advantage developmentally seeing as their reserve teams get to play competitive footy.

Barca tend to steal lots of kids from South America don't they? Were Xavi & Iniesta homegrown?

Real I'm not so sure about, who was their last youngster to properly break through into their first team? Have they had any more real successes than we have in the last decade or so?

Come to think of it, have West Ham? I can think of Joe Cole, Rio, Lumpard & Defoe... is that much better than Carra, Owen & Gerrard?

[BrianF80]

The Spanish sides have a big advantage developmentally seeing as their reserve teams get to play competitive footy.

Barca tend to steal lots of kids from South America don't they? Were Xavi & Iniesta homegrown?

Real I'm not so sure about, who was their last youngster to properly break through into their first team? Have they had any more real successes than we have in the last decade or so?

Come to think of it, have West Ham? I can think of Joe Cole, Rio, Lumpard & Defoe... is that much better than Carra, Owen & Gerrard?

Plus Carrick and Johnson. They could be supplying a 1/4 of the world cup squad!

Yep Xavi, Iniesta, Messi(?), Valdes, Pedro, Busquets, Pique, Puyol all home grown. Throw in Fabregas, Pacheco.....

Madrid are like Manure in that the number of players that make it through to the first team are limited but the number of academy graduates throughout the top league is astonishing.


You're right about recruitment and competition though. I have a friend who works with people at Chelsea and speaking with them it's clear academy success = 33% recruitment + 33% coaching + 33% opportunity.