Why is Saints Academy so good at producing players?

[blair3]

I have been meaning to ask this question for a while. Why is the Saints Academy so good at producing players? Yes the first team gives young players a chance, unlike many other Premier League teams but so far every player who has come in from the Academy as been good enough to play in the first team, has the temperament to do so and doesn't look out of place.

 

What is it that the Academy does in coaching players that makes it so successful compared to others?

 

And will the sacking of Dodd and Williams affect this?

[Junior Mullet]

Good scouts, good staff and good facilities. It also has a good reputation and we have shown for a long time now that good young players can break through to the first team. Those reasons are enough to persuade really good players to choose us over other clubs. We take the academy seriously.

[pangy]

I would imagine there are players of Shaw/Bale/Ox quality in academy's up and down the country the difference between them and us is we are not afraid to put them in the first team and give them a crack

[positivepete]

The other reason we do well is that we do not take as many in each year group as other clubs, the coach to pupil ratio is better so the coaching is more individual

[Saint_clark]

The other reason we do well is that we do not take as many in each year group as other clubs, the coach to pupil ratio is better so the coaching is more individual

 

I thought this as well,some clubs seem to have Uni-amount levels of students in each year group.

[Gemmel]

I'm not sure it is much more than the fact we actually give our lads some game time.

 

That might be a bit simplistic and we obviously do, do a lot of things very well, but very few clubs actually push the young ones in like we do.

 

Think of it like this; Marcus bought the club for 13 million quid, Our biggest asset (Or certainly one of them Drew Surman) had just been sold.18 months later we sold Chamberlain for 15 million quid - He wasn't even on the radar when Marcus bought the Club and was sold for he than he paid for everything.

 

Luke Shaw is another good example. We went toe to toe with Utd for Buttner - We lost. Shaw started out of necessity - Had Buttner signed for us, we might not even know who Shaw is, even now.

 

It doesn't always work - I've yet to see anything in Sam Gallagher that suggests he will cut it, but regardless - He has been given his chance.....as have many others.

 

It's all good.

[Saint Charlie]

Game time is one thing, but certainly Walcott and Shaw were very hyped from a young age, 13 or 14 and Bale good enough to be a star in the Championship aged 16. There are not many youngsters across the country with that quality hence why both Shaw and Theo went to World Cups before being 19.

 

Its not normal to find players of that quality and you would think they would also have got chances at other clubs because they are just that good, like Rooney did, Wilshere did, Fabregas did all at a very young age.

 

The likes of Gallgher, Reed etc certainly benefit from us giving them a chance though. Gallagher certainly wouldnt have played half as much at any other PL team. We also had the luxury last season after being under no threat whatsoever so we could bring them in.

[sandwichsaint]

All of the above (scouting / coaching / facilities / cohort size / opportunity).

 

Two more for me: a large and well-defined catchment area, we are the only 'big' club for elite youngsters in a semi-circle from Brighton, across the M3 towards Newbury and into the west country with the Bath centre as well. Stability - I would imagine that once a youngster is in our set-up there are very few distractions to leave, we have a player pathway that genuinely goes to the first team. A talented 10 -12 -14 year old at Arsenal will forever be getting attention from the other London clubs and vice versa, I should imagine in the midlands and NW / NE this issue equally applies, our youngsters have fewer distractions and no real need to look elsewhere for a 'better' offer.

 

Don't rule out the power of 'positive thinking' / role models / expectations / self belief / the belief of others in you: our youngsters across all ages work on a defined pathway towards the first team; demonstrable fact ... what is the point of going to the Chelsea academy for 10 years? (thanks for Jack Cork though!)

[Joensuu]

Now that we have established a reputation, I would guess it will only get even better. We're now probably first or second choice for the majority of young players and their parents. You have to imagine that our reputation will see us getting to pick from the very best youngsters. Throw in our first class facilities and it's hard not to see our production line actually increasing its production rate in a decade's time.

 

I've seen some on here suggest that selling Shaw would make our academy pointless, that's ridiculous, our academy is our best asset. It provides players, reputation, fans and profit, and sets us aside from other similar sized clubs.

[a1ex2001]

A lot of luck as well, will be interesting to see if the conveyor belt keeps them comming or dries up like united's did in the 90's

[norwaysaint]

I think we get a bit carried away with the hype of the academy. It's certainly produced some top class players that we've made good money, but it's no conveyor belt. There have been very few strikers come through, very few top class central defenders, few top class central midfielders and no goalies I can think of. We have done exceptionally well with full backs though. Most players that come through the academy end up going nowhere, most that get a career end up in league one or the championship. It's a better record than most, but we've come nowhere near building a team from it.

 

recent hype has made quite a few people believe that Targett will step up to replace Shaw, Reed is the new Scholes, when he's probably the new Simon Gillett, JWP is the new Beckham and Gallagher will replace Lambert. I haven't really seen enough to convince me that any of those will have a long career in the PL. Like everyone I hope they do, but so far only Chambers has proven he can hold his own in the PL for me, once Shaw and AL are gone.

[Polaroid Saint]

We are historically very good at cherry picking the best young players from elsewhere at around 12/13.

 

Most other academies easily beat our youngest teams (u7 u9 u11) and are full of better youngsters.

 

We then 'scout' the best ones for our youth set up and give them much more time in training (much smaller numbers in year groups than most 'rival' academies) and playing time through the club system (as is the goal of all teams in the EPPP, we have just been doing it for longer).

 

Our academy is also bloody brilliant for all the other reasons mentioned of course, however - and although it is a little harsh to admit - it is a large part of our success that we don't 'waste time' with really young kids or try the 'cast a net' approach with our large 'catchment area' - leave that to Arsenal and Chelsea Soccer Schools etc.

[a1ex2001]

I think we get a bit carried away with the hype of the academy. It's certainly produced some top class players that we've made good money, but it's no conveyor belt. There have been very few strikers come through, very few top class central defenders, few top class central midfielders and no goalies I can think of. We have done exceptionally well with full backs though. Most players that come through the academy end up going nowhere, most that get a career end up in league one or the championship. It's a better record than most, but we've come nowhere near building a team from it.

 

recent hype has made quite a few people believe that Targett will step up to replace Shaw, Reed is the new Scholes, when he's probably the new Simon Gillett, JWP is the new Beckham and Gallagher will replace Lambert. I haven't really seen enough to convince me that any of those will have a long career in the PL. Like everyone I hope they do, but so far only Chambers has proven he can hold his own in the PL for me, once Shaw and AL are gone.

 

Agree with this to a certain extent, we have had a great run since relegation bringing through about one top level player a year but there is no guarantee it will last, there was a time whe it looked like utd would never need to buy a player again as everyone who emerged from their youth setup was a first team player but that has dried up dramtically in recent times and they seem to be churning out medicrity these days.

 

My other concern with our accademy is the physical stature of the players we seem really good at producing great littleuns but lack the big strong dominant players that would make a huge difference at this level. If Ward-Prowse was built like Veira we would already be talking 25m+ in the transfer market.

[John B]

We are historically very good at cherry picking the best young players from elsewhere at around 12/13.

 

Most other academies easily beat our youngest teams (u7 u9 u11) and are full of better youngsters.

 

We then 'scout' the best ones for our youth set up and give them much more time in training (much smaller numbers in year groups than most 'rival' academies) and playing time through the club system (as is the goal of all teams in the EPPP, we have just been doing it for longer).

 

Our academy is also bloody brilliant for all the other reasons mentioned of course, however - and although it is a little harsh to admit - it is a large part of our success that we don't 'waste time' with really young kids or try the 'cast a net' approach with our large 'catchment area' - leave that to Arsenal and Chelsea Soccer Schools etc.

 

Very well put

 

I was slightly concerned when we were in the Championship and League 1 whether we would get in top youngsters but I dont think that was the case am I right