Academy that actually makes money

Another good point to that, is that they always seem to be genuinely challenging for promotion too, not drifting in mid table

 

A very good article, I dream of similar for us.

 

Helps when you have a Director of Football - who knows football

 

Whilst with enough investment that is something we could aspire to, the fact that there isn’t exactly a wealth of football around that area definitely helps Exeter, as oppose to having the Manchester clubs and even Leeds trying to scoop everything within a 40 mile radius up around here.

 

I’d rather spend a shit load of money and storm the leagues, Wolves style. But hey ho.

 

It's taken them a decade to get to this conveyor belt stage.

We have fans who lose patience after one transfer window

Yes, without a sugar daddy, t's actually the only way to go for a club like us, who have Premiership aspirations

 

Interestingly, our owners saw the fact that we have lots of big clubs on our doorstep as a major advantage and it was why they chose to buy us.

 

A good answer. I was thinking of a shed load of money from academy would be better than none at all. Your version would also be perfectly acceptable.

 

i.e. to hoover up all the talent that slips through the cracks there.

 

Fans lose patience? I’m sure it was our owners that lost patience with the last permanent manager.

It helps if we know what the goals are. When the owners state they have aspirations of a top2 finish and a target of finishing in the top6, it hardly helps our fans’ realisms

 

big clubs don't get rid of "talent" unless we are willing to pay them a fair whack. At best we'll be picking up their unwanted scraps.

 

That's the flaw isn't it? These teams don't let any vaguely talented lads go for nothing and the players don't actually want to leave if there's any vague hope of them cracking it. It's a nice theory but doesn't seem to work out in practice.

 

We should try an academy, that would be a great way to go.

Instead we've got this development squad shite filled with 19 year olds nowhere near good enough instead of 17 year olds like Ampadu.

 

Exeter’s approach is to develop young kids into first team players and sell them if they are good enough. They can do this because of their location with really only Torquay, Yeovil and Plymouth locally. Really special talent will be snapped up and their family relocated locally to whichever Premier League club wants them. Town have just closed their academy. I read years ago that if Man Utd can sell one or two players a season for a million quid, it pays for their academy.

Edin’s approach is to take the cast offs from these academies and develop them. Not being good enough for a Manchester club’s first team doesn’t mean you’re no good for League One and some gems do slip through the net.

Where Mr I Know Football is wrong in my opinion is that until his approach becomes self funding and is producing first team players that are being sold on or helping us up the leagues, you’ve got to fund it separately to the first team or accept that you’re limiting your chances of success. £300k a season pays the wages of a good striker or develops players who may make millions. Or may not.

 

Anyone know much about Staunton? He's obviously highly rated as we've given him a professional contract already and he's made his debut.

 

Good spot. Thanks for sharing.

 

So do we! Haven't you heard???!!!!