Greenwood

If your kid was offered a choice of ManYoo’s academy or Bradford City’s, which one is he going to?

 

It's football.

Happens to all clubs.

 

No brained I’m afraid!

 

Manchester United annual revenue close to £600m, ours is around £5m. We cannot compete with the scouting of the top Premier League clubs. I taught an 8 Yr old last year, had both Manchester clubs and Liverpool after him. He had a kick around with Raheem Sterling and Phil Foden when he and his family were being shown around at Manchester City.

Don't think we can criticise the club on this.

 

We can. I remember seeing City mad Tom Cleverley in the playground at Blakehill School as a 6 year old, amazing talent even at that age.
City soon snapped him up but then of course lost him to Man Utd. Theres nothing we can do about it when a lad and his family's head is turned.

 

Budding pro footballers really stand out. I remember playing against Bruce Bannister many years a go he could play a bit

 

Didn’t they poach Graham Tomlinson off us?

 

Sadly teams like Man u and man city can afford to give parents a car and pay them a scouts wage ive seen it happen.
If you have a player thats got any form of talent the scouts come out of the woodwork.

 

Bought Tomlinson off us after a couple of dozen first team games and some goals for a half decent wedge in those days and a pre season friendly IIRC. A bit different to Cleverly and Wisdom etc.

Talented player, would have gone far if he hadn’t got injured.

 

Didn’t sit right with me, he had barely started, and suddenly he was off to the big boys, I forgot about the friendly Horrible injury, he commentated on Pulse recently, he is still a city fan.

 

Ollie McBurnie went to the slightly less bigger boys at a similar age. Happens.

 

Oh I know, but I don’t like it, and it can ruin your career. Man U loan him out almost immediately.

 

His ‘overhead kick’ at Rotherham is the one I remember. Like you say, he could have had a good career but for the bad luck with injury.

 

My first footballing hero was Banny

 

Great fella too, used to work for him at Sportsshoes. My old man used to play football with him when they were younger at school and for Bradford boys.

 

Even more so now when all they have to do is pay training fees

 

Maybe Reeves could be available for kick arounds. Shouldn't be too strenuous.

 

no gaurantees that if he’d have been picked up by city at the same age he was by man united he would’ve developed to be the same player he is now.

more than likely he wouldn’t.