The biggest problem with Chelsea

[Swoopz 183]

that was suggested by Wenger a couple of years ago and got no support ..would be good for the top yeams tho

That would be a great idea, but obviously, only supported by teams with strong reserve squads.

[Bazza 12 1]

I suspect that we may be forced to promote more youth players due to financial presures.

A couple of points, though:-

1. We can't just assume that the players are good enough - many players look good at 16 and then don't make it. Youth players have to be very sensitively managed - they are just boys after all. A bad experience or two can wreck their confidence. I remember both Jody Morris and Mark Nicholls being hailed as great prospects in their time......and they did get some first team action too.

2. If we continue the line of thinking that says "use the cups as training projects" we further devalue those competitions. In my opinion, Arsenal should already be banned from them, as they clearly don't think they matter - and as this goes further, we'll soon find that nobody bothers to attend - admission prices are already reduced massively. The Carling Cup will become the Youth Cup, and the FA Cup - the reserves cup - lacks some appeal, doesn't it?

Although I want the best outcome for Chelsea, I really think the whole system around youth football is bad - for the players and for the game. Clubs should not "own" boys at all. What hapens to all the rejects each year - do we ever hear about them - do we care, even? I would if it were my son.

[Rubber bullets 1,183]

You can't just play youth for the sake of it, its hard to fit all of your academy player into the first team as then your squad would be fill with 30-40 players and its natural to put the more experiance players on it. A team's acedmey usually only has about 5-10% of its players that become first team regulars while the rest get sold on so they can play regular first team football in whatever league.

Also some players don't have any patience , look at Stoch. He wanted first team football every week and always on the starting line up, we could not do this and had to sell him because when his contract ran out he would refuse any new deals - so it was better to get some money off him.

[Duppy Conqueror 1,495]

Although I want the best outcome for Chelsea, I really think the whole system around youth football is bad - for the players and for the game. Clubs should not "own" boys at all. What hapens to all the rejects each year - do we ever hear about them - do we care, even? I would if it were my son.

don`t really know where you going with this if Clubs should not own boys what are you suggesting..we dont sign them till they are 18...or we should have kids in our academy who are free to go at anytime?

of course we care about our young players...and of course we hear about them again..a very high percentage of academy players who don`t make the grade at top clubs get another chance in football somewhere else...it`s a shame for them that they get rejected but it`s business and being rejected by a top club is far from the worse thing that can happen to a kid.

[Manuf 1,448]

We want to win trophies - that's why we need the best players in the world. If someone doesn't live up to his expactations or I'd rather say club and fan's expectations he has to move on. Giving them good training and opportunities to make their names and then selling them isn't the worst thing we do. I mean look at Arsenal. They say all the time how good their youth system is etc. yet they still have to buy new players for every position because their youth just isn't enough.