Username
Password
Back In The Day...
By Ben Woolhead July 4 2008
As the situations with Ramage and Ameobi indicate, the problem is essentially one of quality rather than quantity. Too many players come up through the ranks, from Academy to Reserves, only to be deemed not good enough for the first team and consequently discarded, or otherwise given a sniff of first-team action and then sold.
Of course it's not a production line, and there's no guarantee that a highly promising 14-year-old will mature and develop into a brilliant footballer later in life (take Michael Chopra, for example - the new Shearer for a while, but now plying his trade down the road at the Dark Place), but the right coaching in a young player's formative years could make all the difference. Money achieved impressive results as manager of Walsall in a short space of time; success in his new role will be measured in the longer term, but if he can stop us from making another mistake that costs £15m to rectify, then he'll have made a start.

These days, though, it's not just about making sure no one in the local area slips through the net; it's also about seeking out and recruiting the best youth talent around Britain and beyond. Hence our interest in Plymouth's 15-year-old striker Aaron Spear, and hence the fact that our reserve squad includes Dutch goalkeeper Tim Krul, Hungarian defender Tamas Kadar and Italian striker Fabio Zamblera, amongst other young foreign imports. In this respect, Money will be depending upon the effectiveness of our restructured scouting operations for the raw materials with which to work. The fact that those operations are headed up by Dennis Wise is hardly likely to inspire confidence.

The other more high-profile off-the-field appointment which took place during June was of Mike Ashley's mucker Derek Llambias as chairman, following Chris Mort's decision to return to his day job. Mort never struck me as a man who bled football, or even a man who could pretend he bled football, but at the very least he conducted himself in a dignified manner and generally kept a low profile, things of which the previous incumbent was seemingly incapable.

Llambias and Money aside, there were no incomings last month, only outgoings in the shape of David Rozehnal - who as expected joined Lazio, the club at which he was on loan last season - and Emre, for whom Fenerbahce were happy to double our money. But the one player many of us desperately want off the books is still there - I'm too depressed to deal with Barton, so let's leave him until next month, by which time we may hopefully have got shot of him once and for all.

Return BACK To Discuss This Story On The Forums.

Bookmark or share this story with:

£25 free bet with Paddy Power