The difference between ourselves and crewe

[Southend schoolboy]

On a few posts I have seen people questioning whether Brown should allow youth players such as Pinnock and Njie to have a shot at the first team. People have also compared ourselves to the renowned success of the Crewe youth team and the talents they have produced! Lest we forget the players which have left our youth system to go on to bigger clubs
1) Michael N'goo currently on loan at hearts
2)Lyle Della Verde at Fulham
3)Dominic iorfa at Wolves
4) Femi Orenuga sold to Everton
5)Stephy maphidi and Keith orenuga (femis brother) purchased from us by arsenal at 14 and 15 respectively
6) Isaac Hayden currently playing for arsenal and England at youth level

This shows that our youth system does produce quality players who have the ability to potentially play at a very high standard. However we sell them on at a very early stage rather than nurturing their undoubted talent. This may be down to our financial status but I feel the youth system has the potential to produce quality first team players, it's just whether we can keep them

 

[OldBlueLady]

The Trust has been one of the biggest supporters of Ricky Duncan and the youth set up, I think I speak for a number of us when I say we believe passionately in what Ricky is doing and hope he continues doing so for lots longer! Though people will say you should also include Franck Moussa, Stuart O'Keefe and Kane Ferdinand who all came (at least partially) through our youth set up and are playing in higher divisions.

 

[Southend schoolboy]

Yes I was just giving a few examples, previously being a part of the youth set up, I know full well the brilliance of Ricky and Luke Hobbs work! I feel for many years to come that players will come out of the system and give something to the club whether it would be a transfer fee or playing week in week out for us

 

[Silencer]

Also had youngsters Michael Kightly and Ricky Holmes on our books

 

[The Blue Stig]

A jpt trophy

 

[Beefy]

Most of those youngsters aren't really products of our youth team. They were picked up by Southend having been discarded by other club's youth set-ups and have then been allowed to move on. Dan Bentley and Luke Chambers were in the same position as was Franck Moussa going back a few seasons.

If we weren't the sort of club who allowed the likes of Michael N'goo to move on when we got a reasonable offer in for him from Liverpool then we will find it more difficult to attract decent young players to us in the first place.

 

[Southend schoolboy]

This is true but players such as Lyle who was picked up from spurs at a mere 12 years of age, I watched him grow under the influence of people such as mark bonner, Luke Hobbs and Ricky to become one of the most talented players our club has had. I understand the idea of selling youth players on to attract those who leave the bigger clubs but I feel the conveyor belt system of picking players up and selling them on may not be beneficial to the clubs future. Personally, towards the end of the season as we become increasingly unlikely to gain play offs, I would like to see the likes of Njie and pinnock to be given the chance to show their worth to the club. Whose to say they won't play well and be picked up at a price.

 

[LennySUFC]

Would love to think we could hang on to these young players. That way we get the benefits of their playing ability and then command a bigger fee!

 

[OldBlueLady]

I have a feeling, that Ricky is held in such esteem, that he sometimes gets tip offs from London clubs if they are "moving on" some of their youth team players and Ricky gets the chance to develop their potential under our colours. Not sure people realise quite what an asset Ricky is.

 

[Southend schoolboy]

Ricky went close to acquiring the arsenal head of youth of late due to his very good friendship with Brady. As a youth player we always had friendlies with arsenal as the two clubs have a great friendship and this shows as many of our most talented players have gone there

 

[maninasuitcase]

On a few posts I have seen people questioning whether Brown should allow youth players such as Pinnock and Njie to have a shot at the first team. People have also compared ourselves to the renowned success of the Crewe youth team and the talents they have produced! Lest we forget the players which have left our youth system to go on to bigger clubs
1) Michael N'goo currently on loan at hearts
2)Lyle Della Verde at Fulham
3)Dominic iorfa at Wolves
4) Femi Orenuga sold to Everton
5)Stephy maphidi and Keith orenuga (femis brother) purchased from us by arsenal at 14 and 15 respectively
6) Isaac Hayden currently playing for arsenal and England at youth level

This shows that our youth system does produce quality players who have the ability to potentially play at a very high standard. However we sell them on at a very early stage rather than nurturing their undoubted talent. This may be down to our financial status but I feel the youth system has the potential to produce quality first team players, it's just whether we can keep them

You have to remember that the rules on transfers for youth players changed 18 months ago. The football league clubs accepted an offer of funding youth development to the tune of £5m/year from the Premier League in return for the ending of the tribunal system. This was replaced by fixed rate system dependent on the age of the player and the number of years he had been with the selling club.

The upshot of this is that if a PL club offers a fee above the maximum for a player, they can take them. Depending on the status of the selling club's academy, that fee is between £12,000 and £40,000.

 

[Beefy]

Ricky went close to acquiring the arsenal head of youth of late due to his very good friendship with Brady. As a youth player we always had friendlies with arsenal as the two clubs have a great friendship and this shows as many of our most talented players have gone there

And it works the other way too. Luke Chambers had his choice of clubs but chose Southend United on the back of a recommendation from Arsenal.

 

[Beefy]

The upshot of this is that if a PL club offers a fee above the maximum for a player, they can take them. Depending on the status of the selling club's academy, that fee is between £12,000 and £40,000.

The upfront fee, and that fee is the fixed fee per year spent in the youth team between 12 and 16 (according to Wikipedia. The full fee could be a lot higher if the player goes on to have success. In fact I'd guess that if Michael N'goo, as an example, went on to be a huge success at Liverpool then we would have benefited a lot more under an EPPP transfer than we did when we sold him a couple of years ago.

I know that it's a massively unpopular opinion but I actually think that the new Youth regulations are going to be extremely good news for English football, including smaller clubs like ours.