Football losing its soul kiddies at an academy

I heard a horror story this afternoon.Many on here,like me, believe football is in real danger of losing its very soul.What we have experienced here is bad enough well it got worse for me today. A family friend's little boy aged 10 is at the Swansea Academy.
This kid is going to Holland on a trip, with strict dietary requirements to apply...in short parents should not buy them sweets,drinks et al !!!! Equally these children have talks by sports psychologists. Perhaps it is me but really are we going mad????
What in the name of sanity is happening....can anyone enlighten me please ?

I heard a horror story this afternoon.Many on here,like me, believe football is in real danger of losing its very soul.What we have experienced here is bad enough well it got worse for me today. A family friend's little boy aged 10 is at the Swansea Academy.
This kid is going to Holland on a trip, with strict dietary requirements to apply...in short parents should not buy them sweets,drinks et al !!!! Equally these children have talks by sports psychologists. Perhaps it is me but really are we going mad????
What in the name of sanity is happening....can anyone enlighten me please ?

Ive been warning everyone for a while now this is happening,but certain posters dont want to hear the truth.

well annis everyone has been lauding swansea and their academy setup lately now we know why! robots who cannot do anything without clubs permission?

I've heard some bad stories about Swansea academy have been taking kids on then letting them go within weeks which is not fair on the kids also Cardiff kid's get treated differently to those from Swansea.

I've heard some bad stories about Swansea academy have been taking kids on then letting them go within weeks which is not fair on the kids also Cardiff kid's get treated differently to those from Swansea.

The majority of academies are like this. They pick up dozens of kids and raise false hopes with only a small number even becoming apprentices. Chelsea are one of the worst. Three kids who played in my middle sons team were picked up at under 8 level. Every Monday they had to travel from Andover to aldershot (1hours journey) for training. Within months they'd all been bombed out.

I've heard some bad stories about Swansea academy have been taking kids on then letting them go within weeks which is not fair on the kids also Cardiff kid's get treated differently to those from Swansea.

I know it's tough for the kids, the rejection, there are plenty of professionals who suffered the knock backs and made it

I remember Brian Flynn making a comment about academys a few years back saying how bad the standard of coaching was, and the way young kids were being treated.

I've heard some bad stories about Swansea academy have been taking kids on then letting them go within weeks which is not fair on the kids also Cardiff kid's get treated differently to those from Swansea.

I know it's tough for the kids, the rejection, there are plenty of professionals who suffered the knock backs and made it

Good point. There are quite a few professionals in the game now who started late. Wasn't Craig Noone one of them?

Cardiff,s academy are just as tough on their kids too

I heard a horror story this afternoon.Many on here,like me, believe football is in real danger of losing its very soul.What we have experienced here is bad enough well it got worse for me today. A family friend's little boy aged 10 is at the Swansea Academy.
This kid is going to Holland on a trip, with strict dietary requirements to apply...in short parents should not buy them sweets,drinks et al !!!! Equally these children have talks by sports psychologists. Perhaps it is me but really are we going mad????
What in the name of sanity is happening....can anyone enlighten me please ?

Do you have any understanding how Academies work ? the kids wherever you like it or not are being coached and trained by professionals with an aim for them to becoming athletes at all levels .By your reckoning it's ok to pump them full of Haribos and Pepsi because mammy can't be arsed to feed them properly. Kids come and go but they're invited to be assessed with the understanding that they could also be released this is not unique to Swansea.Sports psychologists exist because some of these kids can be with their club for a number of years and still get released so isn't it better to have them monitored to ensure their welfare is maintained if it does happen .The Holland trip is against other European PL/ 1st division Clubs academies so knowing the cultural differences between the UK I can't imagine seeing a 10 year old 12 stone fat kid playing can you ?

I've heard some bad stories about Swansea academy have been taking kids on then letting them go within weeks which is not fair on the kids also Cardiff kid's get treated differently to those from Swansea.

The majority of academies are like this. They pick up dozens of kids and raise false hopes with only a small number even becoming apprentices. Chelsea are one of the worst. Three kids who played in my middle sons team were picked up at under 8 level. Every Monday they had to travel from Andover to aldershot (1hours journey) for training. Within months they'd all been bombed out.

This is nothing new. I've run kids & youth teams for years. You have the best lad in your team, the father thinks he's going to be the next Ryan Giggs & he gets a chance with an academe & inevitably doesn't make it.
They're bombed out for the reason their not good enough to make it. That's how it works.

I heard a horror story this afternoon.Many on here,like me, believe football is in real danger of losing its very soul.What we have experienced here is bad enough well it got worse for me today. A family friend's little boy aged 10 is at the Swansea Academy.
This kid is going to Holland on a trip, with strict dietary requirements to apply...in short parents should not buy them sweets,drinks et al !!!! Equally these children have talks by sports psychologists. Perhaps it is me but really are we going mad????
What in the name of sanity is happening....can anyone enlighten me please ?

Do you have any understanding how Academies work ? the kids wherever you like it or not are being coached and trained by professionals with an aim for them to becoming athletes at all levels .By your reckoning it's ok to pump them full of Haribos and Pepsi because mammy can't be arsed to feed them properly. Kids come and go but they're invited to be assessed with the understanding that they could also be released this is not unique to Swansea.Sports psychologists exist because some of these kids can be with their club for a number of years and still get released so isn't it better to have them monitored to ensure their welfare is maintained if it does happen .The Holland trip is against other European PL/ 1st division Clubs academies so knowing the cultural differences between the UK I can't imagine seeing a 10 year old 12 stone fat kid playing can you ?

Spot on.

I am not talking about overweight kids with could not care less parents.If the parents did not care they would not be taken period.So what is the argument there...er there isn't one.Children should be left alone to be children first and foremost.If they have talent the odd Mars bar is not going to stop the evolutionary process.Too many Daily Mail readers here I think!!!!

I am not talking about overweight kids with could not care less parents.If the parents did not care they would not be taken period.So what is the argument there...er there isn't one.Children should be left alone to be children first and foremost.If they have talent the odd Mars bar is not going to stop the evolutionary process.Too many Daily Mail readers here I think!!!!

You never mentioned the odd mars bars and you've ignored the response about the sports psychologists so I have to assume that you are ignorant of how Academies work .Once the child is within an Academy structure then it becomes responsible for a lot of the child's development which includes giving good advice on diet , social behaviour & self discipline .I'm interested to know what you consider to be the evolutionary process in progressing and developing footballers ? although I guess by your name I have a good idea

I am not talking about overweight kids with could not care less parents.If the parents did not care they would not be taken period.So what is the argument there...er there isn't one.Children should be left alone to be children first and foremost.If they have talent the odd Mars bar is not going to stop the evolutionary process.Too many Daily Mail readers here I think!!!!

Put your football bias aside for a minuite.Kids up and down the country are being filled with shit and its just a time bomb for later life.The nutritional value of what most kids eat today is shocking and in my day sweets or a chocolate bar was a treat and not the norm.Its a pity the wider world starting with parents don't adopt the same attitude as the swansea academy then we wouldn't have record breaking numbers of children being diagnosed with diabeties and don't get me started on dental health.What has "children being left as children"got to do with the appalling state of obesity in our children today largely due to the fact that many parents just want a quiet life and filling their children with sweet shit is an easy out.Just like football skills teaching the kids to look after their bodies is easier the younger you start them.I could write about this all day but my burger and chips are getting cold.

At what point did I suggest kids should eat rubbish? All I know our academies a merely deluding 98% of the "children" who attend that they are going to become footballers.If a kid is good enough they will be found they do not need indoctrination and bullshit which you purport works.Well f*cking genius what have England/Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland won in the last 50 years er nothing...so much for the academies.All I here are embittered parents bemoaning their son has been released, one this morning walking the dog .Years ago you did not need this crap, the cream came through.All these flip charts and engineered football has really turned up trumps! We are going backwards not forwards.All these charlatans do is let down children, period.I bet Slade would do well in an academy QED.

I've heard some bad stories about Swansea academy have been taking kids on then letting them go within weeks which is not fair on the kids also Cardiff kid's get treated differently to those from Swansea.

I know it's tough for the kids, the rejection, there are plenty of professionals who suffered the knock backs and made it

Correct including players like George best and Roy Keane.

What's wrong with taking a 10 year old on a tour to Holland (who have one of the best most well equipped youth set ups in Europe) and teaching them how to eat correctly?

Sports science is a part of the game now and it's the reason we are seeing players like Ronaldo play at their peak for so many years

At what point did I suggest kids should eat rubbish? All I know our academies a merely deluding 98% of the "children" who attend that they are going to become footballers.If a kid is good enough they will be found they do not need indoctrination and bullshit which you purport works.Well f*cking genius what have England/Scotland/Wales/Northern Ireland won in the last 50 years er nothing...so much for the academies.All I here are embittered parents bemoaning their son has been released, one this morning walking the dog .Years ago you did not need this crap, the cream came through.All these flip charts and engineered football has really turned up trumps! We are going backwards not forwards.All these charlatans do is let down children, period.I bet Slade would do well in an academy QED.

What crap, a professional organisation who develop and teach kids how to become better footballers .you seem to think that when a kid is released that's it he'll never kick a ball again , the Amateur leagues are full of ex academy players who weren't good enough to become professional but still play and contribute to maintaining football leagues at all levels . "All I here are embittered parents bemoaning their son has been released" perhaps the parents should take a look at themselves and realise that little Johnny had a chance but wasn't good enough ,that comment says more of yet another example of I want it all now attitude . Kids are more resilient then you give them credit for.
I know lets all go back to the 50's, or sorry we can't there were apprentice footballers then

A friend of mine had a 14 year old at our Academy. The club wanted him to stay on for 2 more years, but if he did he wasn't allowed to play ANY other organised sport. He loved playing cricket in the summer, so left the Academy where he had been since the age of 10 and now plays local amateur football. This is really sad wen you have a job to get kids away from their computers and games consoles.

We will never see the likes of Colin Balderstone and Jim Coombes again, who played football in the winter and County cricket in the summer.

I've heard some bad stories about Swansea academy have been taking kids on then letting them go within weeks which is not fair on the kids also Cardiff kid's get treated differently to those from Swansea.

I know it's tough for the kids, the rejection, there are plenty of professionals who suffered the knock backs and made it

Correct including players like George best and Roy Keane.

What's wrong with taking a 10 year old on a tour to Holland (who have one of the best most well equipped youth set ups in Europe) and teaching them how to eat correctly?

Sports science is a part of the game now and it's the reason we are seeing players like Ronaldo play at their peak for so many years

Its also the reason why so many kids end up with knee and other stress related injuries from all of the high impact training and practicing on Astroturf all the year around.

I've heard some bad stories about Swansea academy have been taking kids on then letting them go within weeks which is not fair on the kids also Cardiff kid's get treated differently to those from Swansea.

I know it's tough for the kids, the rejection, there are plenty of professionals who suffered the knock backs and made it

Correct including players like George best and Roy Keane.

What's wrong with taking a 10 year old on a tour to Holland (who have one of the best most well equipped youth set ups in Europe) and teaching them how to eat correctly?

Sports science is a part of the game now and it's the reason we are seeing players like Ronaldo play at their peak for so many years

Its also the reason why so many kids end up with knee and other stress related injuries from all of the high impact training and practicing on Astroturf all the year around.

What has astro turf got to do with sports science? My knees are nackered at 25 and I always trained on grass. If anything the improvement in knowledge of how to prevent and treat injuries has improved.

Fusilier 52,

Well I have heard it all now, you are either simple or delusional.Perhaps you need help.The top people do not rate or take them seriously .Starving a ten year old of the joys of youth and freedom are part of your brain dead mantra.Talent will out, plain and simple.No mechanized factory will produce talent. But seemingly you would appear to from a military in background?Well" lovely boy" no matter how high they tell you to jump it does not mean you have the ability to do it. By the right one two three you will become a professional footballer !!!! What bollocks

Fusilier 52,

Well I have heard it all now, you are either simple or delusional.Perhaps you need help.The top people do not rate or take them seriously .Starving a ten year old of the joys of youth and freedom are part of your brain dead mantra.Talent will out, plain and simple.No mechanized factory will produce talent. But seemingly you would appear to from a military in background?Well" lovely boy" no matter how high they tell you to jump it does not mean you have the ability to do it. By the right one two three you will become a professional footballer !!!! What bollocks

I suppose Bale , Ramsey, Ledley & Matthews were all plucked from the streets kicking tin cans With every post you make you just continue to make yourself look more foolish .

Fusilier 52,

Well I have heard it all now, you are either simple or delusional.Perhaps you need help.The top people do not rate or take them seriously .Starving a ten year old of the joys of youth and freedom are part of your brain dead mantra.Talent will out, plain and simple.No mechanized factory will produce talent. But seemingly you would appear to from a military in background?Well" lovely boy" no matter how high they tell you to jump it does not mean you have the ability to do it. By the right one two three you will become a professional footballer !!!! What bollocks

You've gone off on one a bit here mate... Daily mail readers? Military mantras?... Just slow yourself down a second your getting all worked up.

It takes more than pure talent to become a pro... Many, many a talent has been squandered over the years due to lack of support and direction both in their personal and professional lives. Teaching children to eat clean and stay mentally healthy and focused is not military and it's not going to starve them of the joys of youth, I'm sure many youths would make sacrifices for the Talent these lads have. Plus I'm sure the club wouldn't let them go if they found out they eat a Mars bar, it's just the guidance and education that young people deserve to benefit from - the same guidance and education the pros are getting. And your complaining about it...

Fusilier 52,

Well I have heard it all now, you are either simple or delusional.Perhaps you need help.The top people do not rate or take them seriously .Starving a ten year old of the joys of youth and freedom are part of your brain dead mantra.Talent will out, plain and simple.No mechanized factory will produce talent. But seemingly you would appear to from a military in background?Well" lovely boy" no matter how high they tell you to jump it does not mean you have the ability to do it. By the right one two three you will become a professional footballer !!!! What bollocks

Mr. Scoular, loved you as a manager & often agree with you're posts but I think you're way, way off here.

Thanks gents including Fusilier 52, love an argument I differ talent will out .
No British representation at Europa League at quarter final stage 2015
No British representation at Champions League level at quarter final stage 2015
No international title at any level since 1966

Academies are the answer !!!!!!!!!

What f*cking bollocks Ramsey, Bale would have been found irrespective of academies. What about the African kids have they been to academies ????? Academies are for parents who failed at sports who push their kids to achieve something they could not do themselves, only for 99.5 % of these kids to be spewed out. Reading between the lines I feel there are a few on here who never played any sport and offer this tripe.

Thanks gents including Fusilier 52, love an argument I differ talent will out .
No British representation at Europa League at quarter final stage 2015
No British representation at Champions League level at quarter final stage 2015
No international title at any level since 1966

Academies are the answer !!!!!!!!!

What f*cking bollocks Ramsey, Bale would have been found irrespective of academies. What about the African kids have they been to academies ????? Academies are for parents who failed at sports who push their kids to achieve something they could not do themselves, only for 99.5 % of these kids to be spewed out. Reading between the lines I feel there are a few on here who never played any sport and offer this tripe.

How much success have African teams had in the World Cup?

And what are the academies like in Barcelona, Madrid and Bayern? The most successful teams in Europe in recent years and also home of the academies that feed the players to the best international teams in the world.

Wilfried Bony: Ivory Coast's history-making striker

Wilfried Bony has become one of the most expensive African players in history after moving to Manchester City from Swansea for an estimated £25m ($38m). The BBC's Tamasin Ford has been to his hometown of Bingerville in south-eastern Ivory Coast to find out more about the Premier League's latest rising star.
Cyrille Domoroud
He was cautious with the ball, easy with the ball; a technician
Cyrille Domoraud, Football Academy owner
"He slept right here," says Carmel N'Guessan, pointing to a faded mattress at the bottom of a hard, wooden, three-storey bunk bed.
"This was his place."
I take in the surroundings: A flurry of football kits and clothes are strewn across the room, one of five dorms at the Cyrille Domoraud football academy where Bony arrived at the age of 12.
It is hot and musty, exactly how you would imagine a teenage dormitory to smell.

"Wilfried Bony is one of the top footballers," says N'Guessan, the academy's secretary general. "It's always an honour [for the players] to get to sleep in his bed."

The Domoraud academy is nowhere near as grand as Ivory Coast's famous ASEC Mimosa academy where more than half of last year's Ivory Coast World Cup team passed through, including the Toure brothers Yaya and Kolo, former Chelsea player Salomon Kalou and Roma forward Gervinho.

There are no swimming pools, specialised gymnasiums or tennis courts here.
Simply the dorm rooms, a small concrete school block, an administration office and a canteen.
Despite the lack of five-star facilities, the academy is still pumping out the football stars.
It was not only the starting platform for Bony, but also for FC Porto's Jean Michael Seri, Xavier Kouassi, who plays in Switzerland, and defender Wilfried Kanon, now with a team in the Dutch Eredivisie.

'Joker?'
Cyrille Domoraud, the man behind the academy, is another Ivorian footballing great.

"I started the centre because I had the chance to go to Europe when I was very young. There are so many young Ivorians who would wish to be in my place," he says.
With a career spanning France, Italy, Spain and Turkey, Domoraud captained the national side, taking The Elephants to their first World Cup in 2006.
It was then that he turned his eyes to spotting the country's future stars.
"I gave Wilfried Bony the chance and several other players because I told myself I am giving football back what it gave to me," he adds.

There is one word that is used again and again here when people speak about Bony - serious.
And "serious" is exactly the word I would use to describe the 26-year-old after interviewing him a few times myself.
"He is a wise boy who knows what he wants," says Domoraud.
"He's got his head on his shoulders."
The first time he saw Bony play was when he was visiting Abidjan, the economic capital of the Ivory Coast, on holiday from France.

Bony played as a defender back then and according to Domoraud he defended with "gusto".
"He was cautious with the ball, easy with the ball; a technician. So I kept my eye on him."
It was not until Domoraud joined the national side's coaching squad with former England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson that Bony got the chance to play for his country.

Domoraud did not tell anyone the young player was at his academy, instead wanting Bony to prove his talents for himself.

Does he ever joke around like Kalou or Gervinho? I ask him.
"He will joke with his friends, but he is a young boy who is focused," he replies.
We walk through the botanical gardens of Bingerville, the West African country's former capital - the same route Bony would have walked every day to get to the municipal training grounds.
The giant, tropical trees cast a welcome shade from the skies thick with dust from the harmattan winds that blow from the Sahara Desert.
The academy players, dressed in their blue strips, are waiting for the local school teams to finish training so they can get on the pitch.
One of the coaches points out a few of the potential stars.
'Suarez' bags the bed
Sixteen-year-old Manchester City fan Doumbia Aidianu, who has just started at the academy, is one of them.
I hope he becomes the best player in Africa
Doumbia Aidianu, 16, Academy footballer
He says it is "incredible" training at the same place as Bony did.
"I think he's a great player, excellent even.
"He's a big celebrity and that makes me happy," Aidianu laughs.
"I hope he becomes the best player in Africa."
On the hunt for the footballer who gets to sleep in Bony's old bed, I ask the waiting players.
The smallest of the bunch steps forward and erupts into a fit of giggles as he declares his name is "Suarez".
He tells me it makes him proud lying in Bony's bed every night.
And that is the overriding feeling here at the academy - pride.
"He's made our country proud," says Domoraud.
"When we speak about Ivory Coast, we think of [Chelsea striker] Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure, who was one of the biggest transfers in England [when he moved to Manchester City in 2010 for £24m].
"And one day, thanks to God, it will be Wilfried Bony. He's our pride and he deserves it."

Good post Thomas.
I guess you could post pages & pages of players who have come through their various academies & made it to become professionals.
That's blown the debate right of the water.

Good post Thomas.
I guess you could post pages & pages of players who have come through their various academies & made it to become professionals.
That's blown the debate right of the water.

The idea footballers can make it without specialist help from Academies is an outdated one Noone made his way through non-league football, but still had the vital technical help from the Liverpool academy for 2 years (9-11) before being released.

It's not just one-way, Academies maybe ruthless in their selection process, but any time a child spends there is beneficial. Just keep going! Prove the academy who releases you wrong!!