" Why Swansea City and Cardiff City will battle it out "

£140m worth of talent: Why Swansea City and Cardiff City will battle it out for the new Gareth Bale or Aaron Ramsey


Friday 22nd May 2015

BY PAUL ABBANDONATO

Swans encroachment deep into Cardiff territory ups the ante between rivals in search for finest young Welsh talent

Aaron Ramsey is linked with a £50million move to Barcelona.

Which, if it comes off, of course, means he would go head to head with Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale in El Classico.

So that’s almost £140m worth of football talent directly from Cardiff on the biggest club stage of the lot.

With Cardiff City, Wales’ capital city club, not seeing a penny of it.

Bale was stolen from under the noses of the Bluebirds by Southampton, who took the prodigiously gifted Cardiff youngster to their satellite academy in Bath and helped turn him into the world’s most expensive footballer.

The Swans aren’t setting up in Bath. They have come right into the middle of Cardiff to introduce development centres, as well as the outlying areas of Barry, Pontypridd, Treorchy, Treherbert, Cambrian and Merthyr... traditional strongholds for Bluebirds support.

There’s only one Gareth Bale, but it is budding stars in the making similar to him that the Swans will be looking to target.

Ramsey is another one. Unlike Bale, he actually did come through the Cardiff City Academy and was sold to Arsenal for £5m.

If he indeed goes to Barcelona for ten times that sum, and Ramsey is certainly good enough to net a move to the Nou Camp, unfortunately the Bluebirds won’t see a penny of the money.



The deal they struck in selling a teenage Ramsey to the Gunners did not include a sell-on clause. Somehow, were they to unearth the next Ramsey to emerge from the Welsh capital as a result of their new set-up, you couldn’t see Swansea doing such a deal.

Crikey, they got £10m for Ben Davies. The talented defender is a decent left-back, but is Davies really worth double the fee Aaron Ramsey was able to attract and have Barcelona banging the door down for his services?

There is nothing new in someone from Cardiff’s traditional base making the grade with Swansea. Perhaps the most famous example is Alan Curtis, from deep in Rhondda Valley territory who went on to become a legend at the Vetch and who is still first team coach to Garry Monk today.

Jason Bowen and Steve Jenkins, each Wales internationals, are from Merthyr.

But it’s one thing to have scouts out at the occasional youth game to spot talent, another thing entirely to set up formal development centres.

Which is what Swansea are doing as they seek to make the most of their Premier League status and attract the finest Welsh talent.

These things, of course, are cyclical. Moving back in time, Swansea was perhaps the place in Wales which punched above its weight more than any other in terms of producing footballers.

John Charles, Ivor Allchurch, Cliff Jones and Trevord Ford, icons of the 1958 Wales World Cup team, each came from Swansea, as did the likes of Chris Coleman, Andy Melville, John Hartson and Dean Saunders.

In the 1970s and ‘80s, the spotlight turned to north Wales as Ian Rush, Mark Hughes, Neville Southall, Kevin Ratcliffe, Micky Thomas and Gary Speed emerged.




In recent years, though, Cardiff has very much taken on the mantle as being the hotbed of emerging Welsh talent, as you would perhaps expect from a capital city with its greater population.

As well as Bale and Ramsey, Craig Bellamy and Ryan Giggs each come from the area. You are talking four icons of the Welsh game there and in the cases of Giggs and Bale the world game.

Since Sam Hammam breezed in as chairman at the start of the millennium, the Bluebirds have had a thriving Academy with Rob Earnshaw, James Collins, Joe Ledley and Chris Gunter amongst those who came through.

They have also branched out with a West Glamorgan Academy, run from under six to under 11 level, and thus do have players from the Swansea area in their own youth set-up. One of the most famous was Adam Matthews, who didn’t make the grade with his home-town club Swansea, but emerged as a Wales international with Cardiff under Dave Jones.

In football circles, it hasn’t gone unnoticed that names such as Bale, Ramsey, Bellamy and Giggs are synonymous with the city of Cardiff. So Swansea, the established Premier League club, are seeking tap into that rich vein of talent.



Is it fair for Swansea to poach players from the Cardiff area?

YES
NO


Bale, perhaps, is the perfect example of the type of player the Swans are attempting to discover. Everything being equal, and considering the importance Hammam had placed on the youth system, Bale should have been snapped up by Cardiff City.

But it was Southampton who spotted him playing in a tournament, who persuaded him to go to one of their satellite Academies in Bath, who signed him up. The rest, as they say, is history.

Every single week when he was younger, Bale was driven over the Severn Bridge where the Southampton coaches could get to work with honing his skill sets. The trials, tribulations and travelling was clearly worth it, given what has happened since.

But at times that journey to Bath in the evenings must have been arduous and tortuous. Bale must have been wishing on occasions that he just had to go five minutes up the road in his home city.



Swansea are suddenly offering those opportunities for the Bales of the future with the development centres they have set up. They are hoping their Premier League status is a pull and are using the riches they continue to gain from playing in the world’s most happening league to invest heavily in the future.

It’s clearly not just about the present for Garry Monk. He and his Army of coaches are also looking more than a decade ahead and targeting the whole of Wales for the stars of tomorrow.

Cardiff will have confidence in their own Academy. They missed out on Bale, but they did land Ramsey, even if they perhaps haven’t made the money out of him they might have done.

But Swansea’s ambitious actions in spreading their wings right into the capital will at the very least mean Cardiff are on red alert.

There is a real danger they could lose the best local talent... and lose it to their biggest rivals, too!

The sooner they get back into the Premier League themselves, of course, the more of a pull the Bluebirds will have.

good read but we will always be 1 step ahead of the jacks.

As much as it hurts to say it we are way bebind swansea in this

As much as it hurts to say it we are way bebind swansea in this

can I ask how are we.

What about the under 13 Latvian boy we got from under the noses of Swansea.

What about the under 13 Latvian boy we got from under the noses of Swansea.

You talking about Anjey

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=143611

What about the under 13 Latvian boy we got from under the noses of Swansea.

You talking about Anjey

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=143611

Yes Carl they messed up big time on this boy,

There scouting at the moment is awful the amount of boys going to there academy and getting released after a few weeks is shocking and not fair on the kids.

they are effectively trawling hundreds of kids hoping to maybe find couple who are going to be good! what about the other couple hundred who get tossed aside? they are desperate as obviously not a lot of talented kids in their catchment area! kids that are exceptional will get picked up by bigger clubs still.

what i dont get is why have centre in roath and heath when parks only 1mile apart?

they are effectively trawling hundreds of kids hoping to maybe find couple who are going to be good! what about the other couple hundred who get tossed aside? they are desperate as obviously not a lot of talented kids in their catchment area! kids that are exceptional will get picked up by bigger clubs still.

what i dont get is why have centre in roath and heath when parks only 1mile apart?

It's a money scam they have no overheads as they are just in a park and they call it a development centre

As much as it hurts to say it we are way bebind swansea in this

can I ask how are we.

They are far more active in seeking out youngsters then city even Hellers critised the clubs efforts with kids,Swansea are better run than city their board are in unison with their fans and not constantly trying to split them and not antagonising fans as do our club now you tell me how we are always ahead of them when they are top half of premier and we are bottom half championship I'm not Swansea fan but am big enough to accept that at this moment in time they are in a far better shape than us

Not sure why bellamy said that but I was on about are academy

We were well ahead but since James mcarthy took charge we are going down hill and backwards. Lost at 16s. 18. And 21s.recently.

We were well ahead but since James mcarthy took charge we are going down hill and backwards. Lost at 16s. 18. And 21s.recently.

I think cardiff and swansea can cut there losses on those age groups as both are bad but I can see a few of our 14s making the grade will be great to see them come through together.

Kids from the age of 8 to 14 are going to try with Swansea purely because they are a PL side and not a championship side, as most have no loyalty to Cardiff as they support such teams as Liverpool and Man U

There scouting at the moment is awful the amount of boys going to there academy and getting released after a few weeks is shocking and not fair on the kids.

I disagree, it's only football training and a club does not owe a living to any kid that is lucky enough to train

History proves one in 30 years will be a big success .
The rest will be random.
Many getting success elsewhere.
imho more of an issue if any of them go on to support the scum

There scouting at the moment is awful the amount of boys going to there academy and getting released after a few weeks is shocking and not fair on the kids.

I disagree, it's only football training and a club does not owe a living to any kid that is lucky enough to train

Why put them up when there not good enough.

they are effectively trawling hundreds of kids hoping to maybe find couple who are going to be good! what about the other couple hundred who get tossed aside? they are desperate as obviously not a lot of talented kids in their catchment area! kids that are exceptional will get picked up by bigger clubs still.

what i dont get is why have centre in roath and heath when parks only 1mile apart?

It's a money scam they have no overheads as they are just in a park and they call it a development centre

Yes apparently they charge for the privaledge of being seen by them!

they are effectively trawling hundreds of kids hoping to maybe find couple who are going to be good! what about the other couple hundred who get tossed aside? they are desperate as obviously not a lot of talented kids in their catchment area! kids that are exceptional will get picked up by bigger clubs still.

what i dont get is why have centre in roath and heath when parks only 1mile apart?

It's a money scam they have no overheads as they are just in a park and they call it a development centre

Yes apparently they charge for the privaledge of being seen by them!

Yes, it's a big business....football is very expensive nowadays for the parents....i'm lucky to only have daughters lol

There scouting at the moment is awful the amount of boys going to there academy and getting released after a few weeks is shocking and not fair on the kids.

I disagree, it's only football training and a club does not owe a living to any kid that is lucky enough to train

Why put them up when there not good enough.

assessing them? I guess a few weeks is enough to know if there is a glimmer of hope

they are effectively trawling hundreds of kids hoping to maybe find couple who are going to be good! what about the other couple hundred who get tossed aside? they are desperate as obviously not a lot of talented kids in their catchment area! kids that are exceptional will get picked up by bigger clubs still.

what i dont get is why have centre in roath and heath when parks only 1mile apart?

It's a money scam they have no overheads as they are just in a park and they call it a development centre

Yes apparently they charge for the privaledge of being seen by them!

Yes, it's a big business....football is very expensive nowadays for the parents....i'm lucky to only have daughters lol

When I was a kid everyone had a trial with Bristol Rovers.
Where are they now ?

they are effectively trawling hundreds of kids hoping to maybe find couple who are going to be good! what about the other couple hundred who get tossed aside? they are desperate as obviously not a lot of talented kids in their catchment area! kids that are exceptional will get picked up by bigger clubs still.

what i dont get is why have centre in roath and heath when parks only 1mile apart?

It's a money scam they have no overheads as they are just in a park and they call it a development centre

Yes apparently they charge for the privaledge of being seen by them!

Yes, it's a big business....football is very expensive nowadays for the parents....i'm lucky to only have daughters lol [/quote
As a parent wouldn't you think you are being mugged paying for your kid to wear a scrum shirt and train in an open park and have to pay for it.

they are effectively trawling hundreds of kids hoping to maybe find couple who are going to be good! what about the other couple hundred who get tossed aside? they are desperate as obviously not a lot of talented kids in their catchment area! kids that are exceptional will get picked up by bigger clubs still.

what i dont get is why have centre in roath and heath when parks only 1mile apart?

It's a money scam they have no overheads as they are just in a park and they call it a development centre

Yes apparently they charge for the privaledge of being seen by them!

Yes, it's a big business....football is very expensive nowadays for the parents....i'm lucky to only have daughters lol [/quote
As a parent wouldn't you think you are being mugged paying for your kid to wear a scrum shirt and train in an open park and have to pay for it.

probably yes, I am in agreement that it is a money making scam, however, a talented kid can get spotted there, if my son was fat and rubbish, i'd take him to the cinema instead

as far as i can see, swansea get in contact with our under 9s etc, my son s cardiff team has been contacted by the jacks and beyond, you might know different, but, cardiff charge you for an open day, now, if all is correct, my advice would be, stop making money by letting people come to you, and go and search the youngsters in cardiff that play on a saturday morning?

There are kids who have been in our development centres for 3 to 4 years before they get taken into the academy. They have developed enough to be be taken on. The centres pay insurance, facilities costs,coaches fees and permits for grounds for games and referee costs. This does not leave a lot of money for the so called money making machine.

There are kids who have been in our development centres for 3 to 4 years before they get taken into the academy. They have developed enough to be be taken on. The centres pay insurance, facilities costs,coaches fees and permits for grounds for games and referee costs. This does not leave a lot of money for the so called money making machine.

development centres are different to the 'soccer schools' as they are termed. You are right to make the distinction between them,

Chelsea want parents to pay £68 for 2-4 days training for soccer school. (Not sure if this course is just 2 days or 4)

Course Code: B-MAY-15-LVSS
Country: United Kingdom
Venue: Licensed Victuallers School
Location: London Road, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 8DR
Click here to view map
Course Type: Soccer School
Year Of Birth: 5-13
Start Date: Tuesday, May 26
End Date: Friday, May 29
Details: Licensed Victuallers School (LVS Ascot), London Road, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 8DR Tuesday 26th May - Friday 29th May 2015 9:30am (registration from 8:30) - 3:00pm 5-13 years £68.00 Astroturf Please bring appropriate clothing, lunch and refreshments for your child.

Ramsey undoubtedly the best talent out of Cardiff City FC EVER IMHO!

Bale could/should/might have been a Cardiff City product, but as good as he is I find myself asking "Would Cardiff city have nurtured him in the same way that Southampton (with their proven youth policy) did?" and I find myself thinking "No, they wouldn't have!"

I still think Bale would have reached the top; just not for £85m

they are effectively trawling hundreds of kids hoping to maybe find couple who are going to be good! what about the other couple hundred who get tossed aside? they are desperate as obviously not a lot of talented kids in their catchment area! kids that are exceptional will get picked up by bigger clubs still.

what i dont get is why have centre in roath and heath when parks only 1mile apart?

It's a money scam they have no overheads as they are just in a park and they call it a development centre

Sounding abit like sour grapes to me I'm afraid. As a youngster I was involved in your set up in neath development, I was in the centre of excellence team with Adam matthews and played against Ramsey every Sunday night. but didn't make it. Back then swansea were tiny and cardiff were everywhere , even in swansea and I remember beating swansea 8 -1. Now it seems the opposite. Swansea are consistently beating you at most levels and also got centres all over the place. Very good to be a swansea fan at the moment

Can someone tell me how many players are from Cardiff or have been with Cardiff/cardiff youth academy in the Welsh NT please