A criticism of some criticism.

[Frankie-Peter Taylor]

I've been seeing an increasing amount of people criticise the club, and in particular Martin Jol, for the club's consistent recruitment of the 27-32 age barrier and are using examples like Aston Villa to justify this criticism.

What I'd like to point out, is the young players they've been buying, like Matthew Lowton, like Christian Benteke, were not developed by them. We have an extremely talented group of u21 and u18 players that are being developed by ourselves, this way we increase the profit margins and gain more credibility within our academy.

Also, we can't afford to risk young purchases just yet as we are in a rebuilding process and are recruiting proven players rather than unproven. I promise you, that if things continue how I see them, we will see an increase in younger players being put into the side both from within the club and from purchases else where. The best of the club is in our matters.

[ToodlesMcToot]

Aren't we currently buying older talent that were not developed by us and still not proven in the PL?

There's merit to your point and to our developing our own talent. There's also merit to buying talent in the middle ground that's been proven in other leagues and building first team depth in that fashion.

I trust you when you say "if things continue how you see them, we'll see an increase in younger players being brought in." But unless you're Jol or a senior board member, that's akin to my saying "If I die the way I envision it, it'll be on Abromovich's yacht in bed with the Victoria's Secret models."  :dft011:

There's nothing wrong with spending some of the same funds we're spending on 17 year olds (transfers, wages, housing, education, training) on 20 - 25 year old talent that's been proven in Denmark for example.

[Rupert]

Given that most of our supporters are not successful Premiership managers or Chief Execs, more like lorry drivers, tax inspectors and gardeners at Hampton Court, or they spend their days sitting on a park bench shouting at ducks and scaring old ladies, I'd be more concerned if they were all in full agreement with our recruitment policy.

As for whether Villa are more or less successful than us, time will tell.

[filham]

Smalling and perhaps Saha are the only young players  I can think of that we have sold for significant sums,

I don't think our academy has yet produced a player of lasting premiership quality, its hard to see how they are really helping the club.

[Burt]

Think Saha was mid-20s when we sold him to the ManU of the North...

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

Smalling and perhaps Saha are the only young players  I can think of that we have sold for significant sums,

I don't think our academy has yet produced a player of lasting premiership quality, its hard to see how they are really helping the club.

Dembele?

[ToodlesMcToot]

Smalling and perhaps Saha are the only young players  I can think of that we have sold for significant sums,

I don't think our academy has yet produced a player of lasting premiership quality, its hard to see how they are really helping the club.

Did we truly "produce" Smalling? Some small bit of my brain is telling me that we bought him from another club that had already done a good bit of the work for us....like with Burn.

[ToodlesMcToot]

Smalling and perhaps Saha are the only young players  I can think of that we have sold for significant sums,

I don't think our academy has yet produced a player of lasting premiership quality, its hard to see how they are really helping the club.

Dembele?

Which? The one we bought at 24 years or the teen that we've had for 9 months?

[Burt]

Smalling and perhaps Saha are the only young players  I can think of that we have sold for significant sums,

I don't think our academy has yet produced a player of lasting premiership quality, its hard to see how they are really helping the club.

Did we truly "produce" Smalling? Some small bit of my brain is telling me that we bought him from another club that had already done a good bit of the work for us....like with Burn.

He actually started out at Millwall's academy, and then went on to play for Maidstone Utd, before we got our mitts on him.

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

Smalling and perhaps Saha are the only young players  I can think of that we have sold for significant sums,

I don't think our academy has yet produced a player of lasting premiership quality, its hard to see how they are really helping the club.

Dembele?

Which? The one we bought at 24 years or the teen that we've had for 9 months?

I was responding to the first point about young players and significant sums.

The terms `young' and `significant sums' have not been clearly defined but Dembele was younger than Saha at the age we sold them and we made at least as much money for Dembele as we did for Smalling.

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

Smalling and perhaps Saha are the only young players  I can think of that we have sold for significant sums,

I don't think our academy has yet produced a player of lasting premiership quality, its hard to see how they are really helping the club.

Our youth development policy seems to have only been serious for the last two or three years with the purchases of young players and their success in the leagues and cups.

Apart from Briggs, did we know any names of our young players in Roy Hodgson's time? We will have to wait two or three years to know if it is beginning to produce.

[ToodlesMcToot]

Smalling and perhaps Saha are the only young players  I can think of that we have sold for significant sums,

I don't think our academy has yet produced a player of lasting premiership quality, its hard to see how they are really helping the club.

Dembele?

Which? The one we bought at 24 years or the teen that we've had for 9 months?

I was responding to the first point about young players and significant sums.

The terms `young' and `significant sums' have not been clearly defined but Dembele was younger than Saha at the age we sold them and we made at least as much money for Dembele as we did for Smalling.

Young for me would be in the 20 - 25 years range which we seem to have an aversion to investing in. There are exceptions of course, including Moussa Sr. Significant sums would be enough profit to buy another player at the original purchase price plus enough to realisitcally afford another quality player. So if we bought Moussa for 5 million and sold for 15, I'd think that qualifies. Same would surely apply to Smalling. Frei to Gala for 2 million wouldn't qualify for me.

[SP]

How many more players will Villa sign before they announce Benteke is being sold?

[jarv]

My thoughts, for what it is worth. The premier division dictates teams need experience. The money is too much now to take too many risks with youngsters. It is what it is.

A friend of mine worked as a business consultant for Middlesborough some time ago. One piece of the work was to assess buying in versus development. They have or had an outstanding development coach (name escapes me right now). As I recall, the chairman was fed up pumping his own money in for prima donna foreigners so they pushed through some decent kids. They got relegated.

Moving forward, I think every season will see wholesale changes to squads. We are already seeing as much as 10 in and 10 out.

[justinfromga]

I've been seeing an increasing amount of people criticise the club, and in particular Martin Jol, for the club's consistent recruitment of the 27-32 age barrier and are using examples like Aston Villa to justify this criticism.

What I'd like to point out, is the young players they've been buying, like Matthew Lowton, like Christian Benteke, were not developed by them. We have an extremely talented group of u21 and u18 players that are being developed by ourselves, this way we increase the profit margins and gain more credibility within our academy.

Also, we can't afford to risk young purchases just yet as we are in a rebuilding process and are recruiting proven players rather than unproven. I promise you, that if things continue how I see them, we will see an increase in younger players being put into the side both from within the club and from purchases else where. The best of the club is in our matters.

The problem for a club like Fulham right now is so many young players with premier league experience are valued way to high.  A club like ours can't afford to overpay for a player who has recently been relegated or is a fringe first timer with "great potential."

If we are ever going to compete annually for a European spot then I think our current model is what we need.  Our academies are strong and getting stronger as we continue to invest in both local talent and players we can get for a cheaper value (Americans, Australians, Sweedes, etc.).  The value for young players with top flight experience right now is too much and would cripple a club like ours.  Patience is what is needed.

[RaySmith]

I'm sure Fulham, like all clubs, would love to bring in youngsters either from outside, or their own academies, to the first team - for obvious reasons.

However, the  very high standard of the Prem dictates that proven experience is often necessary, when the best young players are so expensive, and few  from academies  make the grade, with the standards of the Prem dictated by  foreign imports attracted by the wages - which also affects the national team.