The academy

[Andy S]

We are now reaping the rewards of our academy.
we have some good players coming through. We have players who are believing that remaining with the club is their best option of improving even further. Those same players are saving the club a fortune in transfer money as well as becoming an asset for the future as well as paying for the continuation of an academy.

Well done to the club for sticking to this principle as there is something about getting behind one of our own.

[hovewhite]

With a lot more talent coming through seeing the roehampton twins sign those other boys coming through tbat if your good enough you will get a chance.

[Max Headroom]

Matt O'Riley and sonny hilton are the next through the turnstile......

Plus of course Edun, Adeniran, Kait, Steven Sessegnon and De La Torre amongst others

[SouthfieldWhite]

We've had a few good harvests in the last couple of years.

However, let's not forget Al Fayed made the academy a priority about 20 years ago and for the first 15 yrs or so it yielded very little.

IMO we need to be consistently churning out a Roberts or Sessegnon every year or two for the academy to be worthwhile so whilst I agree it seems to working out well, I personally would give it another decade before passing judgment.

To the extent it brings us revenue and success, it's yet another thing to thank MAF for... although I do acknowledge Khan has been very good in relation to the academy as well

Maf didn't want to keep spending millions on players so wanted some home grown talent to come through.
Our academy was a mess.
I started scouting for the academy when Eugene Dwah was running the academy, I was bringing in some very good players, but because they weren't 'Eugenes boys' they never stood a chance, a lot of them went on to other academies including one who made his first team appearance for Peterboro when he was17.
I was getting frustrated so was about to call it a day when Alistair Mackintosh got rid of Eugene and brought in Hew, Malcolm Elias and John O'Brien God rest his soul.
They persuaded me to stay on saying things would be better, and they was not wrong.
They bought in other very good people and it became a professional academy  compared to what it was before.
So although Fayed  did want a better academy, a lot of credit must go to Alistair  and his vision of what we have today.
He bought in the best and we are very very lucky that they are still with us.
When we got relegated the club cut the academy budget and we lost a few very good people, but being Cat one was a big step forward and we've done well to keep it considering we are a Championship club.

It's a very tough world and there's no garentee that a brilliant 9 year old will make it right the way through the age group and finally into the first team.

London is a hotbed for scouts and with so many clubs in and around London, it's not easy to get the best talent but we do a great job thanks to the people we have in our academy.

[SouthfieldWhite]

Southfield you say it was a mess but when did you join? Having read the stories in the Simon Morgan book about post match meals for the first team involving the team van stopping at the chippy on the way back, i dread to think what the "academy" was like back then in the 1990s when MAF took iver, if we even had one. Whatever MAF built may not have been what it is now but he presumably built that from scratch and he did that to secure our long term prosperity. Credit to Mackintosh for improving it, I have often wondered what keeps that man in a job and maybe that's it

Just out of interest has the academy budget been restored or is it still lower than it was before we got relegated?

I joined  about 2006/07
I was running a very good grass roots team
And spoke to Fulham about giving them first option on any of the players who played for me.
They asked me in for a meeting and asked if I'd like to join as a scout, which initially I hadn't even given a thought about .i stayed until the end of 15/16 season when I felt I needed a break as I was doing so much football stuff.
I'm not sure about budgets as I wasn't involved with that side.
Fulham were always fantastic to me and I don't have a bad word to say about the academy, in fact I can only say good stuff.

I've met many scouts from other clubs over those years and even those scouts said Fulham was a great academy.
I doubt the budget is what it was in the Prem though.
It was a massive day when we found out we had been given Cat 1 status and although we can say it's down to this person or that person, I'd like to think it's was a team effort.

The people who are in our academy or have left were all not only very good at what they do, but also very nice people .
Being a scout isn't always as good as people think, I've lost count the amount of times I've stood in the pouring down with rain or freezing my nuts off watching junior games.
There's still a lot of rouge scouts whom I believe don't do it the right way.
Scouting is all about contacts and forming relationship with grass roots clubs as well as having an eye for a player.
You don't always get it right but Fulham never put any pressure on me for getting loads of boys in, quality over quantity was the message

[filham]

So good to hear from Southfield White with his hands on experience.
It is also encouraging to know that we have a top class academy and yes we have had a good crop of youngsters in recent years but I am not sure that we have made the best use of those players.
We have pulled in a couple of big fees, we have LVC. Cauley and Sess on the fringe of the first team and that is about it. The rest have flown the nest.
When I see a couple of academy players regularly in the first team then I will be happy.

[cmg]

So good to hear from Southfield White with his hands on experience.
It is also encouraging to know that we have a top class academy and yes we have had a good crop of youngsters in recent years but I am not sure that we have made the best use of those players.
We have pulled in a couple of big fees, we have LVC. Cauley and Sess on the fringe of the first team and that is about it. The rest have flown the nest.
When I see a couple of academy players regularly in the first team then I will be happy.

...and we have forgotten about Marcus Bettinelli....again!