https://the72.co.uk/2025/04/08/barnsley-kishan-dass-on-trial-chelsea/ To the ones who watch the young ones, Is he any good?
Can't be any good as our Academy is a waste of money "There are also thought to be top flight clubs interested in three other academy players, with verbal offers being rejected." link
This is the whole problem with running our own academy, Chelsea could take him for pennies and if he becomes a first team player then we miss out on millions probably. So what's the point? Meanwhile this kid will no doubt be overjoyed to sign for Chelsea, but won't have worked out that there are hundreds of kids in Chelsea academy and the chances of you playing for the Academy first team are much less then the chances of playing for Barnsley's academy first team. Then when it comes to the actual first team, the chances become even slimmer, no matter how good you think you are, unless you're going to be as good as Cole Palmer, then why bother joining Chelsea? Because you ain't going to play for them unless you are that good.
If the lad goes to Chelsea, and any other academy lad who is any good also leaves, then this is good example of why it is a waste of money isn't it? We're spending money training players only for them to jump ship before they are old enough to pay back the time we've put into them. I can't think of a better example of why it is a waste of money to be honest.
Rule. In England, a football club can't outright prevent a 15-year-old player from joining another club, but they can seek compensation for the player's development if the player leaves before the end of their registration period. In most cases, a football club can't prevent a 15-year-old player from joining another club, especially if the player is not under contract, as FIFA rules generally restrict transfers of players under 18, and clubs must allow players to move freely. Just a fact of life and a minefield of regulations. Happens at any club. If we didn't have an academy. We wouldn't have had the likes of McCarthy Banks Stones Bree Tyler Etc etc etc. Some going for huge sums. Some played great parts in the club. B4 leaving. Even without a fee. Some who went for good money and struggled or failed.
The EPPP has been greeted with scepticism from parts of the English Football League. Some claim the Premier League has blackmailed the Football League by threatening to remove all youth development funding if the Football League did not accept the new deal.[15] It has been described by some as a way of catering for only the elite. The new rules mean that a Category 1 academy can go to any other training ground to watch a player (giving 48 hours' notice) and effectively buy the player for a fixed fee starting from £3,000
There are a few dimensions to this. One is the rather simplistic notion - frequently used here - is that the Academy doesn’t produce any talent, which was the tongue in cheek spirit of the reply. On the subject of the Academy being a waste of money, it depends on how you view it and what you believe its purpose is. Personally, I don’t think it should solely be a football factory churning out assets for the club to profit, though I understand it needs to contribute to pay for itself somehow. Probably being a little romantic, I believe it should also be of benefit to the wider community, so the dreams and aspirations of youngsters in the area can come to their local club and receive a footballing education and maybe play for their team in the future. I believe, at a bare minimum, the club has a social responsibility to do this. As has been alluded to, it’s difficult to do these days, as big clubs can poach promising talent and, obviously, that makes it more difficult to develop players. It often means that the club will end up developing talent released from other clubs, and we have done this to a degree with Yoganathan and previously with Butterfield as examples. I don’t particularly like the nature of this, but unfortunately, it’s the footballing landscape of now and we as a club need to adapt to that. If we’re lucky, we may - in the more traditional fashion - get to see young players develop through the academy and successfully make the first team, like Stones and Holgate. We can probably do this better, but the idea of the club not having a facility to develop young players is one that doesn’t appeal to me. It's also one that, I believe, would further disconnect the club from the community which it serves.
McCarthy, Banks, Tiler, Watson, Eaden, Liddell were all pre academy with just a standard youth set up. Can’t see why we don’t ditch the expense of the academy and go back to something similar. If we’re trying to cut costs the academy would be one of the first things to chop for me. No way does it pay its way. That said, 30 or so years back you didn’t have mega rich Prem clubs shamelessly hoovering up all the talent like you do now. Another example that the game we loved has gone to the dogs.
It’s also funded quite heavily by the Premier League, who also contribute to the Community Trust. All part of the EPPP agreement some years ago. So whilst it does mean there’s a chance the club could develop a kid from - for example - 10 years old and see him taken by a Premier League club at 15 for a very small fee, the fact is that’s very rare so the funding probably works out as a good deal. The issue would be if the club was developing lots of great youngsters, a handful each season who were getting pinched. The last one I remember was Tom Wooster, a young goalie who Man Utd got on the cheap at 15 or something. He was in non league on loan the last I heard. You can also negate the issue by agreeing a pre-contract with the young lads. Happened with Jalo. Agreed before he turned 16. But it’s a risk giving out generous pro contracts to lads that young as you can’t be sure they’ll actually progress. Look at the comments on here regards Fabio recently. Written off plenty isn’t he? I think the academy is costly to run, even with extra funding. And whether it’s coaches unwilling to give them a chance or just the fact they aren’t good enough, it’s not really proving value for money in the last few years is it? In terms of first team involvement at least. But as you say, from a community standpoint it’s successful. And the education the lads get alongside their coaching is something to be proud of. If I was owning a club haemorrhaging cash like BFC is, it would definitely be under the microscope, the academy. But I’d personally rather the club fully buy in and just utilise the talent within it. Give more of them more chances. Make up half the squad with youngsters. And save any cash by putting an end to signings that are clearly not good enough. I won’t name them, as I’d be here all day. It’s the majority of the squad, basically. So folk can knock the academy all they want, but as seen recently, Jalo, Flavell and Bland are no worse than the gash brought in over the last few windows. Not saying they’re amazing, but they’re not worse. At all. Unless someone would genuinely rather watch Slonina, Gauci, Lembikisa, Rodrigues, Farrugia, Craig, Humphrys, Nwakali and so on. Blimey. Listing them there you have to applaud the club on recruitment. Takes some doing getting such a bad hit rate. And I’ll have missed some.
Interestingly, he was on loan at Farsley Celtic last season, got injured and was replaced by Kieran Flavell.
Tiler , Banks , McCarthy all well before the Academy just through youth set up totally different thru probably had to clean boiwits and sweep terrace not todays lot I. This wet wipe times we live in.
The academy lads do clean first team boots, plus ballboy duty. Well, they did in my years there, may have changed. Can’t have them sweeping up etc as that’s someone’s actual job. Probably not the best use of their time either, if we want them to turn into good footballers. Big fan of the past, but certain stuff should stay there.
What you desire seems more like a local charity than a professional football club.. The clue is in the word professional.. it means people involved do it for a living and not for free. So it needs to pay for itself. If it's doesn't pay for itself then it's a millstone around the club's neck. It means the owners and board members will have to subserdise it, by either selling senior players or out of their own pocket..or raising ticket prices. A fruitless acadamy thens robs the club/first team of capital and resources. With the first team being the hole point of a English football league club..
Sounds like a good view regarding saving money on kak players. At this level, as you're implying, developing academy talent, we wont be far off the standards of L1 or L2 and we may develop some gems over time. The board should look at it and compare with what Sormaz has brought in.....
