Logan Pye



My comment on not meeting the academy director was in response to being asked if I had a problem with the running of the club. My point was the take over had just happened, hadn’t even met the bloke.
But having said that, yes, I would have expected my son to have met him (Not me) as the new director, regardless of whether there was anyone interested or not, but when there was interest, of course I’d have expected it, given he didn’t know my son he would/should have asked some questions.


Yes they could have told Liverpool contact is denied. And we would have been none the wiser. It had happened previously.
What you are saying is very worrying and a big indictment of the club - its as if there is not strategy or plan to nurture and keep our best young talent. I can't get my head around the clubs stance/attitude - are they (the club) getting decent compensation?
 
People might blame SD for many things but there is nothing they can do if the parents of a kid want to take him to different club
They can if the kid wants to leave because 1) the academy standards have slipped and 2) the player was hawked around until a buyer was found
Pickford's 25, Henderson 29....
Donald and co hev been there 18 month and took over in League Juan..
Where's the production line of "stars"?

We produced more of the semi final England team than any other academy with the exception of Sheff Utd.

we’ve produced countless players that have played in the top two tiers over the years. Look at Hourihan and Egan as examples.

Yes the players were released too soon but our academy used to be f***ing brilliant
And what happened to Southampton? They lost them too, alright a few went into the first team, but I bet they lost youth players when they went to down. They only blooded of note ox Chamberlain, who was a wonderkid. I'd be surprised if we had any of them.

Southampton kept them until they got first team football then sold them for tens of millions of pounds. Can’t believe yuve just said that. What a weird post
 
Last edited:
I find it all pretty frustrating that these young players are not given a subs role with the first team....Sessengnon Fulham and Bellingham at Brum regularly played as 16 yr olds .... surely if the likes of Man U are after these players then they are good enough to be involved.
Agents and their parents probably see £££££ and ultimately don't care which club they play for....it looks like the draw of a hometown club doesn't exist anymore or loyalty ....ah well watch this space

To be honest, if Man U comes in for your kid no matter what league the club you are at is in you're going to seriously consider it. We may have produced a couple of England internationals but they produce them all the time and have shed loads of lads playing in the top two divisions making a hell of a living having come through their academy. Way more than anything we produce and have produced
 
Last edited:
What you are saying is very worrying and a big indictment of the club - its as if there is not strategy or plan to nurture and keep our best young talent. I can't get my head around the clubs stance/attitude - are they (the club) getting decent compensation?
I don’t know what the figure was.
The compensation is supposed to follow set figures from PL, which is based on clubs category, length of time at academy.
With certain add ons if they’ve represented their countries etc.
The Bellingham figure, can only assume he goes into a different category as he’s already played first team football..🤷🏻‍♀️
 
If he wants to go so be it, but it really is time the FA changed the rules so the clubs losing the players are rewarded much better for the early development.
 
My comment on not meeting the academy director was in response to being asked if I had a problem with the running of the club. My point was the take over had just happened, hadn’t even met the bloke.
But having said that, yes, I would have expected my son to have met him (Not me) as the new director, regardless of whether there was anyone interested or not, but when there was interest, of course I’d have expected it, given he didn’t know my son he would/should have asked some questions.


Yes they could have told Liverpool contact is denied. And we would have been none the wiser. It had happened previously.

Thanks for coming on and giving an idea of what goes on. The last paragraph seems like it’s indicative of the debacle that continues unabated in the academy.
 
I’ll be honest. He loves it.
People can say Cat1 is Cat1 but it really isn’t.
The difference, as expected I suppose, is miles apart.
Although even SAFC as a Premier Cat1, there’s was still no comparison.
He’s still a huge Sunderland fan, not a total deserter 😉
Out of interest, who you recommend SAFC? I'm asking because a kid I know has been linked with us and a few other clubs.
 
Southampton blooded Walcott for about 6 months and then had to sell and weren't even in this league. Bale was blooded in the league above and was already gone. Surman and Dyer hung around a bit and then were sold at lesgue one level.

Southampton had to sell almost everyone, which give them a few quid to reinvest in the likes of Lambert to get then out of the league.

All those players they sold were under professional contracts at the time. I'm also not sure if they were subject to the same rules/problems at the time but the players you are referring to weren't 14 and 15 year olds.

A pretty shit comparison all being told.

It was a brilliant comparison and you’re being deliberately obtuse for some reason.

Southampton gave them first team football and sold them for tens of millions, rather then hawking kids round for £50k
 
There’s never NOTHING that can be done. What the club CAN do is make it clear that there is a pathway to the first team. That means much smaller squad, far less journeyman shite brought in and a genuine unwavering commitment to playing our youth prospects. Of course this is primarily about the club being less of a shitshow. However the fans have a part to play too. How many on here aren’t happy if our senior squad isn’t 23+ in size? How many talk endlessly about bringing players in and very rarely about getting them out? How would we feel if playing kids affected results in the short term? What did we think of Denver when he was finding his feet at the start of the season?

This losing our best young players is getting ridiculous. To try to nip it we should do a few things. Firstly we should refuse permission for other clubs coming in for our young players. However that isn’t even half of it. Doing that without helping these kids careers is just punitive. We should state openly that we are a player development club, that fans need to accept some bumps along the way and then, most importantly, we should limit first team senior squad size to 18 or so. It would actually allow us to spend more per senior head in wages so would also have the byproduct of helping us get a better XI. However the main reason is that it would create opportunities for young players. How many injuries have to happen for a youth to even get a place in the bench right now? It’s madness. We need a differentiator to compensate for our league position. Until we do something along these lines, these players will be better served leaving their families and going elsewhere.
I hoped with relegation to league one, we'd have made the academy an absolute priority mind. Like many others, I though we'd see a team built around some of the academy graduates who'd made it to the final of a European tournament just a year before. I remember SD saying that he hoped to offset small losses with the occasional sale of players who've come through the ranks. I think we all assumed he meant when they have broken into the first team, I didn't expect he meant at the first possible opportunity he can get any sort of meagre compensation. Obvious short term thinking.

This is the thing about SD, it's difficult to pin him down to blatant lies, but he bends truths left right and centre. He's a proper salesman.
 
Despite the waffle on a recent podcast the academy isn't in great shape. All our better young players are openly available for a move and some extra cash for the club. I don't blame Paul Reid either.
 
They can if the kid wants to leave because 1) the academy standards have slipped and 2) the player was hawked around until a buyer was found


We produced more of the semi final England team than any other academy with the exception of Sheff Utd.

we’ve produced countless players that have played in the top two tiers over the years. Look at Hourihan and Egan as examples.

Yes the players were released too soon but our academy used to be f***ing brilliant


Southampton kept them until they got first team football then sold them for tens of millions of pounds. Can’t believe yuve just said that. What a weird post
Get real the kid and his parents probably want to leave because it's Man Utd 1 of the biggest clubs in world football and we are a league 1 club
 
I hoped with relegation to league one, we'd have made the academy an absolute priority mind. Like many others, I though we'd see a team built around some of the academy graduates who'd made it to the final of a European tournament just a year before. I remember SD saying that he hoped to offset small losses with the occasional sale of players who've come through the ranks. I think we all assumed he meant when they have broken into the first team, I didn't expect he meant at the first possible opportunity he can get any sort of meagre compensation. Obvious short term thinking.

This is the thing about SD, it's difficult to pin him down to blatant lies, but he bends truths left right and centre. He's a proper salesman.
There has been zero planning for the long term. Everything that's happened since Donald acquired the club is built in sand.
He needs to be gone sharpish.
 

Back
Top