by Hoop Blah »
26 Jul 2011 08:49
sheshnu Big Foot Most effective, you mean us bringing through the likes of Jake Taylor and Obita is more effective than the likes of Micah Richards, Albrighton, Gabby Agbonlahor etc?
Please
Whilst I agree that there are several 'Premier League' clubs with academies on a par with Reading's: how many of them have sold one of their 'products' for £7 million+ ?
I'm being facetious of course but please don't belittle "our" club's tremendous efforts.
What's the bigger achievement, producing the odd gem and selling them or producing a number of players who go on to be consistent performers in the top flight?
'Boro (Prem at the time of development), Villa and Southampton are other top academies that could quite happily claim to top ours.
I agree we shouldn't belittle what they're doing though, but at the same time it's best to keep some realism too.