Quote: Donnyman "Not a clue what he's on about but it's always been a fact that only one or two kids per hundred or even far more than that make it to Professional level so if all SL clubs run academies that's enough academies. OK a London academy and a Newcastle academy is needed due to distances.
But taking on kids for the sake of it and watering down the quality of the academy teams is a nonsense.'"
As with all "junior" sides, clubs are lucky to find one player in each year that will make the SL grade, although not all players develop at the same rate.
Academies are neccessary but, they're probably not as important as getting numbers in at the bottom and above all, decent coaching.