Long list of academy graduates

Chris H

Came across this in the Guardian, thought you might find it interesting. It's a list of all the United Academy products still playing professional football, wherever that might be.

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/extra...ll-manche.html

From Kalam Mooniaruck at Cambridge City to David Beckham at LA Galaxy, they are at widely varying levels of play. Looks like he came up with about 50, and then readers have written in with a few more.

Ramshock

Ive never heard of Jami Puustinen and I didn't know Markus Neumayr went back to Germany and that Erik Nevland was at Fulham, interesting post!

CockneyHammer

Spector was not an academt product merely a player you purchased from another team

Beckham wasn't solely a Manchester United Academy product, he was just poached and "finished" at Manchester United

Kieron Richardson is from the West Ham academy

Keith Gillespie was signed from St Andrews FC

Robbie Savage was released from the Manchester United academy as "not good enough" and joined crewe

Djordic was bought from IF Brommapojkarna

Ben Collett was released from Man Utd again noit being good enough

Michael Stewart was poached from Rangers

Jonathan Greening was bought from York and had already made his league debut

I can't be asked doing the rest but as you can see most of them are not Academy products they merely joint Manchester United at a young age

oskarutd

Becham was with us from a very young age. He didn´t sign with any other club.
Beck then there wasn´t any academies, but you can understand their point.

charleysurf

You really are a nonce. What club did United poach Beckham from?

Chris H

Please direct all complaints to http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/f...internets.html

CockneyHammer

David Robert Joseph Beckham was born in Leytonstone, East London on 2 May 1975.

His parents Sandra and Ted were keen football fans and ardent Manchester United supporters, so it was no surprise when David quickly became hooked on both the game and the club.

David's footballing ability was soon clear for all to see. By the age of eight, he had scored more than 100 goals for his childhood team, Ridgeway Rovers.

Three years later, he made his Old Trafford debut - as a mascot for Manchester United in a league game against West Ham!

At the age of 12, David attended the Bobby Charlton Soccer School, where he won an award. Part of the prize was the opportunity to train with Barcelona, who would attempt to sign him 15 years later.

It was not long before a number of English league clubs started taking notice of David. He had trials with his local side, Leyton Orient, and attended Tottenham Hotspur's school of excellence.

And here's the link nonce;

http://www.thedavidbeckhamacademy.co.../childhood.cfm

CockneyHammer

What do you mean there wasn't any academies back then? West Ham was churning out players from the academy well before the 60's

oskarutd

If the criteria is not playing for anyone before United than noone is an United Academy product!
He attended Spurs training in an United shirt!
So, from 11 he is connected to United.
From which team was he poached????

oskarutd

They weren´t called academies, that is Howard Wilkinson brainchild.

sincher

What difference does it make if people are let go for not being good enough? Surely this is true for most academy players.

It doesn't really make a lot of difference if players are brought in from other teams at a really early age either.

The above all played for the academy teams, which is as good a definition as any.

CockneyHammer

Quite obviously Spurs as he was offered a youth contract with them, the team who had been training him yet Manchester United came in and poached him

Thats the point I was trying to put across Man Utd has no or very little fully home gown players, they concentrate all their efforts on signing young talent from other teams rather than promoting it from the grass root level and developing their own youngsters.

sincher

That's rubbish cockney. Like all sensible clubs, United have recognised that they need to bring in top young talents from abroad at an early age, and that failing to do so would be a massive opportunity missed. That's not to the detriment of developing the local talent though. The club has an excellent record of ensuring that the young players that come through the academy have good careers - if not at United then somewhere else often at a good level.

The likes of Shawcross, Blake, Jones, etc. are recent examples.

oskarutd

He didn´t want to sign with Spurs because he wanted to sign for United from the start, before he went training with them.
So if a player is offered contract and refuses it because he never wanted to sign for them and signs for anther team he is poached.
You always learn new things here !
Name one club who doesn´t sign players after the age of 9 for their academies.

CockneyHammer

No as if youlet them go they are deemed failures, if another club then takes them on and develops them into a professional player it is that who club who's sucess it was

It does make a difference as many teams have a dedicated local network of training grounds, scouts and coaches who set out to find young players and give them trials at the academy. They do find gems often for a big club i.e. yourselves to step in a few years down the line and then claim that player as your sucess often paying the smaller club a very low amount of money and never passing on any praise to the team which found the player even when ears down the line your club sells that player for millions.

CockneyHammer

So why didn't he train with you then rather than Spurs?

Elliott

Aaron Burns - FC United

He must be scoring goals by the bucket loads.
Stay clear of Fred, fella. He's full of it

sincher

I think there's a big difference between West Ham and United. A player that is let go from United is often reasonably well thought of, but the club recognise that they won't break through to the level required. The club often look to secure cuts of future sales when it does this, e.g. with Ebanks-Blake.

CockneyHammer

If thats the case then why are so many just released from the club, we release very few players and bgenerally when we do release them it's through mutual consent so that player can join another team

oskarutd

He lived in London....

sincher

Because we have a massive pool of young players, and limited opportunities to offer them. We have to let them go if after a certain age they're not breaking through - or they might feel their careers are better served elsewhere.

There are a bunch at the moment who might well get a chance at the likes of WHU but who will likely go for small fees or nowt from United, despite clearly showing that they can play at a good level - e.g. Eagles, Martin, Lee, Campbell, Brandy, Hewson, Cathcart etc. etc.

sincher

Most players let go from United have another team to go to as well. The club works very hard to find a club for the players it lets go.

CockneyHammer

Regardless he was still willing as a schoolboy to move to Manchester

If Manchester United had scouted him earlier i'm pretty sure he would have moved to Manchester earlier

oskarutd

He went there on weekends and school holidays....

spinoza

So who was he poached from again?

spinoza

Ramon Calliste is the last player that I can remember who was released without a club to go to. He promptly signed for Liverpool.

I'm sure there have been other more recent ones - anyone know?

CockneyHammer

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brimsdown_Rovers_F.C.

Norwich, spurs, Leyton Orient

Take your pick really any of them teams scouted Beckham before Man Utd and if it wan't for those teams training Beckham he wouldn't have been half the player he was before Manchester United stepped in and signed him as a 14 year old

oskarutd