Football

You’ll Neves walk alone.

Will Klopp field a decent team in the CL or is he all in on red for the PL?

had a feeling wolves would win that game
#shouldhaveputabeton

True... The Fascists, Manure or the Armitage Spuds... Who would you go with?

Surprised you’re so interested in our manager. Hasn’t he been with us longer than any manager you’ve had under abramovich?
Do you think Sarri has what it takes to be there for more than a season or two?
And is the team he’s got able to win anything this year/next year?

Also Hudson-odoi being chased by Bayern is being managed by another coach who prefers veteran/experienced players rather than giving youth a chance, he’s probably better off heading to Germany for first team football. And is the only thing keeping Chelsea’s youth system afloat the Chelsea name. It looks like you can spot talent but never develop it.

Why would any young player sign on for your academy, when no one breaks through? Just the money? Or the cachet of being in Chelsea’s books?

So touchy... #pwned #2ezy

if that's your idea of fun, you need to get out more..
ps all questions above are serious..

I think Keita's form suffered a bit by waiting a year for the move.. seemed to just sit back and relax a bit.
He's not taken his chance so far, shown glimpes of quality but the game passes him by a bit. Could be a number of things settling in etc but he's not cutting it so far.

It’ll all depend on how badly Real Madrid need the new manager to be in situ. If they can resist Jose being available than I can see him chasing the Real job. Probably 40/60 right now. Real typically get the man they want.

Why do you keep biting? I could keep this up all night...

He would deffo take the Real job over ManU if it was on the table at the same time... Interesting times ahead...

It’s arguably one of the most successful youth academies in the UK. There’s an article somewhere about the number of ex Chelsea youth products playing in the top 5 leagues in Europe. Failing to break into an elite squad that is expected to win trophies is not easy.

I’d love to have seen KDB, Kakkers, Ake, Solanke, RLC, Musonda, van Aanholt, Bertrand all feature more regularly buy you can hardly say it’s cost us trophies.

Why would any young player sign on for your academy,

Could be something to do with the reputation of the academy and its achievements.

I'm kind of extrapolating from the Lookman/Sancho/possibly Hudson-Odoi, where the prospect of getting more run as a young/developing player overcomes the desire to break through into a team which keeps buying developed players in your position.
Also you can say it's worked as you have won trophies in the past, but what if you don't win trophies in the future? Isn't that what the academies are for, to provide a pipeline of talent to the first team, but @WornCleat why would you sign onto an academy, be loyal to an academy if you never get to play for them (first team) yeah you get the cachet of being on their books, but at the first sign of playing time elsewhere you go, no? And some other team gets the benefit of your talents.

you view it as biting, I shrug my shoulders.
would put you on ignore, but then I'd miss the meme dumps.

I thought Chelski's youth team success was down to Jody Morris, but he left with Fat Frank didn't he?

Before that I thought it was Graham Rix, and that reputation was a bit sex offendery. He's not back is he? I guess he's off the sex offenders register by now.....

I think you’re looking at it the wrong way.

Consider it an internship in a corporate environment. How many grads make it to partner or senior partner at a top 10 law firm?

These players get one of the best foundations to succeed as a professional player and many continue to do so. I doubt that the success of them starting in the first team has a huge bearing on this.

£35m for an unproven player is kind of preposterous but as as long as he insists on leaving than he’ll get his move.

You could be right, but I thought the reason for having an academy was to produce players for that club. A happy byproduct of them "not" being good enough is that you sell them on, make a profit, keep the academy going and extend the timing of possibly unearthing a Kane, Pogba, Sterling, without having to shell out the transfer fee/wages.

How much does it cost to run an academy, on average i.e. if you churned out one £2m player a year, would you break even? If so, just a couple of £1m players sold to lower league clubs would make it worthwhile. With Spurs, I guess Kane's value could pay for the whole academy for a generation, before you add all their other youngsters. For Chelsea, £35m for a kid who's barely even graced a pitch is blinding value for the investment.

For most clubs the academy is there to make a profit from loan fees and transfer fees. Generating players is a bonus but pretty unlikely if you're a top club.

Generating players is a bonus but pretty unlikely if you're a top club

For Spurs, there's Kane, Winks, Skipp, Walker-Peters, Edwards, Carter-Vickers, Onomah have all had games in the recent past. However, 'top club'...

The academy at Chelsea has been the best performing anywhere in the past ten or more years. Jody Morris was involved for three years, Rix was there under Ken Bates, long before it became a place of excellence. Brendan Rodgers was Youth team coach more recently.

Young players at Chelsea get the best coaching and facilities and get paid more than those at other clubs.

I have seen some really bright and hopeful players in the youth team for whom one has had high hopes. And then they find their level at Bournemouth or at a lower level. Sadly, kids who excel at 17 don't all go on to be great stars. I remember watching David Bently when he played for Arsenal youth. He was the best thing around. And then disappointed even himself.

The law of numbers dictates that most kids will never make it but if you get into the Chelsea squad you have a better chance to play full time even at much lower levels.

But would it? The possibility of finding home grown "stars" on cheap contracts would be better no?
Loans and transfer fees would be the fuel that keeps it ticking over whilst you produce a "star/stars" And the attachment/loyalty of academy players means you can keep them on relatively cheaper contracts for longer, because they want to play for the team they've supported/been with from a youth.

Pochettino to Chelsea, obviously.

But would it? The possibility of finding home grown "stars" on cheap contracts would be better no?

Really?
You really think that happens?

5 minutes on the internet:
https://playerscout.co.uk/football-academies/do-academy-players-get-paid/

A good player with good representation will not stay on a small contract for long. They'll be off from their home academy to somewhere else.

Raheem Sterling?
QPR > Liverpool > City

Here's a question @cornelius_blackfoot:
You currently work for company xt.
They've taken the time to train you up, they've nurtured and fostered you, you feel fully skilled up in the world of chatting shit on the internet.
Then. You realise, I generate a lot of shit on the internet and I could generate more and be rewarded better and learn more skills in how to generate more shit on the internet. Plus you'll get to be managed by a new leader who is skilled in the art of shite generation as well as shit generation.
Do you stay because of loyalty or do you move to generate more shit and new shite?