WWBD?

Sheffield United 1 v Queens Park Rangers 0
The Championship
Saturday 12 January 2019

Sheffield United U23 1 v Birmingham City U23 0
U23 Professional Development League
Monday 14 January 2019
Played at Bramall Lane

SUFC 2018/19 Games 58 & 59

2018/19 Football Season Brewery Visits - 74

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SUFC Academy - A Fan’s Eye

In this Blog I'm focusing on what I'm going to call a problem at United's Shirecliffe Academy. I want to make it clear from the outset. This is not particularly a problem of anyone's making. I'm not blaming anyone. I'm trying to make the argument that, through the First Team’s success, we may be outgrowing our Academy. If you want to blame anyone, blame Wilder. He's masterminded a rapid rise for the first team from that League One abyss to the Championship heights.

Let me explain. Before I joined the Carrier Bag Firm full time, I was a Government Statistician. In that role, I once edited a book which speculated on what the UK might look like in twenty years time. All based on Government Statistical forecasts & projections. At the press launch, some journalist had a pop. Of all the things he decided to have a dig at, it was the forecast we'd have an aging population. How many of us there'll be & how old we'll be.

“How certain can you be of these population projections?” - he preened

“What I can be certain of is that if you & I are still alive this time next year, we'll be a year older” - I bristled.

FFS, he weren't happy. But, that's it. That's how Cohorts work. Six, Seven, Eight years ago we were a League One club. With League One pounds & spending power. Trying to attract the best 14, 13 & 12 year olds into the Academy of a League One club. To potentially play League One kicky ball. With a League One scouting network to do it.

Look, I know it's not as simple as that. But, I'm labouring the point. Those kids, any kids, Ben Woodburn, Kieran Dowell, any kids, starting their football journey at 14 six years ago, are going to really struggle to break into a top Championship side six years later.

A cohort of Harvey Gilmour, Regan Slater, Tyler Smith, Callum Semple, Sam Graham, Jake Eastwood. Local lads (I believe). My guys. Carrier Bag Firm Heroes. Times were different when they were sucked in to the Academy. Now, at an advanced stage of their development. It's a top Championship side they're looking/needing to break into. And, that ain’t easy. Were they the best we could recruit at the time? Hell knows. Let’s go Yes. Have Cox, Geary, Binnion & the boys done the best possible job in developing them through the ages. Hell knows. Let’s go Yes. Are they the best players currently in the Academy? Oh, hang on, I know this one. Yes. But, are they good enough for top of the Championship. It’s NO. Or at least NO, not yet. Gilmour has already moved on. Slater, Smith, Semple & Graham have been/are being loaned out a little down the pyramid.

Our Academy will remain attractive to kids & their parents. Because, we can show them the pictures - Walker, Maguire, Calvert-Lewin, Brooks. And, because we can now say - come & join a top Championship Academy. The reputation is there & could grow with the First Team status. But, in a way, we’ve grown past our own current Academy intakes & cohorts. Not their fault. Not your fault. The unfortunate consequence of the rapid rise of the first team. Maybe we’re near a crossroads. We’ve just had an FA Cup game, with no Academy Lads involved. (I’m not saying they should have been, I’m saying they weren’t). The most senior Academy lads have either just come back from, or are still on loans. But, decisions about their futures are not far off.

Here’s what we should do going forward in any circumstances.

Maintain, or indeed improve, the quality of leadership, management, recruiting network, coaching staff. Get the best lads in & make sure we develop them to their full potential.  To a fan like me, the quality of leadership, management & coaching are a bit hidden. Sure, if we have a Maguire, DCL or Brooks, we’re bound to think - ooohhh they’ve done well to get, retain & develop him. It’s a results driven business - they’re results.  Recruitment is of course a bit more transparent. You can read about the new kids in the papers, on the Club Site, etc. And, you can see them in their Red n White Shirts. Looking at the profile of the Academy lads at the moment, I think you could happily conclude that we have a number of fingers & a number of pies.

Singling out individuals only as examples, we have…..

Local Lads. The gones - Harry Maguire, DCL. The Current Big ‘Uns - Slater, Graham, Semple, Smith. But, still the new ‘uns come - Harrison Neal, Reon Potts, Tom Weaver, Frank Maguire.

Lads from High Profile PL Academies. David Brooks would be the best example of that (Manchester City). But, he’s the tip of the iceberg - George Broadbent & Jean Belehouan (Manchester United), Harry Boyes (Manchester City), Sammy Ompreon (Chelsea), Reece York (Fulham), Rhys Norrington-Davies (Swansea).  Zak Brunt, of course, was a somewhat controversial signing. If you believe Google, the lad had already been across Aston Villa, Manchester City, Atletico Madrid, Derby & Matlock Town before we signed him.

Lads from non-league junior clubs. The successes & gones - Che Adams (Ilkeston Town). The nows - Jake Young (Guiseley), Harry Sheppeard (Tadcaster Albion)

Lads from Ireland/N. Ireland. Stephen Mallon, Jordan Doherty, Leo Gaxha, Shea Gordon (in his time).

Lads from overseas. Simeon Oure, Jordan Amissah, Nickseon Gomis.

Lads who played in midfield until they were fourteen, who were at Hull City’s Academy & who are now the England U18 GOALKEEPER. And, incidentally, is the best swearer at the club. Alright. Maybe that’s an unusual example - but step forward anyway, Marcus Dewhurst.

What we don’t have - is Lads we have paid a decent whack for.

The question I want to pose in this Blog is - how many people would lose their shit if we paid some serious money for a young prospect who will have no realistic chance of a first team spot for 4 years, maybe more? We’re Sheffield United. We’re always arguing about money. Because there’s not enough. At the turn of the year, there were rumours that Leeds United were about to pay £400k for a 16 year old kid called Stuart McKinstry at Motherwell. That’s Leeds, a Cat 2 Academy (like us) and a top Championship side (like us). As it happens, the latest rumours are that Premier League Southampton may hijack that deal.

I just could not see Utd shelling out that sort of money on that sort of gamble. Shit would be lost. Give the money to The Wilder Cult - he’s an infallible genius (note, he ain’t). I’m not saying we can/should make that sort of money available for transfers into the Academy. But, I am saying from a simple logical position. If we have the right networks to get local, other Academy drop out, non-league, Irish, Foreign & Marcus Dewhurst into the Academy - essentially on FREEs.  Then a next step may be PAYING transfer fees.

WWBD. What Would Binnion Do? If he had more of a Budget. Improve facilities at the Academy? Employ more scouts & recruiters? Employ more coaches? Have a bigger intake of “free” kids? Pay that good money for key prospects?

Hiding behind that argument & question is whether we should put a lot more money into the Academy Budget to move to Cat 1 Status. Obvs, with the Big Prinz & McCabe locked in battle, not a good time to be considering questions with Pounds Notes involved. But, you know, crossroads. As a top Championship, daring to dream club should we apply for Cat 1 Status. You can ask me all you want about what that entails. I’m not a details Guy. Not when the answer is MONEY. Mainly to pay for more STAFF (Coaches & the like).

Brewery 74

We zipped over to Huddersfield last week to visit Magic Rock Brewing. They’ve still got that set up as a lovely place to attract a range of different drinkers. We went over because there was a Magic Rock/Cloudwater Collab launch & a mini Cloudwater Tap Takeover. But, there were still five on cask (3 Magics, 2 Clouds), including the lovely Terriers football themed Session Bitter, Hat-Trick, Town Pale Ale at 3.7%. But, unashamedly, we’d gone for the kegs. Of which there were an impressive ten.

The first launch beer was,
Magic Rock/Cloudwater, Big Dipper 2019 at 8.3%. A great, Old Skool, straight down the line DIPA. An ever rarer breed these days. Essentially brown & clear beer. No modern gloopiness. A hit of sugar, then the bitterness grows & grows. I'm a Hop Head. So, natch, it just didn't quite go far enough for me. But, it did get a bit of a second wind as some bitter orange marmalade came in.

But, I actually preferred,
Magic Rock/Cloudwater/J W Lees, Three’s Company at 8.2%. A collaboration IPA using some JW Lees yeast. This one was opaque, bordering on orange juice in the glass. But, intriguingly, the mouthfeel was quite thin. But, that very much suited & added to the beer. The hop hints were citrus, grapefruit. But, they didn't overpower as the bitterness grew & grew. Superb.

766/1609