What Price the Youth Academy?
You may wonder what all the fuss has been about this
week. Everton have been on the back pages again – all for the
wrong reasons....
The fact is, Everton fans care about the team, they care about the future of the club, they care about the Kings Dock – to move or not to move? What wrangles the fans who have been on the phone to me, is the business about Walter Smith wanting to disband the reserve team, and what they have been reading and listening to on local radio.
The fact is this – the Academy has been one of the largest earners for the club over the past couple of years through the sale of players that have cost us nothing other than their wages, but who have then been sold on as they have risen through the ranks.
Players such as:
| Regan | £25,000 |
| Branch | £1,000,000 |
| Grant | £450,000 |
| McCann | £500,000 |
| Dunne | £3,200,000 |
| Allen | £250,000 |
| O'Connor | £350,000 |
| Unsworth | £2,000,000 |
| Ebbrell | £1,000,000 |
| Barlow | £ 350,000 |
So, since 1994, the Academy has increased the Club's coffers to the tune of approx £9,000,000. You would have to sell a lot of teas, pies and pizza through ground sales to match that figure.
Other players who have come through the Academy set-up are Ball, Jeffers, Cadamarteri, Jevons, Milligan, McLeod, and Clarke. How much are these chaps worth? £10 to 15 million?
There are also a few good prospects currently playing in the Under-17 and Under-19 sides; with the value of players ever on the increase, what price their talent?
While other Premier League or even First Division clubs are building state-of-the-art football academies, it hasn't gone unnoticed that Everton's is somewhat dilapidated, to say the least... and yet, our Academy still seems to develop and produce quality young players in numbers – right up to current captains of England youth teams! Indeed, from looking at the players names listed above, how many of those have used our reserve side as a stepping stone to develop their careers both with Everton and other league clubs?
There seem to have been many quotes and misunderstandings bandied about in both local and national press recently. I am sure that the Club would never have seriously considered disbanding its reserve side as a viable option.
Steve Milne
ToffeeWeb Reserves/Youth Reporter
Last updated: 28 May 2006
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