Retained List is out - official site

[stokelad84]

But what if Diao helps us bring in a Drogba or Essien??

[spiderpuss]

After all these years of having an academy it still fails to underwhelm me how absolutely useless it is. What were we doing when Griffin, Clarke and O'Connor all came through the ranks? I suggest we go back to that way of working as this current mode of operation has produced Wilko and to a lesser extent Dicko and that really isn't good enough.

[y2j]

Let's all not stress 2 much about Diao? He'll be kept to nuture future foreign talent across the shores, and maybe even help with some coaching? Touch wood, he'll be a backup player for the team if and when required.

[PoisonedDonkey]

Diao's staying, Wedderburn's leaving.

Wrong way round really.

[bayernoatcake]

An academy player has been offered a deal! It was Louis Moult and it was done a few months agon.

And I'd rather see Dioa playing then Wedderburn because Wedderburn isn't at the same level and I don't think he ever will be. He's too big and immobile for my liking.

[ParaPsych]

not seen nat play. if he's more immobile than salif he must be a cripple

[bayernoatcake]

;D In an ideal world Salif would be nowhere near playing for us but we all know TP loves him. And out of the 2 I'd pick Salif now. I can't see why we haven't given Wedderburn a contract though just to see if he does improve, as lots of people do seem to rate him. He does nothing for me though.

[Claus_SCFC]

The idea of keeping Salif in a coaching role is brilliant. No doubt he has a big influence on the dressing room.
But why do we release the first Stoke player in ages to play for England U19 ? Beats me !

[RAF]

I don't think Pulis gives a fucking toss about the academy to be honest.
Let's face it, if he had had his way it would have been shut down ages ago.
He's not really interested in youth.
He's interested in seasoned work horses who give 100% and don't upset the dressing room.

H

[bayernoatcake]

As academy players go though Wedderburn is as close to a Pulis player as You will get.

black-check
6ft+-check
Built like a brick shit house-check
Can play in a mdifield cage-check
Not particularly great on the ball-check

[ParaPsych]

i think he really just goes for the option of least risk. he is very risk averse.

youth = risk.
players with experience at this level = low risk.
foreigners = risk

it seems to work. but at cost

[Matthews dad]

I imagine most Muppet's on here who want to keep Wedderburn also wanted to keep Jimmy "10 games for Burton" Phillips ???,most lads who come from the academy won't make it ,get over it.

[bayernoatcake]

We should of kept Adam Vass and Patto, those 2 are the only 2 in past years that we've cocked up on imo.

[MarkWolstanton]

May 18, 2010 18:27:33 GMT spiderpuss said:

After all these years of having an academy it still fails to underwhelm me how absolutely useless it is. What were we doing when Griffin, Clarke and O'Connor all came through the ranks? I suggest we go back to that way of working as this current mode of operation has produced Wilko and to a lesser extent Dicko and that really isn't good enough.

If we had been running an academy for all these years I'm pretty sure things would be a bit different. Unfortunately the state the club was in financially for the vast majority of those years meant we were in effect playing at running an academy.

The miracle is the number of players who came from the completely underfunded set up who are making a living out of playing football.

In terms of an academy likely to produce a regular supply of players for the first team squad the clock can only fairly start to tick from this summer when the new facilities come on line and something like investment levels begin to kick in.

How long will we have to wait to judge? Chelsea have spent multi-millions since the USSR took over in completely revamping their set up. They wonthe Youth Cup a couple of weeks ago and now after seven years of an investment we will never match.

We can however compete with the WBA's the Wolves and the Blackburns of this world. I would say we should expect to wait five to ten years before we really see regular results. Anything that comes through before is an element of good fortune and hard work by the staff who have been there for years working on a shoestring.

Lets not forget the current youth team players who have come through the schoolboy system were joining a First Division club when they were recruited. Thats one reason why so many have been cleared out between 14 and 16 and our biggest youth team squad ever next season of twenty two players will feature only eight lads actually brought through our Academy. The rest are being purchased or recruited from the big club's released players.

[jacka118]

Interesting we've let Nat go :/