Sky Sports magazine - youth products playing in the Premier League and Football League

Scoham

Came across this in the free Sky Sports magazine I got in the post. We're 15th out of the 92 clubs.

Figures taken from June 2010, not sure if it includes current young pros who won't necessarily make it. Doesn't say exactly what the criteria is to be considered a product of a certain club either (eg are Danny Haynes and George Boyd Charlton products?)

It mentions a few players from some of the clubs, Defoe counts as one of ours.

Man Utd		63
Arsenal		52
Spurs		50
Man City	46
Middlesbrough	43
Leeds		41
Everton		39
Liverpool	38
Chelsea		37
West Ham	36
C.Palace	36
Newcastle	35
Aston Villa	35
Ipswich		35
[b]Charlton	34[/b]
Watford		33
Blackburn	33
Coventry	32
Crewe		31
Wolves		30
Derby		29
N.Forest	29
Leicester	28
Sunderland	28
Norwich		27
Oldham		26
Southampton	26
Tranmere	26
Bristol City	26
Stockport	25
Birmingham	24
Reading		23
Walsall		23
QPR		22
Fulham		22
Portsmouth	21
Barnsley	21
Stoke		20
Bradford	20
Preston		19
Sheff.Utd	19
Huddersfield	19
Plymouth	18
Cardiff		18
Peterborough	17
Millwall	17
Bristol R	16
Carlisle	16
Brighton	15
L.Orient	15
Bury		15
Port Vale	15
Scunthorpe	15
Sheff Wed	14
Gillingham	14
Swindon		14
Darlington	14
Hartlepool	14
MK Dons		13
WBA		13
Bolton		13
Rochdale	13
Rotherham	12
Hull		12
Colchester	12
Cheltenham	12
Grimsby		12
Macclesfield	12
Brentford	11
Burnley		11
Lincoln		10
Shrewsbury	10
Dag & Red	9
Northampton	9
Notts Co	9
Wigan		9
Blackpool	9
Exeter		9
Southend	8
Bournemouth	8
Barnet		7
Swansea		7
Morecambe	7
Torquay		7
Chesterfield	7
Doncaster	6
Yeovil		6
Accrington	5
Wycombe		4
Burton		4
Aldershot	3
Hereford	3

Swisdom

This makes me happy and is something we should be proud of. Immensely proud.

Better than Crewe!

Double Millwall and only a couple behind the best academy in the country according to Simon Jordan

Chris_from_Sidcup

Wish we knew the criteria for this as i'd love to know who the 37 players are that have come through Chelsea's youth set up. They buy pretty much all their players apart from John Terry.
Surprised at clubs like West brom and Bolton only having 13.

soapy_jones

Er......I think you'll find that Tango man was miss quoted, "best academy in South Norwood" was his exact turn of phrase and who are we mere mortals to disagree with the perma tanned gobshite.

Scoham

Interesting it says in Europe players often make their first team debuts at 21 or 22, when they're physically mature. Over here the average age is 18 and 4 months, and they are often judged critically.

Does sound a bit familiar...

I suppose in Europe, leagues like Spain have reserve sides in the lower divisions, which perhaps helps, and the physical side is less important than over here.

Oggy Red

One other thing to remember, is not only do the top Prem clubs have bigger youth set ups, they tend to get first pick of the best kids.

So naturally they should have a high ranking, as many of their released players would have found clubs lower down the Prem or Football League, unlike say League 2 clubs releasing kids who drop into non-league or out of the game altogether.


While to be ranked 15th out of 92 is very good, we also enjoyed a decent spell as a Prem club, like Boro - which also puts Palace, Ipswich and Watford in good light.

But special mention to what Dario Gradi achieved at Crewe with tiny resources. Fantastic achievement!
And producing players like Dean Ashton, Danny Murphy - and Kenny Lunt (I just like the sound of his name!).