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If you are feeling jaded supporting Charlton, try reading this

castrustcastrust
in General Charlton
Last week CAST hosted Steve Avory, Jason Pearce, Daniel Kanu and Zach Mitchell in a webinar Q&A about the club's highly successful Academy. It was a really refreshing evening which helped overcome some of the dismay and cynicism most of us are feeling at the moment. 

Steve was rightly very proud of the Academy and dismissive of the Brentford model. Jason is clearly loving his new role, despite the long hours required. Daniel and Zach were impressively articulate and they both displayed natural confidence allied with charming humility. The sight of Jason chuckling when Daniel described coming up against him and Ryan Inniss in training for the first time ("it was a horrid time") was one of the many highlights of the evening. 

The full report of the meeting:

https://www.castrust.org/2023/02/steve-avory-football-clubs-should-be-serving-their-communities-with-a-youth-development-programme/


Comments

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    SidewaysInOzSidewaysInOz
    TEL said:
    What a lovely interview by all involved. Goes to show it's not all doom and gloom and we shouldn't get caught up in false rumours(Academy cuts). Having met Steve a few times, it goes to reinforce the professional nature of the man, we are fortunate we still have him. 
    Well said @TEL.  :)
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    The Red RobinThe Red Robin
    Great read
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    JamesSeedJamesSeed
    Excellent 👏
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    charltonkestoncharltonkeston
    A good read but I'm not that optimistic about the future. I've been a Valley Gold member since it started and was pleased when the funds went towards the future player development but I now worry how that future looks, it was a lot brighter a few years back. We do not have  Cat1 status and it don't look likely so anytime soon for whatever reasons. Palace  have a good setup. Probably Millwall do and they will improve if and when they get their new training facilities. Throw into the mix the other huge clubs we have in London with Cat 1 academies and we will have a problem attracting the talent to our club, despite what what we want to believe Charlton is not the first  club of choice for most, when you don't make it at a premier club you have some where to fall/fail from and to. I But when you fail at a division 3 side, clubs higher up are not generally taking you on. We are in a pretty large population area that should be to our advantage but competing with clubs further up the leagues will eventually be our distinct disadvantage if it is not already. The prospect of first team football at Charlton if you are good enough  is not quite the same as being at a Cat 1 academy with the same dream.I thought the Brentford question and answer was a little missing a big point. Brentford are where they are to a large extent off the back of others and are probably only starting up another academy because all premier clubs have to have Cat 1 academies in a few years.  Its great to see the likes of Lookman doing so well but he is now our history, we need to have this years Lookman to sell on, if thats the total ambition of the club, I hope not but we are in no position to hold onto promising youngsters when bigger clubs come for them. Also the price we can expect for our youth products is reflected to a large extent to our league position. Our fall from the premier league continues to take us down the plug hole.

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    AddicksAddictAddicksAddict
    charltonkeston said:
    A good read but I'm not that optimistic about the future. I've been a Valley Gold member since it started and was pleased when the funds went towards the future player development but I now worry how that future looks, it was a lot brighter a few years back. We do not have  Cat1 status and it don't look likely so anytime soon for whatever reasons. Palace  have a good setup. Probably Millwall do and they will improve if and when they get their new training facilities. Throw into the mix the other huge clubs we have in London with Cat 1 academies and we will have a problem attracting the talent to our club, despite what what we want to believe Charlton is not the first  club of choice for most, when you don't make it at a premier club you have some where to fall/fail from and to. I But when you fail at a division 3 side, clubs higher up are not generally taking you on. We are in a pretty large population area that should be to our advantage but competing with clubs further up the leagues will eventually be our distinct disadvantage if it is not already. The prospect of first team football at Charlton if you are good enough  is not quite the same as being at a Cat 1 academy with the same dream.I thought the Brentford question and answer was a little missing a big point. Brentford are where they are to a large extent off the back of others and are probably only starting up another academy because all premier clubs have to have Cat 1 academies in a few years.  Its great to see the likes of Lookman doing so well but he is now our history, we need to have this years Lookman to sell on, if thats the total ambition of the club, I hope not but we are in no position to hold onto promising youngsters when bigger clubs come for them. Also the price we can expect for our youth products is reflected to a large extent to our league position. Our fall from the premier league continues to take us down the plug hole.


    Sound reasoning but it's too depressing to 'Like'.
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    charltonkestoncharltonkeston
    AddicksAddict said:
    charltonkeston said:
    A good read but I'm not that optimistic about the future. I've been a Valley Gold member since it started and was pleased when the funds went towards the future player development but I now worry how that future looks, it was a lot brighter a few years back. We do not have  Cat1 status and it don't look likely so anytime soon for whatever reasons. Palace  have a good setup. Probably Millwall do and they will improve if and when they get their new training facilities. Throw into the mix the other huge clubs we have in London with Cat 1 academies and we will have a problem attracting the talent to our club, despite what what we want to believe Charlton is not the first  club of choice for most, when you don't make it at a premier club you have some where to fall/fail from and to. I But when you fail at a division 3 side, clubs higher up are not generally taking you on. We are in a pretty large population area that should be to our advantage but competing with clubs further up the leagues will eventually be our distinct disadvantage if it is not already. The prospect of first team football at Charlton if you are good enough  is not quite the same as being at a Cat 1 academy with the same dream.I thought the Brentford question and answer was a little missing a big point. Brentford are where they are to a large extent off the back of others and are probably only starting up another academy because all premier clubs have to have Cat 1 academies in a few years.  Its great to see the likes of Lookman doing so well but he is now our history, we need to have this years Lookman to sell on, if thats the total ambition of the club, I hope not but we are in no position to hold onto promising youngsters when bigger clubs come for them. Also the price we can expect for our youth products is reflected to a large extent to our league position. Our fall from the premier league continues to take us down the plug hole.


    Sound reasoning but it's too depressing to 'Like'.
    I'll always except a lol
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