Why do we have an academy ?

[Paddy]

When we rarely use it. What is the purpose...Beats me. Top players cost to much or we are held to ransom. I am a gardener and grow my own, why cannot we ?...

[Stephen Paul]

Foden , Doyle

under 18s Regional Champions

[Kilkenny Blue]

The academy is a big money earner.  Whilst a lot of the players mightn't make the grade for the senior team they get snapped up by other clubs.

[gavin]

It earns us cash and throws up the odd player for the first team. It is not easy to continually produce world class players. Very few academies do produce large numbers for the first team of their club regularly. There has been the odd occasion where years have produced half a team and we've seen this at City with Redmond, Lake, Hinchcliffe, Brightwell, White, Moulden. The last FA Youth Cup winning side in 2008 also produced a long list of players who have played at the top levels of the game but City obviously had higher standards at that stage than in the mid eighties.

[Stephen Paul]

Had a chat with Jim Cassell a few years back and he told me when he was running the academy at Maine Road he work out of a tin shed with no toilets

he was responsible for scouting SWP who made City a fortune