See the bit in red below.

Kai Hutchison, 15 years old, not even signed his first professional contract, paper talk that Wolves are in for him. Boy hasn't done his exams yet and his head is likely being turned, It doesn't add any value to the debate that the academy is bearing any real fruit.

You'd hope his parents would be advising him to stay put, learn his trade, but even the chance to go down there, at his young age, will likely bring riches and rewards that he'd get nowhere near even as a regular first teamer at us,

David_Blunkett wrote:

Yeah, was just in regard to the local lad did good kinda thing some folk seem to romanticise.

By the time a kid is good enough to play for our first team, they're already on the radar of bigger clubs, even Lewis Neilson, who was nowhere near ready to be a starter, his career has floundered, was spotted and picked up.

There has to be more to it that just cost.

Rules, regulations, grants, memberships, benefits etc all must play some sort of part as on the face of it, it certainly doesn't seem cost effective.

 

Last edited by David_Blunkett (16/1/2026 1:04 pm)

Its about time the laws surrounding this issue were looked at, smaller teams deserve a bit of protection. Maybe making larger fees compulsory just to ward off potential poachers?

Tek wrote:

David_Blunkett wrote:

See the bit in red below.

Kai Hutchison, 15 years old, not even signed his first professional contract, paper talk that Wolves are in for him. Boy hasn't done his exams yet and his head is likely being turned, It doesn't add any value to the debate that the academy is bearing any real fruit.


 

Going down to Wolves for a weeks trial.

Doubt we'll ever see him in a United shirt.
 

It’s like a revolving door with this nonsense.

Players are either down south without playing for the first team or spend their time at United out on loan to lower league sides.

Waste of money.

I see Chris Mochrie is keeping Stirton out of the Airdrie team as a No.9  😀

Arab99 wrote:

’ if you're expecting an academy to churn out loads of first team standard players you’re wide of the mark. 

 

Surely, that is exactly what it's whole purpose is?
 

LS Arab wrote:

We have made some decent money out of the academy. The rumours for what we got for Forbes and Kerr

It still allows us to find a gem we could not afford in transfer fees

Also I like seeing local lads in first team like SCH and Ross G

It is an important part of our identity and being part of local area too to be looking to bring on young talent

We can often pick up ok fees too. It comes close to paying for itself before considering the players we have we couldn’t buy elsewhere

 
I've posted this before, but I would love to see a P&L for the Academy.
I suspect at this time it's a loss maker.

Add to that the fact that funding from the Old Firm SFA is being cut in order to fund a new joint stadium for the Old Firm Ladies teams. Plus the rationale that we don't produce enough first team players.
That's what I read anyway, not certain if it's all true but it sounds highly likely doesn't it.

Despite the above comments I support the Academy but if I got my hands on it there would be a clearout and a new *direction.
As there would be with our medical team, our ground care team and most importantly our coaching team.

Now, where's that lottery ticket?

*we would stop producing 5 a side players and start producing athletes that are big, strong, and can play football.

Last edited by redford_must_score (16/4/2026 1:32 am)

I'm quite into my youth football and take genuine joy in seeing Scottish youngsters doing well, but most managers are on the chopping block if they have a bad few weeks in this league. Few here who aren't too partial to Mr Goodwin. But if you are Goodwin, and you're feeling some pressure due to a bad run of form, you're not going to put his faith in youth, as it may cost him his job. This league is somewhat anti-youth because of this, either the youngster can play soundly at the top level, or it's simply too dangerous to give him a true run in the team, i.e. SCH, who's sat on the bench for the majority of the season despite a shaky back line persisting throughout the campaign. It may be the SFA who have to step in and change the ruling of when players can leave, like many other countries, but off the top of my head, I'm sure Brazilian youngsters can't join a European club until 18, even if signed at 15/16.

Many English clubs have changed their youth model to pick mainly British talent (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/articles/ckgezx8ekmvo). The move reflected Tottenham's new direction of focusing on young British talent. And this new focus, pushed into reality by Brexit, will mean fewer youngsters for us, and fewer youngsters who will put on the jersey and become someone we can be proud of. 

I also hate to say, but our ugly neighbours in recent seasons have taken the mantle from us and are producing good Scottish talent for the first team, one of them even being a Utd fan. 

But overall, I'm a big on Academy football, but I can't say I see a true pathway from 13/14/15 to first-team regulars. 

Tek wrote:

We're going to have to hope our Academy starts producing good players U21 soon.

FIFA's new proposals will see every senior side having to have a homegrown player of 21 or under on the pitch at all times. 

So for instance if you sub off your young player, he needs replaced with another U21 player, if he then subsequently gets injured then again he'll need replaced by another youngster.

This could have a seismic affect on substitute benches. So, we better be ready.

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/scottish-football-clubs-on-alert-as-radical-new-fifa-proposal-could-have-seismic-impact-8197888

 
Why the fuck can they not just leave football alone? I get why they are doing it but for clubs like ours who's best young talent gets poached so early it will only weaken teams even more. Fifa is corrupt as fuck and football would be better off without it

Tek wrote:

We're going to have to hope our Academy starts producing good players U21 soon.

FIFA's new proposals will see every senior side having to have a homegrown player of 21 or under on the pitch at all times. 

So for instance if you sub off your young player, he needs replaced with another U21 player, if he then subsequently gets injured then again he'll need replaced by another youngster.

This could have a seismic affect on substitute benches. So, we better be ready.

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/scottish-football-clubs-on-alert-as-radical-new-fifa-proposal-could-have-seismic-impact-8197888

Good spot Tek
Good call if they do it - I like the idea.
Cagliari must have a lot of good U-21's coming thro.

Tek wrote:

Arabdownsouth wrote:

Tek wrote:

We're going to have to hope our Academy starts producing good players U21 soon.

FIFA's new proposals will see every senior side having to have a homegrown player of 21 or under on the pitch at all times. 

So for instance if you sub off your young player, he needs replaced with another U21 player, if he then subsequently gets injured then again he'll need replaced by another youngster.

This could have a seismic affect on substitute benches. So, we better be ready.

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/scottish-football-clubs-on-alert-as-radical-new-fifa-proposal-could-have-seismic-impact-8197888

 
Why the fuck can they not just leave football alone? I get why they are doing it but for clubs like ours who's best young talent gets poached so early it will only weaken teams even more. Fifa is corrupt as fuck and football would be better off without it

I like the idea.

If we can't play even one Academy player over the course of a match out of eleven then that truly answers the initial question i posed at the start of this thread. 'The Academy - Is It Worth The Money?'

I currently don't think it is at 600k a year, but this ruling (if it gets voted through), means it better start being worth it.

Otherwise, our only other course of action is to start signing far more young (U21) Scottish players from other clubs. Something we haven't done for a good few years.

And if this option becomes our loophole or solution to stay truly competitive rather than just play our own then that will truly be the end of the Academy. 

Bottom line is the Academy will have to start producing or die.

My preference is that it succeeds and starts producing a conveyer belt, but if the other option benefits United more in the short term then it's the time for a long overdue serious discussion over it's (the Academy's) usefullness and of the annual expenditure spent on it. And whether this would be better spent on recruitment of other players.
 

 
Its the having no option but to replace with another young player bit I really don't like. Say you play a 20 year old CB, you're gonna need a like for like replacement on the bench in case he gets injured.  The alternative being you'll need to make a bunch of subs at the same time just to make sure you can bring on a CB. What happens if you dont have the option to do that as youve already made or been forced to make all your subs. Its going to be a logistical nightmare for managers and an absolute hindrance to teams like ours. Its definitely not going to make things better I'll put my house on it.