When Mark Hughes took over at City, a Blackburn supporting friend of mine warned me that his appointment was the end of our productive academy. Feeling a tad arrogant, I pointed to the wealth of talent City had produced in recent years and thought that maybe it was probably the fault of Blackburn's academy rather than that of Mark Hughes.
I have set out a comparison between the number of youth players that Hughes and Mancini have given first team debuts.
MARK HUGHES - in 18 months: one (Vladimir Weiss).
ROBERTO MANCINI - in 3.5 months: four (Dedyrck Boyata, Greg Cunningham, Abdisalam Ibrahim, Alex Nimely).
To use a bit of warped logic - Mancini is giving opportunities to youth players at a rate which would see him introduce nearly 24 in the time Hughes produced one.
It is also interesting to note that the players Mancini has given debuts to were not even featuring around the squad before his appointment.
I hope every fan is heartened by Mancini's willingness to put faith in the youth system. For me, it is far more satisfying to see a player succeed who City have nurtured and developed themselves, rather than one who we have bought fully established already. There is that feeling that the academy graduates (Sturridge as the exception) care more for the club that has produced them - and they are playing for their future, with the thirst and drive that is sometimes missing when you sign a player who has succeeded already (Mcmanaman for example).
Mancini was known for bringing in youth talent at Inter - including a debut for the precociously talented Mario Balotelli at 17 - and when the stakes are high, it takes bravery to select an untested youth player in the team. Not only does Mancini have the belief in the old adage that "if you're good enough, you're old enough", but he also has belief in himself too. With the weight of pressure coming from having owners who didn't appoint you, perhaps this is precisely what Hughes didn't have.
good article. agree fully! Think we are in very good hands!
ReplyDeleteagree with everything you have said,you only have too look at the reusults of the academy since hughs brought his staff in ,out of the youth cup against preston 2nd round,i said this was happening on the sky sport forum last year ,
ReplyDeleteThe youth team did suffer under Hughes. The withdrawal from the Totesport League deprived them of playing very competitive football bearing in mind that 2 years ago they actually won that competition using mainly under-18 players when you may for instance play against Morecambe or Carlisle who field 7 or 8 first team players. Glad to see it's back on track
ReplyDeleteThis is great to hear when you have a son at the U7 academy at Man City
ReplyDeleteAndy - your son's living the dream! I hope to see him in some ten years time in the blue shirt.
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