I suppose there are two different elements to it. Recruitment and development and

It’s clear that in terms of recruitment at youth level we were doing pretty well. It will probably be four or five years before we can really judge whether the current recruitment at academy level has been as successful.

Who knows in terms of development. Clearly having a coach prepared to play young players has helped albeit in some cases it was probably a no brained to give them a go.

I’m not convinced our academy was as much of a shambles as is being made out (although I’ve heard conflicting reports on Ricky Martin) but then again it’s not unusual for someone coming into a role and wanting to make their mark to perhaps overegg how bad things were before they came!

Posted By: Jim, Jan 5, 15:03:01