Long list of academy graduates

Chris H

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Came across this in the Guardian, thought you might find it interesting. It's a list of all the United Academy products still playing professional football, wherever that might be.

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/extratime/2008/03/football-manche.html

From Kalam Mooniaruck at Cambridge City to David Beckham at LA Galaxy, they are at widely varying levels of play. Looks like he came up with about 50, and then readers have written in with a few more.
 
Spector was not an academt product merely a player you purchased from another team

Beckham wasn't solely a Manchester United Academy product, he was just poached and "finished" at Manchester United

Kieron Richardson is from the West Ham academy

Keith Gillespie was signed from St Andrews FC

Robbie Savage was released from the Manchester United academy as "not good enough" and joined crewe

Djordic was bought from IF Brommapojkarna

Ben Collett was released from Man Utd again noit being good enough

Michael Stewart was poached from Rangers

Jonathan Greening was bought from York and had already made his league debut

I can't be asked doing the rest but as you can see most of them are not Academy products they merely joint Manchester United at a young age
 
cockneyHammer said:
Spector was not an academt product merely a player you purchased from another team

Beckham wasn't solely a Manchester United Academy product, he was just poached and "finished" at Manchester United

Kieron Richardson is from the West Ham academy

Keith Gillespie was signed from St Andrews FC

Robbie Savage was released from the Manchester United academy as "not good enough" and joined crewe

Djordic was bought from IF Brommapojkarna

Ben Collett was released from Man Utd again noit being good enough

Michael Stewart was poached from Rangers

Jonathan Greening was bought from York and had already made his league debut

I can't be asked doing the rest but as you can see most of them are not Academy products they merely joint Manchester United at a young age
Click to expand...

Becham was with us from a very young age. He didn´t sign with any other club.
Beck then there wasn´t any academies, but you can understand their point.
 
cockneyHammer said:
Spector was not an academt product merely a player you purchased from another team

Beckham wasn't solely a Manchester United Academy product, he was just poached and "finished" at Manchester United

Kieron Richardson is from the West Ham academy

Keith Gillespie was signed from St Andrews FC

Robbie Savage was released from the Manchester United academy as "not good enough" and joined crewe

Djordic was bought from IF Brommapojkarna

Ben Collett was released from Man Utd again noit being good enough

Michael Stewart was poached from Rangers

Jonathan Greening was bought from York and had already made his league debut

I can't be asked doing the rest but as you can see most of them are not Academy products they merely joint Manchester United at a young age
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You really are a nonce. What club did United poach Beckham from?
 
charleysurf said:
You really are a nonce. What club did United poach Beckham from?
Click to expand...

David Robert Joseph Beckham was born in Leytonstone, East London on 2 May 1975.

His parents Sandra and Ted were keen football fans and ardent Manchester United supporters, so it was no surprise when David quickly became hooked on both the game and the club.

David's footballing ability was soon clear for all to see. By the age of eight, he had scored more than 100 goals for his childhood team, Ridgeway Rovers.

Three years later, he made his Old Trafford debut - as a mascot for Manchester United in a league game against West Ham!

At the age of 12, David attended the Bobby Charlton Soccer School, where he won an award. Part of the prize was the opportunity to train with Barcelona, who would attempt to sign him 15 years later.

It was not long before a number of English league clubs started taking notice of David. He had trials with his local side, Leyton Orient, and attended Tottenham Hotspur's school of excellence.

And here's the link nonce;

http://www.thedavidbeckhamacademy.co.uk/uk/davidbeckham/childhood.cfm
 
oskarutd said:
Becham was with us from a very young age. He didn´t sign with any other club.
Beck then there wasn´t any academies, but you can understand their point.
Click to expand...

What do you mean there wasn't any academies back then? West Ham was churning out players from the academy well before the 60's
 
cockneyHammer said:
David Robert Joseph Beckham was born in Leytonstone, East London on 2 May 1975.

His parents Sandra and Ted were keen football fans and ardent Manchester United supporters, so it was no surprise when David quickly became hooked on both the game and the club.

David's footballing ability was soon clear for all to see. By the age of eight, he had scored more than 100 goals for his childhood team, Ridgeway Rovers.

Three years later, he made his Old Trafford debut - as a mascot for Manchester United in a league game against West Ham!

At the age of 12, David attended the Bobby Charlton Soccer School, where he won an award. Part of the prize was the opportunity to train with Barcelona, who would attempt to sign him 15 years later.

It was not long before a number of English league clubs started taking notice of David. He had trials with his local side, Leyton Orient, and attended Tottenham Hotspur's school of excellence.

And here's the link nonce;

http://www.thedavidbeckhamacademy.co.uk/uk/davidbeckham/childhood.cfm
Click to expand...

If the criteria is not playing for anyone before United than noone is an United Academy product!
He attended Spurs training in an United shirt!
So, from 11 he is connected to United.
From which team was he poached????
 
cockneyHammer said:
Spector was not an academt product merely a player you purchased from another team

Beckham wasn't solely a Manchester United Academy product, he was just poached and "finished" at Manchester United

Kieron Richardson is from the West Ham academy

Keith Gillespie was signed from St Andrews FC

Robbie Savage was released from the Manchester United academy as "not good enough" and joined crewe

Djordic was bought from IF Brommapojkarna

Ben Collett was released from Man Utd again noit being good enough

Michael Stewart was poached from Rangers

Jonathan Greening was bought from York and had already made his league debut

I can't be asked doing the rest but as you can see most of them are not Academy products they merely joint Manchester United at a young age
Click to expand...

What difference does it make if people are let go for not being good enough? Surely this is true for most academy players.

It doesn't really make a lot of difference if players are brought in from other teams at a really early age either.

The above all played for the academy teams, which is as good a definition as any.
 
oskarutd said:
If the criteria is not playing for anyone before United than noone is an United Academy product!
He attended Spurs training in an United shirt!
So, from 11 he is connected to United.
From which team was he poached????
Click to expand...

Quite obviously Spurs as he was offered a youth contract with them, the team who had been training him yet Manchester United came in and poached him

Thats the point I was trying to put across Man Utd has no or very little fully home gown players, they concentrate all their efforts on signing young talent from other teams rather than promoting it from the grass root level and developing their own youngsters.
 
That's rubbish cockney. Like all sensible clubs, United have recognised that they need to bring in top young talents from abroad at an early age, and that failing to do so would be a massive opportunity missed. That's not to the detriment of developing the local talent though. The club has an excellent record of ensuring that the young players that come through the academy have good careers - if not at United then somewhere else often at a good level.

The likes of Shawcross, Blake, Jones, etc. are recent examples.
 
cockneyHammer said:
Quite obviously Spurs as he was offered a youth contract with them, the team who had been training him yet Manchester United came in and poached him

Thats the point I was trying to put across Man Utd has no or very little fully home gown players, they concentrate all their efforts on signing young talent from other teams rather than promoting it from the grass root level and developing their own youngsters.
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He didn´t want to sign with Spurs because he wanted to sign for United from the start, before he went training with them.
So if a player is offered contract and refuses it because he never wanted to sign for them and signs for anther team he is poached.
You always learn new things here !
Name one club who doesn´t sign players after the age of 9 for their academies.
 
sincher said:
What difference does it make if people are let go for not being good enough? Surely this is true for most academy players.

It doesn't really make a lot of difference if players are brought in from other teams at a really early age either.

The above all played for the academy teams, which is as good a definition as any.
Click to expand...

No as if youlet them go they are deemed failures, if another club then takes them on and develops them into a professional player it is that who club who's sucess it was

It does make a difference as many teams have a dedicated local network of training grounds, scouts and coaches who set out to find young players and give them trials at the academy. They do find gems often for a big club i.e. yourselves to step in a few years down the line and then claim that player as your sucess often paying the smaller club a very low amount of money and never passing on any praise to the team which found the player even when ears down the line your club sells that player for millions.
 
oskarutd said:
He didn´t want to sign with Spurs because he wanted to sign for United from the start, before he went training with them.
So if a player is offered contract and refuses it because he never wanted to sign for them and signs for anther team he is poached.
You always learn new things here !
Name one club who doesn´t sign players after the age of 9 for their academies.
Click to expand...

So why didn't he train with you then rather than Spurs?
 
Aaron Burns - FC United :eek:

He must be scoring goals by the bucket loads.
Stay clear of Fred, fella. He's full of it ;)
 
cockneyHammer said:
No as if youlet them go they are deemed failures, if another club then takes them on and develops them into a professional player it is that who club who's sucess it was

It does make a difference as many teams have a dedicated local network of training grounds, scouts and coaches who set out to find young players and give them trials at the academy. They do find gems often for a big club i.e. yourselves to step in a few years down the line and then claim that player as your sucess often paying the smaller club a very low amount of money and never passing on any praise to the team which found the player even when ears down the line your club sells that player for millions.
Click to expand...

I think there's a big difference between West Ham and United. A player that is let go from United is often reasonably well thought of, but the club recognise that they won't break through to the level required. The club often look to secure cuts of future sales when it does this, e.g. with Ebanks-Blake.
 
sincher said:
I think there's a big difference between West Ham and United. A player that is let go from United is often reasonably well thought of, but the club recognise that they won't break through to the level required. The club often look to secure cuts of future sales when it does this, e.g. with Ebanks-Blake.
Click to expand...

If thats the case then why are so many just released from the club, we release very few players and bgenerally when we do release them it's through mutual consent so that player can join another team
 
Because we have a massive pool of young players, and limited opportunities to offer them. We have to let them go if after a certain age they're not breaking through - or they might feel their careers are better served elsewhere.

There are a bunch at the moment who might well get a chance at the likes of WHU but who will likely go for small fees or nowt from United, despite clearly showing that they can play at a good level - e.g. Eagles, Martin, Lee, Campbell, Brandy, Hewson, Cathcart etc. etc.
 
cockneyHammer said:
If thats the case then why are so many just released from the club, we release very few players and bgenerally when we do release them it's through mutual consent so that player can join another team
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Most players let go from United have another team to go to as well. The club works very hard to find a club for the players it lets go.
 
sincher said:
Most players let go from United have another team to go to as well. The club works very hard to find a club for the players it lets go.
Click to expand...

Ramon Calliste is the last player that I can remember who was released without a club to go to. He promptly signed for Liverpool.

I'm sure there have been other more recent ones - anyone know?
 
cockneyHammer said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brimsdown_Rovers_F.C.

Norwich, spurs, Leyton Orient

Take your pick really any of them teams scouted Beckham before Man Utd and if it wan't for those teams training Beckham he wouldn't have been half the player he was before Manchester United stepped in and signed him as a 14 year old
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You really are wum or just fighting to save a lost cause.
:-)

I guees the same might be said of all the Hammers players who WH only got at nine, without their schools and boys teams they weren´t half the players.
So they should get half the credit and half the money when WH sell them.

;-)
 
cockneyHammer said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brimsdown_Rovers_F.C.

Norwich, spurs, Leyton Orient

Take your pick really any of them teams scouted Beckham before Man Utd and if it wan't for those teams training Beckham he wouldn't have been half the player he was before Manchester United stepped in and signed him as a 14 year old
Click to expand...
How about we use fact from Beckham's autobiography instead of wikipedia.

David was scouted by United when play for his district side, at the age of 11, he had already been scouted by most of the London teams because he played for Ridgeway Rovers in London. He went up to United and stayed for 'days or weeks at a time' but couldn't train regularly with them because it would have meant his family moving up there.

So he trained with Tottenham, regularly going up to United, until he was 13, when he had a choice between the two of them for signing schoolboy forms and he choose United.

So from this we can see United did not 'step in when he was 14' but had knew and were following him since he was 11. In fact chances are if he had lived up north he would have trained for united from the age of 11.
 
I've looked at his website, and I find it hard to trust a website which says he signed trainee forms in May 91, when he was 14. In May 91, he was 16.So I'd be more inclined to believe the autobiography, which has it's facts right.
 
cockneyHammer said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brimsdown_Rovers_F.C.

Norwich, spurs, Leyton Orient

Take your pick really any of them teams scouted Beckham before Man Utd and if it wan't for those teams training Beckham he wouldn't have been half the player he was before Manchester United stepped in and signed him as a 14 year old
Click to expand...

have always been under the impression West Ham fans are the most stupid fans in football, glad to see that being reaffirmed quite spectacularly in this thread.

Rio Ferdinand: After initially being scouted at QPR, Ferdinand signed as a schoolboy for West Ham United in 1992 while a student at Blackheath Bluecoat school and became a professional player under their youth system.

Michael Carrick: Carrick first became involved with football when he was five years old, playing five-a-side football with Wallsend Boys Club on Saturday nights, courtesy of his father's volunteer work at the club. Football became more serious for him at the age of 12 when he was selected for Wallsend Schools' and later on North Tyneside Schools'. Whilst playing for Wallsend Boys' Club under 16s, he was capped for the England Boys' club side. During the school years, and the years up until his move to West Ham United, Carrick actually played as a centre forward; it was only at West Ham where he started to play more often as a midfielder.

neither of those count as West Ham academy products under your bizarre rules then, unlucky.
 
spinoza said:
Ramon Calliste is the last player that I can remember who was released without a club to go to. He promptly signed for Liverpool.

I'm sure there have been other more recent ones - anyone know?
Click to expand...

i'm not actually sure any of the six kids we released last summer had a club immediately lined up. Mullan, Burns and Crockett certainly didn't, pretty sure Marsh, Rose and N'Galula didn't either.
 
cockneyHammer said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brimsdown_Rovers_F.C.

Norwich, spurs, Leyton Orient

Take your pick really any of them teams scouted Beckham before Man Utd and if it wan't for those teams training Beckham he wouldn't have been half the player he was before Manchester United stepped in and signed him as a 14 year old
Click to expand...

You're seriously suggesting that that being scouted by Norwich, Spurs and Leighton Orient outweighs occasional training with United before he was 14 and 3 years in United's YTS after he was 14?

ok.
 
cockneyHammer said:
Regardless he was still willing as a schoolboy to move to Manchester

If Manchester United had scouted him earlier i'm pretty sure he would have moved to Manchester earlier
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I think this post earns you an accolade for the stupidest post this year.
 
cockneyHammer said:
David Robert Joseph Beckham was born in Leytonstone, East London on 2 May 1975.

His parents Sandra and Ted were keen football fans and ardent Manchester United supporters, so it was no surprise when David quickly became hooked on both the game and the club.

David's footballing ability was soon clear for all to see. By the age of eight, he had scored more than 100 goals for his childhood team, Ridgeway Rovers.

Three years later, he made his Old Trafford debut - as a mascot for Manchester United in a league game against West Ham!

At the age of 12, David attended the Bobby Charlton Soccer School, where he won an award. Part of the prize was the opportunity to train with Barcelona, who would attempt to sign him 15 years later.

It was not long before a number of English league clubs started taking notice of David. He had trials with his local side, Leyton Orient, and attended Tottenham Hotspur's school of excellence.

And here's the link nonce;

http://www.thedavidbeckhamacademy.co.uk/uk/davidbeckham/childhood.cfm
Click to expand...

Mate, theres a very big difference between Schools of excellence and Academies - For a start, Academies are much more of a commitment, and they also involve a "contract" rather than SoE, which are more like "football classes" my little brother attended Rotherham United's SoE when he were younger, but he was never "officially" on the books of Rotherham United...
Also, he attended a trial for Orient, he never signed forms for them....
 
cockneyHammer said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brimsdown_Rovers_F.C.

Norwich, spurs, Leyton Orient

Take your pick really any of them teams scouted Beckham before Man Utd and if it wan't for those teams training Beckham he wouldn't have been half the player he was before Manchester United stepped in and signed him as a 14 year old
Click to expand...


You really are a messed up little nonce. Do you really think United "poached" Beckham from Brimsdown Rovers? For a player not to be "poached" he has to play for one club and one club only from childhood, he can't even train with another team?

If I go though all the great players that West Ham are supposed to have produced then they all played for West Ham from the age of 7, never played for any junior teams at all, or even trained with another team, before joining West Hams academy?
 
Lads, I think Cockneyhammer is right. I can no longer support United given how clearly awful we are, if we would stoop so low as to train a 14 year old whose heart was set upon playing for us. That's unconscionable.

I will terminate my account here after I say a few goodbyes, as I can no longer in good conscience support United. I have also composed a letter, to be mailed to David Gill, requesting that the money gained from the sale of Becks be donated to to charity. Specifically, Spurs.

CH, thank you for showing me the error of my ways. I am eternally grateful. I wish your team the best of luck in one day finishing top of the table again.

EDIT: Sorry, typo. That should read, "top half of the table".
 
How the hell did Neil Wood end up in Bosnia?

And Erik Nevland, how did he end up at Fulham? He hasn't played has he?
 
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