Stuart Pearce has spelt out his desire to see Man City save on transfer fees by bringing through more players from the youth academy. The City boss quite rightly says that fans identify far more with home grown players who have an affiliation with the club.
He said: ‘With the supporters you can tell when there is a young, home-grown player like Lee Croft warming up on the edge of the pitch – they absolutely love it. While they respect the players that have come in from outside, they love to see players that have come through the academy system. And they are there on merit, not on a fluke.’
Spot on as far as I’m concerned! Pearce is said to be monitory the young players at City’s academy with some very exciting individuals being tipped for the top.
The Academy is based at the Club’s old training ground at Platt Lane in south Manchester. Pearce explains that he is in regular contact with Jim Cassell, the Academies director.
Pearce told the official site ‘It’s a two-way thing. Frank Bunn comes up from the Academy and I pick his brains, Steve Wigley goes to the Academy to watch them. I’ve got to have close links, it’s my job. I’ve got to know who’s coming through, Jim will ring me as will Alex Gibson. It’s an open forum in some respects, I don’t want to be a manager that the Academy feel obliged not to ring. They are very open with me.’
Pearce now has the youth players up to the main training grounds regularly so he can keep tabs on the players:
‘We have had the Academy up here training in afternoons more than they ever have before, that suits me because I can walk over to have a look. You’ll have a chat as to who is doing well, and you will find that those who are doing well will find themselves on the bench for the reserves. People like Johnson and Etuhu are doing well at the Academy, and if they attain a level that’s good they will find themselves down here.’
The more Pearce talks, the more I like him. He’s going to go far in football management, lets hope it is at City.
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