Fulham’s flowering youth
Over the years I have supported the Whites we have produced some impressive youngsters. Johnny Haynes went on to captain England and another one club Cottager George Cohen a World Cup winner.
In the sixties we produced loyal servants like Fred Callaghan and Stan Brown and a crop of exciting kids in the mid-sixties John Dempsey, Steve Earle and Les Barrett. In the seventies Tony Gale was in the team at 16 and went onto to win a Premiership medal at Blackburn.
In the eighties Paul Parker after leaving us reached the pinnacle of his profession with England and Manchester United.
In the nineties Sean Davis went onto to play in every division with Fulham. Then the well went dry. Chairman al Fayed underrated for his vision saw that with the way salaries and the transfer market were going, fueled by greedy agents and owners with limitless fund and funding, the best way for Fulham to compete was through a burgeoning and fertile Academy.
Academies that can cost £3-5m a year to run were at the same time questioned. The average cycle of a manager, Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger apart though both encouragers and motivators of youth, lasts only at most 3 years so why should an exciting 14 year old be of interest?
Chelsea and Manchester City are now the biggest investors in academies with figures way above £5m. Paradoxically these are the hardest two sides hard to break into and Chelsea have at the last count 38 players out on loan.
To achieve Mohammed al Fayed’s aim Huw Jennings and his team were recruited from Southampton.
Their record in identifying and nurturing Wayne Bridge, Gareth Bale, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is truly impressive.
We reached the final of the Youth Cup to lose to Chelsea and are in profit by selling Dembele to Celtic and Roberts to Manchester City. The jewel in the crown is 16 year old Ryan Sessegnon, cultivated left foot, pacy and physically mature he made the PFA Championship side after only 22 games this season.
The catchment is wide, often overseas, and very young. Yet you can never tell who will make the grade. I asked Kit Symons who when he was in charge was most likely to make it. He replied Lasse Viren Christensen. He got into the side seemingly to play 200 plus games for the Whites, was courted by many a bigger club but his form suffered, clearly was not fancied by the present coach, and now is out on loan at Burton.
From the fan’s point of view to see a kid going through the ranks to the first team is one of the most satisfying aspects of support which is why Spurs fans sing so lustily
“He is one of our own …Harry Kane is one of our own.”
