Every once in a while, I read here about how our Academy has done well. There are some (myself included) that don't quite believe that. Will Parchman ranks the MLS Academy programs.
But Fagundez and Caldwell! Or does it count as "development" if your Academy brings in guys who are already pretty accomplished players?
Based on the description, the Revs are 17th and trending downward. But hey, at least we are better than Minnesota (no academy yet).
#NERevs Academy Player gets the call to U-17 National Team. https://t.co/tFBCXwUWP2— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) February 1, 2017
Now, that's what I'm talking about. Finally a powerhouse school (Indiana), a couple of universities in major conferences (Michigan State and Louisville) and some smaller schools that have qualified for the tournament (UNC Charlotte and Xavier). This is pretty encouraging; hopefully we're looking at a couple of these guys signing first team deals in two or three years.
Totally agree, but the key is whether they get playing time. Many of the Rev Academy grads may have gone to 2nd tier (if you want to call it that) soccer schools because they were unsure about being able to crack the starting lineup. Maybe this current crop is better, or maybe they're just more confident or maybe they're just more willing to take that challenge. But, if they play, like Caldwell did, that will be fantastic.
Four Academy Players Called in to U.S. Under-14 National Team GK Eliot Jones (New Britain) DF Morris Matthews (Cambridge) DF Zach Sardi-Santos (Newton) FW Patrick Leal (Newton)
Looks like we just had a falling out with (arguably) the top-rated player in the academy. Rennicks is suspended for the rest of the DA season by the club and then will head to Indiana: https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/clu...spect-censured-by-revolution-academy_aid41534 It's a real small-minded policy if you ask me. I get that MLS clubs don't want to lose their investments to Europe, but as the philosopher Princess Leia once said, "the more you tighten your grip, the more [they'll] slip through your fingers".
That was a really depressing read. I fully understand wanting to protect your interests but this seems to hurt the club more than the player since I am sure this is going to sour him on wanting to sign in NE if he comes good.
One of our academy players went to Europe to train, how dare he! We'll punish him, so he knows who owns his rights. This will teach him. He'll never want to sign with anybody else when we get done with him.
It doesn't seem like it. The article says the Revs have a rule that players can't train/trial abroad, Rennicks knew about it, and did it anyway. There seems to be little question that Rennicks knowingly violated Revs academy policy. The issue is that Revs academy policy is myopic. If the Revs focus on making themselves an attractive choice for their own academy players, everything else will take care of itself. There are many examples of players dipping their toes in foreign waters but eventually signing with the hometown team. Coming up with a dumb rule like this only serves to alienate young players who want to be sure of their options. And I'm sure Rennicks isn't the only kid seeing a negative message here. Imagine if Seattle suspended Morris for training with Werder Bremen. Sheesh.
Seems like the Revs backed themselves into a corner by even having this rule at all. But once they have it, they probably felt they had to enforce it somehow. IMO it would have made much more sense to just suspend him a couple of games, and then scrap the rule afterwards. Banning him the whole semester seems really stupid. You're weakening his bonds to the club right before he's going away to college.
So lots of teams have academies. How many of them have similar rules, and if they do, has this ever happened with one of them?
Only positive thing to say about the Revs move: at least it was formalized in writing & not informal campaign of intimidation seen elsewhere— Charles Boehm (@cboehm) March 3, 2017
OK, so it seems like there are other clubs equally (if not more) stupid. But that't the thing, if you want to be a "moneyball" teram you have to think things through. Big spending teams can be rigid idiots and let players slip though the cracks, but we can't.
I would say that the more appropriate quote is from post-WWII; "how you going to keep them down on the farm once they have seen Paris?"
http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/the9...-wahl-how-much-they-spend-on-their-academies/ Pulled from each individual questionnaire, here’s the ranked list of the nine who submitted figures on how much they spent in 2016 on their respective academy setups. New England Revolution: $1 million D.C. United: $1.5 million Montreal Impact: $1.5 million Chicago Fire: $1.75 million Columbus Crew: $2.5 million FC Dallas: $3 million Portland Timbers: $3 million LA Galaxy: $4 million Philadelphia Union: $4 million
I think it's hard to compare those numbers independent of context and how each club does their accounting.
Congratulations to the U17MNT on their win today vs Honduras, 5-1. Goals by Josh Sargent (3), Isaac Angking and Jaylin Lindsey. 🇺🇸⚽️🇭🇳— Liane Sargent (@lianesargent3) March 2, 2017 Not sure I embedded this correctly.....anyways. Looks like Isaac Angking scored a goal vs Honduras....The U17 played two friendlies against the Hondurs U17s last week.