Keeping young players at home

[EalingGreen]

I agree it wont be stopped but if it can create a better environment for kids nearer to home then its better than the current situation, which for the most part is disgarding kids as dropouts at 19-20 while being in the care of said UK for the last 4 years.

I am nowhere defending the situation whereby big EPL clubs "farm" huge numbers of talented youngsters from Ireland and elsewhere, in the knowledge that 90%(?) of them won't make it, and so will be "culled" and left to go back to whence they came, disillusioned and unqualified to do much else.
But that was not my point.
Rather, I was asking how you can tell a talented 16 y.o. (and his family) who is being offered an Academy deal at a big club that he must not accept it, in favour of an offer by his local LOI club.
In practice, the kid isn't going to listen; moreover, unless something changes drastically, it would be completely illegal under EU law.

Is this the point where we should start crying? The in-humanity of it all, how dare LOI Clubs try and develop players in there own country.

What on earth are you on about? Where did I suggest that LOI clubs not be allowed to develop Irish kids in Ireland?
It is quite simple. When faced with counter offers from e.g. Bohs and Liverpool, the great majority of talented Irish 16 y.o.'s will choose Anfield every time.
And imo to try to prevent this would be wrong, both since it goes against individual freedom of choice, as well as being illegal.
Would you stopm a talented young tennis player going off to Florida? Or if a young band of musicians started to make waves on the local Dublin music scene (pubs, clubs etc) and got spotted by A&R from a top London or New York record label, are you seriously suggesting that they should not be allowed to accept a recording contract etc, since that would mean they would no longer be playing in their old haunts, for the benefit of the locals?
Should U2 have been forced to stay in Ireland? You can't even force them to pay their bloody (minimal) taxes in the ROI, ffs!

What??? I think you are forgetting one thing, Liverpool etc. would never invest that much in a player (and his family) unless they knew he was worth it. What if he got injuried. Too much of a gamble and even harder to disgard the player afterwards with parents in tow

It's already happening. Man U moved the entire Evans family from NI to Manchester. Aresenal did the same for the family of Cesc Fabregas. Fair enough, those are v.wealthy clubs chasing exceptional young talents, but even lesser clubs will still be able to offer greater inducements to families of less talented Irish kids, than even the wealthiest* of LOI clubs at home.

* - If there are any who could be decribed as "wealthy, that is!

I think you are holding UK clubs in too high a regard. Something to help you with that would be to look at the numbers that do go over and how many make it and how many dont and at the cost of their education.
There is no way they will start playing for players education. And maybe Liverpool could afford it but Barnsley and Crewe cant afford it so it wont happen.

No, I am merely making one suggestion as to what clubs might do if their present ability to exploit EU Employment laws was closed off to them. Many clubs already have quite sophisticated educational and training schemes which they offer to their Academy intake. If they had to extend those, I've no doubt they would.
After all, it's just what professional sports do in the USA with College scholarships etc.

That comment/trail of thought is completely off the wall

Your stating something does not make it so. Perhaps you might like to refute with reasoning of your own my contention that if e.g. the next Liam Brady were prevented from joining Arsenal or some other English club at 16 y.o., that he wouldn't be able to find a better offer elsewhere than his local LOI club? Get real!
When major Brazilian and Argentinean clubs cannot retain their best young players when the big European clubs come calling, what hope is there for LOI clubs?

And thats what makes it all worth it

Everyone knows that a losing Lottery ticket is worthless. But that doesn't stop millions of people buying them before the draw, in the hope that theirs is that "one in a million", despite it looking just like every other ticket.
At least talented young 16 y.o. footballers can point to their previous track record as evidence of why their "ticket" will stand out from everyone elses ticket when they hope to win (football's) millions.
And that's before you get football scouts and agents etc whispering in their ear, bunging them a nice advance, and assuring them that they will be the next Liam Brady...
And everyone knows that those self-same scouts and agents will be nowhere to be seen 4 or 5 years later, when an older and wiser 21 y.o. slinks chastened and disillusioned back to where he came from, with little money and fewer prospects.
And if you think that's bad, what's even worse is that if somehow every Irish kid was prevented from joining an English club until, say, he's 21, by then they'll all have fallen so far behind the Africans, Asians and South Americans etc who will have taken their Academy places in England, that they will NEVER catch up with them.
I was watching Kevin Doyle on TV the other day. I'd guess that in terms of basic talent, he has as much to offer as the likes of Robbie Keane, Richard Dunne or Stephen Ireland, for instance.
My guess is that the reason why he is hoping to make it to the EPL via a mediocre club like Reading, rather than already being there like those others, is primarily because he did not get the same career development opportunities as they did.
More to the point, had less obviously gifted teammates like Stephen Hunt been prevented from moving to C. Palace at 16, then via Brentford to Reading, the chances are he wouldn't be earninga full-time living in the game anywhere (imo).
P.S. I have nothing against either Doyle or Hunt: quite the contrary, I wish both well.

[peadar1987]

I know things aren't going to change unless we're inventive about this, so what do people think of this for an idea (I haven't thought it through in detail, I'm just throwing it out here for the sake of discussion)

The FAI set up an academy with branches in the major cities, taking in the best and brightest of young Irish footballing talent to work with internationally renowned coaches. The players are centrally contracted to the academy, and clubs can apply to sign the players on loan. When the players reach the age of 18, they are sold to fund the running costs of the academy, including paying player wages. Okay, so the best players are still going to end up going to Britain, that's pretty much unavoidable, but the rest of the players are still going to be driven individuals with a few years of academy training behind them, and will be looking for an LOI club to join (Hopefully, as this should be the attitude fostered during the years at the academy).

Now making the gross assumption of a reasonably competent National Authority to run this academy, what are the opinions on the idea?

[redalan]

I think that the idea of centrally contracted players is an idea worth looking at. I don't think that anyone would deny a player's right to make the dream move to United or Liverpool but I think that there needs to be a mechansim to protect those that don't make it at lower league clubs. I think Fahy is a good example. He proves, to a certain extent, that the LOI is comparable in quality with the Championship and by keeping young players in Ireland that the quality of the league will continue to improve. The administration of the scheme would be a challenge but not beyond the FAI/LOI.

A lot of good young players are lost to the Irish game due to the lack of a safety net.