A focus on youth…

Throughout the three season history of Beaulieu FC, it would be fair to say that the youth team has been an afterthought. During the first season, when I had two extraordinary U21 players in Caceres and Guilherme, I didn’t manage to create a youth team until right at the end. This was a golden period where my youth peaked at ranked 18th in the world with Guilherme overpowering at that level.

As players aged, my youth teams powers dwindled and they drifted out to ranked 150th. A mediocre group was broken up only by the odd flash of talent – Bjorn Sigurdsen was a shining light for two seasons before his depature and Danny Welbeck was the sole catalyst in lifting my U21s from the bottom of the youth leagues up to the bottom of the also-rans last season. With both of those star strikers gone, I was set to disband my youth team in a drive to reduce wages to get one last world class star into my team. I had a player in mind and had proposed a deal subject to a reduction in my wages, but someone gazumped me at the last and forced me to re-evaluate my priorities.

I looked around the Gameworld and I’ve started to see the emergence of a new set of teams near the top of the rankings. Down Is The New Up have always focused on youth (although having Aguero upfront really does help), but after 4 seasons the youngsters are starting to turn into world class players. Another team, Bernanrd Mendy Football Club, disappeared for 3 seasons, but now has a team full of 4-5 star potential players and I fully expect him to rise up the rankings shortly. And you only have to look to Toon Town and Bohemians FC in the AEFA to see the benefits of having a strong youth side.

There are obviously pros and cons to a long term strategy such as this. Without youngsters who are already world class, it’s difficult to maintain a challenge on both the senior and youth fronts. It can also be very expensive – in the past top quality youth have gone for well over £30,000 a week. The top price paid was for an English wunderkind, Gavin Phillips (a Gerrard-like box to box midfielder), who ended up on a wage of £60,000 a day. However, with the tightening of finances imposed by the introduction of stadiums and signing on fees, people are being far more sensible with their wage auction signings. World class players are going for their wage demand while youth are rarely seen to go for over £10,000.

Therefore, I decided to put together a youth team with the idea of picking a bunch of 17-18 year olds and letting them develop over the next couple of seasons. Early signs have been promising, with a record of W7, D3, L4 in the U21 league and a qualification place for the knockout stages of the U21 cup seemingly assured. The lads only managed 8 wins in 44 games last season, so the improvement is already immense. There are no superstars in my youth side as of yet, but every single one has a good level of potential. I’m looking to add to both the depth and the quality of my youth side by exchanging some of my peripheral senior players for good young prospects.