Quote af="af"Would that business model have been viable anywhere else other than a booming financial centre with no other Super League club and only one soccer club, in turmoil?'"
the business model consists of a lot more than the youthe development model
Quote afHang on... IIRC Leeds still invested in overseas players - Mullins, Clyde, Ben Walker, Gary Mercer (!) - they just weren't that good. I don't recall this purgatory Leeds fans sat through where callow youths got their asses handed to them. Leeds were in a position to compete in the here and now while keeping the youth side plate spinning at the same time. That they didn't win consistently until relatively recently was more due to crap recruitment (and Bradford not committing hari-kari... yet) than enlightened nurturing.'"
or those players not being good enough yet... but are now better than they would have been had
players like JJB, Burrow etc all took a lot of criticism in 2002 and 2003, as did the coaches and hetherington, hence Powell moving upstairs
Quote afI think you've picked up Smokey TA's argument which is flawed - it fails to recognise that not every side is as favourably placed Leeds are in and so it will take a greater effort to reap similar results.'"
so how come a small town like St Helens has also managed to do it? Hull were bust ten years ago, look at what they have acheived in youth development and giving an opportunity to british players, look at what Bradford have acheived with regards to peacock, fielden, pryce etc in a dying city
Quote afYou say Gary H and Caddick must take all credit for the youth policy but look at the Leeds 1998 GF side - Morley, Rivett, Newton, St Hilaire, Holroyd, Cummins - six of the side were Leeds products from the previous regime. If the derided Alf Davies era can contribute over a third of a side that walks out at Old Trafford, doesn't that suggest that Leeds might be particularly well-positioned to develop their own players?'"
Morely was from Salford, why were leeds in any better position to pick him up than other clubs? St Hilaire was from Hudds, holroyd from fax, newton wigan, and cummins dewsbury, why were leeds uniquely positioned to pick these guys up?
Quote afGH and PC do deserve praise for what they have achieved but it does not necessarily follow that any club that has not replicated that success has only itself to blame. Circumstances matter.'"
if there is something intrinsic in a clubs make up that means it cannot be a well run business, with a large audience, sustainable, and cannot bring through young british players, cannot invest in youth development and cannot build a squad of homegrown players then maybe SL isnt the right place for them to be
