Home-grown talent struggling to thrive

Chelsea are among the worst offenders, though that has not always been the case. For three successive seasons in the mid-nineties a minimum of six home-grown players each made more than 10 first-team appearances, but since Glenn Hoddle left Stamford Bridge there has been a startling decline.

John Terry is the only home-grown Chelsea player to have made more than 10 first-team appearances this term.

Tottenham fair little better. Home-grown players made more than 150 appearances for Spurs in each of the six seasons between 1995 and 2001, but in the four seasons since they have only once accumulated three figures.

And while Spurs' sporting director Frank Arnesen continues to cast his net far and wide the opportunity for academy players to break through is likely to diminish further.

Fulham, who moved swiftly through the leagues during the last decade, have the poorest record for producing their own talent - youth is neglected when success is fast-tracked.

Crystal Palace, meanwhile, have generally placed great emphasis on producing their own players, though during Attilio Lombardo's ill-fated reign in 1998 the club adopted a more short-sighted and ultimately disastrous approach.

The four home-grown players to have appeared for Palace this season represent the poorest return since then. Iain Dowie, though, is pragmatic about his squad. "I am very pro homegrown players and there would be nothing better than bringing 11 Palace trainees through but there is a huge leap in class when you get into the Premiership and we need the experienced players," said the Palace manager.

Perhaps the most surprising finding is that Charlton, long held as an example of a club where youth is given a chance, are now rubbing shoulders with Chelsea near the bottom of the pile. Just three home-grown players have made first-team appearances for Charlton this season - a statistic that the Premiership leaders can match. How different things were back in 1996, when home-grown players accumulated more than 300 appearances for Charlton.

Only 10 years ago Charlton had home-grown players playing on a regular basis, but that is far from the case now.

Manager Alan Curbishley explains: "We were a First Division club, not financially in trouble but things were tight, so young talent was given its opportunity because we couldn't go out and buy a player. As we have progressed as a Premiership club it's more difficult for the younger players to get in because the competition is so much greater in the Premiership. Any young players that come through into a Premiership set-up now are of such a quality that within a season or two they are knocking on the international door - Ashley Cole for instance, Joe Cole, Glen Johnson. We have not got the quantity the quality is there."

The consequence is that more and more young players are filtering down to the Football League where there are greater opportunities. In recent seasons Millwall, Leyton Orient and Brentford have all relied heavily on home-grown players, though it is Watford that emerge as the best breeding ground in London.

In the past decade the core of their side has come from their youth academy - a minimum of five home-grown players have made at least 10 first-team appearances in each of the last 10 seasons.

"I think the fact we haven't got the biggest budget probably helps," said Nigel Gibbs, who joined Watford's coaching staff after progressing through the club's youth set-up as a player. "I think the Premiership clubs need instant players and sometimes can't wait for a lad to develop, whereas we say 'In you go for a few games' - sometimes you don't know how good players are until you give them a chance.

"It's great for the supporters to see a home-grown player coming through, and it's good for the youth set-up to be able to say 'If you sign for us there's an opportunity'."

There does, though, remain little incentive for the Premiership's leading clubs to change their ways.

According to Trevor Brooking, the Football Association's director of football development, UEFA's new legislation is not the answer.

"People have spoken about the quotas, but they won't help," said Brooking. "Most of the quotas would be filled by overseas youngsters. For me, to give more English youngsters a chance, we have to get them technically right much earlier. They should not be working on basic skills at the ages of 13 and 14. Basic skills should be there by the age of 11."

Brooking's commitment towards improving coaching standards at primary school level means there is hope for the future, though in the short term it is difficult to be optimistic. For any young player starting out on the long path to stardom he has never faced so many obstacles, though according to Curbishley the responsibility for making that journey easier lies with managers as much as players.

"It is getting harder [to give home-grown players an opportunity] but it didn't stop Manchester United from bringing a world-class crop of young English players through," he said. "I don't think we can bury our heads in the sand and say 'We have got to look everywhere else but England'. We have all got to be as keen as we can be to bring the young talent through here."