Who would've though it, eh?

[Samdy Gray]

A chairman with with some common sense and a vision for the future  :shock:

Fitton's vision for Town youth
 
Town chairman Andrew Fitton is investing in the club's future

SWINDON Town may not be the first place a young footballer dreams of starting his fledgling career - but if Andrew Fitton has anything to do with it, it might be soon.

The Town chairman told the Swindon Advertiser he is determined to continue the good work already started by the club's youth set-up and make the County Ground one of the top places in the country for young talent.

Today's expected announcement that nine of Town's youngsters have signed 18-month professional contracts will send shock waves around the footballing world as Fitton already starts making his dreams reality.

Town's under 18s hope to reach the last 16 of the FA Youth Cup for the second year in a row with a win at Charlton Athletic tonight and Fitton believes continued progress is essential in the club's long-term plan.

He said: "We want Swindon to become a place to come for the best young talent. We want it to be as attractive as somewhere like Crewe, who have a fantastic reputation, and even all the top sides.

"For a lot of players I actually believe Swindon will become a better place for them to come than clubs like Chelsea.

"If you go to Chelsea then, unless you are something very special, you may never see the light of day.

"At our level you could play against these players and get experience at reserve team level and even first team games. The youth set-up has to be the future for a club like Swindon Town. In an ideal world we are producing one player every year. That may not seem a lot but from the youth to senior level is a big jump."

Town's youth system has already proved a profitable exercise over the last couple of years with the sales of Ben Tozer and Lukas Jutkiewicz already earning the club around £2million.

Now the current crop at the County Ground are again being watched closely by the Premiership's top clubs and Fitton is determined to make the most of the club's hottest talents.

"I can't take any credit for what has happened so far because I have not been involved," he said.

"But what I can promise everyone is that developing the youth is going to become an essential part of the club, whether to keep or to sell.

"I hope some will stay and become first team regulars but we also know some will move on, hopefully for good money.

"We need to build the club on the basis of a senior squad but also with four, five or six of the youth players coming through all the time.

"This is an indication of our investment in youth.

"We will be going out next year looking to recruit youth players and we are going to be very active in doing that."

Tozer's big-money move to Newcastle earlier this season was the most recent example of the value of a good youth set-up but Fitton insists it is also important to gain a reputation for looking after the best interests of the players.

He said: "I also think the club needs a reputation for doing the right thing for the players as well.

"When we got the offer for Ben Tozer we had just come in and were very reluctant to take it.

"But we saw it was a very good move for the player and a chance for him that might not come about again.

"We felt it would not be fair to say no but at times it won't be the right move for us or the player to sell.

"We have already got a great group of players and I have no doubt that some of them will go on and make the first team "That is what we are trying to do at the end of the day.

"I think you will see real money going into the youth side of the club.

"I'm not saying we are going to pump millions and millions into it but I have already committed to the youth coaches they will get some serious investment.

"I have already said to them that some of the money we get from sales such as Ben Tozer will go straight back to them so they can either recruit or put it towards improving the facilities."

8:00am today

[Reg Smeeton]

There's a pub in Lockeridge called  The Who'd a Thought It.....decent place last time I was there a couple of years back.....good food, Eastern European waitresses  

   Oh and Fitton's talking sense.

[Bogus Dave]

Today's expected announcement that nine of Town's youngsters have signed 18-month professional contracts will send shock waves around the footballing world

teensy bit of an overstatement

[Power to people]

To be fair though I would not have thought that there are many clubs that hand out 18 month pro contracts to 9 youth team players, fair play it would be nice to see some youth finally get a chance.

Sounds like they really want to be going places with the youth setup, I wonder if that means applying for academy status, what do you need to get that, anyone know ?

[DV]

There's a pub in Lockeridge called  The Who'd a Thought It.....decent place last time I was there a couple of years back.....good food, Eastern European waitresses  

   Oh and Fitton's talking sense.

also a spot where you can quite often find a police man with a hand held speedometer....

[leefer]

Fair play to the club...it must be good for a youngster to get on and play football for 18 months without the worry of finances,alot of youngsters come from working familys and it must push them financially at times,add to the fact if big teams want them now.....they will have to fork out big money.

[pumbaa]

There's a pub in Lockeridge called  The Who'd a Thought It.....decent place last time I was there a couple of years back.....good food, Eastern European waitresses  

   Oh and Fitton's talking sense.

also a spot where you can quite often find a police man with a hand held speedometer....

My cousin's wife used to run that place. Never been there myself though. My mum was born in Lockeridge. Useless factoids of the day.....

[Reg Smeeton]

To be fair though I would not have thought that there are many clubs that hand out 18 month pro contracts to 9 youth team players, fair play it would be nice to see some youth finally get a chance.

Sounds like they really want to be going places with the youth setup, I wonder if that means applying for academy status, what do you need to get that, anyone know ?

 You've got to really splash the cash....from memory Bristol Shitty spend around a mill a season on their academy.  It goes on facilities, coaches etc, about 3 or 4 years ago at an AGM I asked Bob Holt how much we spend a season on youth....after consulting Samdy Gray     he came back with a figure of 20K pa.

 The rest of the funding came from grants from various agencies.  So to go from C of E to academy is very expensive.