Crystal Palace manager Ian Holloway has stated his admiration for West Ham's famous youth academy and claims that he wants to create a similar system at Selhurst Park. Ex Blackpool boss Holloway has led his Eagles side to fourth place in the Championship, and they can go within a point of second-placed Watford by beating Derby County tonight.
Bristol-born Holloway told reporters today that "we're trying to become a big club while we're trying to achieve Premier League status and I believe that the structure of the club will get us there eventually. We're starting to feel the benefit of that already, just like West Ham used to. Their academy and the players they produced, like Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard, is a fantastic blueprint for us to follow and that's what I want us to do."
It's always nice to hear positive comments about the club from another manager, but it has not escaped the attention of any of us Irons that our famous academy conveyor belt has dried up of late. We can't cling onto the success stories of players who made their West Ham debuts after coming through the youth academy in the '90s; the academy is getting left behind by the academies of other clubs such as such as Southampton, Arsenal and Chelsea, and needs to step it up.
By Alex Shilling, News Editor
@alexshilling
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