The Liverpool youth set-up, which became the Anfield Academy in 1999, used to be a production line of top class players. Gerrard, Jamie Carragher, Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen and Steve McManaman all learned their trade in Liverpool’s youth teams.
They were nurtured by former Reds winger Steve Heighway and learned exactly what it means to be a Liverpool player.
‘The Liverpool Way’ – a ‘holistic’, ‘player-centred approach’ – is still, apparently, the way of life on Merseyside, but where is the next generation of home-grown talent?
Since Liverpool won the 1996 FA Youth Cup with a team including Carragher, David Thompson and Michael Owen, which young Scousers have graduated to become Anfield legends? None.
What went wrong?
Heighway retired from his role as academy director in May 2007 after 19 years of coaching at the club.
The man who won four league titles, two European Cups, two UEFA Cups and an FA Cup during an 11-year playing career at Anfield walked away with some parting verbal shots at Rafa Benitez, particularly with regard to the manager’s attitude towards the youth set-up.
Reserve football was ‘meaningless’; managers are under too much pressure to try young players at first-team level and Heighway, the self-confessed ‘best coach of 17- and 18-year-old players in this club’, should be left to do his job.
But the rot had set in long before Heighway’s departure. Fowler and McManaman were followed by the golden generation of Owen, Carragher and Gerrard, as well as players such as Thompson, Joey Barton, and Dominic Matteo. But after that, well, what did happen to Anfield’s great hopes? Sportsmail looks at the shining lights who couldn’t cut it at Liverpool.
The Sheffield-born striker and son of former Manchester City player Ian Mellor progressed through the ranks at Liverpool, scoring goals aplenty for the Under 19 and reserve sides before getting his chance in the first team.
In August 2003 Gerard Houllier sent the promising centre forward to West Ham for a year-long loan, but injuries undermined Mellor’s spell in London. He returned to Anfield, where Champions League football and a long-range winner against Arsenal in front of the Kop followed. A knee operation to cure tendonitis saw the striker spend most of 2005 on the sidelines.
A loan spell at Wigan Athletic followed, before Mellor moved to Preston North End in 2006. Injuries have restricted the appearances of the centre forward, now 28, at Preston and he has been most effective as a substitute.
Liverpool picked up Guthrie when he was 16, after the player had been released by Manchester United. He made just three first team appearances for Liverpool, all as a substitute, and was sent on loan to Southampton in March 2007.
A season’s loan at Bolton Wanderers followed and Guthrie showed he was a Premier League player by making 27 appearances for Bolton in the top flight. He then joined Newcastle United in July 2008, apparently at the bequest of Kevin Keegan (unusual in Newcastle’s transfer dealings), and has established himself as a first-team regular at St James’ Park.
Guthrie’s rash challenge on Hull City’s Craig Fagan in September, which broke the player’s leg, was a low point, but the midfielder has proved to be a useful signing for Newcastle.
The Ormskirk-born defender was a promising graduate of the Liverpool Academy and was called up to train with the first team squad in 2001.
Loan spells at Bradford City and Coventry City, where he picked the supporters’ player of the season award in 2004, followed, and Warnock was rewarded with a first-team debut in Liverpool’s Champions League qualifier against Sturm Graz in August 2004.
Warnock then became a useful member of Benitez’s squad, making 20 Premier League appearances in 2005-06, for example, but joined Blackburn Rovers in January 2007.
The defender has become a first team regular at Ewood Park and won his first England cap against Trinidad & Tobago in June 2008.
Those are three of many who "failed" to be Liverpool regular. Well..Hope that if Rafa extend his contract, he will give the youngster a chance to prove themselves.
source: www.dailymail.co.uk
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