Cotterill: Academy not good enough
Steve Cotterill assessed the youth set-up at Pompey and insisted: It's not good enough.
The Blues boss feels there has not been enough quality to emerge from the club's Academy in recent times.
Cotterill has had to turn to many youngsters since succeeding Avram Grant in June.
The likes of teenager Nadir Ciftci have been thrown in during a tough opening to the Championship campaign.
Cotterill refuses to condemn the talent which has plumped up his numbers through a tough period.
But he feels they are not ready to be thrown in at the level the club play at.
Marc Wilson is an example of one of the club's big success stories in terms of youth development.
Cotterill feels there has not been enough quality coming through the ranks at Fratton Park since his emergence, however.
That is something he intends to pay attention to in his reign as manager.
Cotterill stated he did not want to see the Academy ran as a 'PR move' while he is at the club.
He said: 'I'm not having a go at the younger ones.
'They have done well. But we're asking them to do men's jobs.
'The recruitment from the Academy is key. Recruitment is everything.
'I'm not in charge of the Academy, though.
'We have to recruit right and they in turn recruit right.
'It won't be a PR move here, not now. Not while I'm here.
'I don't think what has come through has been good enough. I don't think it is.
'The proof is in the pudding, people who come through, and we haven't had that here.'
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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