to be honest i think BC has a point, the standout player in arsenal side, ie fabregas, was poached , dubiously to say the least, from barcelona using various bits of contract law to do so.. it's not as if no-one else had noticed his talent , it was just for whatever reason arsenal, probably due to recentl winning the league and having Henry in his prime were able to poach him.. its not quite the same as standing on hackney marshes on a wet sunday in january and spotting the next gazza
but he doesn't have a point cos he brought Hudd and Lennon into the debate - whom we got by paying money for - not watching them on Hackney Marshes
as I keep saying if you're looking at the traditional scouting idea- we have one current 'local yoof' in the team - that's O'Hara - and who scouted him - Arsenal
my point was in line withthis article about getting young players cheap/free - AFC have a way better record than us
if you're talking about the traditional scouting AFC and West Ham have a better record than us- add Boro and city and I could find others - so my original point stands again -
AFC got Fabregas cos of the way they do bizness - it may or may not be imoral - as its Arsenal I like most Spurs fans will probably look to the immoral angle
but how did we get Lennon & Hudd - because of the way we do bizness - how do you think clubs like Leeds Derby feel about us getting their players on the cheap because we're a bigger draw than them - ditto west Ham when we nicked carrick & Defoe fro them - while Chelse and others have also grabbed half their academy
again as it's West Ham - I'm happy we grabbed Carrick off them for cheap - but I bet west Ham fans ain't happy about the morality -
but it's bizness - football bizness
the original point of this article was about scouting players using a system of measurements - it wasn't talking that a player had to be a local lad playing on Hackney Marshes or Moss side Common (if there is one