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Jamie Vardy was "plucked" from lower league football, and Charlie Austin was rescued from Poole Town, if my memory serves me right. And he is doing OK at the moment at Southampton.

We should be aiming at picking up the real talent before it gets hoovered up by the big clubs, and then developing and honing the talent in our TOP-LEVEL RATED academy.

That's not how an Academy or a decent youth set-up works. Some of the greatest talent has been on big clubs' books from about the age of 8. Theo Walcott was studying at my wife's college in the sixth form while on the books at - and very much in contention at - Southampton. Gareth Bale followed...