Interview: West Ham's Tony Carr

He said: “We impose a target on ourselves to produce one player every year good enough to go into the first team squad. Not just signing as a pro but good enough for the squad. That’s a minimum requirement.

“You’re not going to produce players every year, but if you’ve got five, six, seven or more in the last five years then job done.

“You might have two years when no-one comes through, but in other years you have two or three. Last year we had three making their debuts – Jack, Freddie and James.�

Carr, 58, has been successfully producing players, including Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and Tony Cottee, since 1973, so does anyone really stand out?

He said: “There are many players for different reasons. When we first spotted Joe Cole it was obvious he had unbelievable talent. But even at that age you can never say this player’s going to play for England or our first team.

“It’s a gradual process and you never really know if they’re good enough until you put them in the first team, that’s the bottom line.

“What we do year-on-year is make a judgment using our past experience, assess each individual and see if he’s got what it takes to be a top player – if he’s got the talent and impact in the game.

“Glen Johnson is a good example. He came here as a centre-forward aged 10, played on the right wing, then centre-back and ended up at right-back in the first team where he made an immediate impact. Now he’s playing for England.�

Johnson was sold after the Irons’ relegation in 2003, along with Cole, Jermain Defoe and Michael Carrick. Selling academy players swells the club’s coffers, but Carr admitted he would prefer them to stay.

He said: “Personally, I would, but I have to be a realist and accept market forces dictate, such as the fire sale we had to have when we got relegated.

“I understand there may come a point when a player has to move on. If we’ve had good service from him and we end up getting a fair transfer fee for him the fans should accept it’s part and parcel of the game. It’s up to the youth academy to find the next one.

“It opens the door for someone else so you mustn’t get too sentimental. I’m a West Ham supporter and always have been, so I’m disappointed in that respect, but I have to put my director’s hat on and say that’s the name of the game.

“It is sad when you see them move on. You’re not going to get a Bobby Moore or a Trevor Brooking that sign at 16 and stay to 32. That’s not going to happen now or it’s going to be very rare.

“The ultimate success is they play 500 games for the first team and you sell them for £10million or you win the Champions League.

“But in terms of getting them in the team and getting a financial return the academy’s given good value.�
One aspect Carr would like to see is the replacement of the reserve league with an under-21 league, giving clubs the chance to hang on to late developers.

Carr said: “There are too many people within football who want to discard people too quickly today.�

“We should keep them until they’re 21, because some people develop late. Not everyone is like Joe Cole, going straight into the team at 17.

“An under-21 league in place of the reserve league would be great because we may unearth a player later in the system we may have discarded at 18.

“It may never happen. If there’s a big enough ground-swell from the clubs it’ll happen, but if the clubs don’t want it it’ll not happen.�

And Carr is certain new manager Gianfranco Zola will be keen for the academy to continue producing top-quality players for the first team.

He said: "He's been quoted that he's a great believer in youth development and the academies so I'm sure the relationship with Gianfranco, like it's been with all the other managers I've worked under, will give me the same support at the Academy as all the others did.

"The club is steeped in that tradition and in my opinion it would be a fool that would try and change that. We have to tinker and change and we have to go with the way the game develops."

One of those developments is likely to be an increase in the number of overseas players finding their way to the Hammers academy. Hungarian teenager Balint Bajner and Holmar Orn Eyjolffson from Iceland are already starring for the youth team and more are likely to follow.

It's something Carr accepts as part of the modern game, particularly considering the example of Arsenal, whose success is based on cherry-picking the best young talent in Europe.

"There are more foreign young players in the game than there ever was," said Carr.

" We won't ever say no to that, and we have brought in one or two young foreign players just to see how we can develop them.

"But there's nothing like bringing your own through from home. Bringing a kid in at nine or 10 and nurturing him right through like Freddie Sears last year.

"I remember him coming here as a nine-year-old, a little tiny tot, and to see him score that goal against Backburn in the Premier League and now establish himself as a good squad member, that's a fantastic pleasure."

And like most West Ham supporters Carr is all too aware of how the stream of talent he has helped produce has moved on to pastures new. So, does he ever think "what if...?"

He said: "Yes. We've often sat around the dinner table with friends and family and said 'If those players were playing for you now, think about that. It's a nice dream over a glass of wine but it was never going to be a reality."