Like his hero Brian Clough, Simon Clifford was born in Middlesbrough and is an outspoken maverick. He makes a lot of bold statements – “In the future I will own the England team” – and rash claims – “no-one has done as much as me for the grass roots game” – but despite the posturing he talks an awful lot of sense. He’s also willing to give credit where credit is due. When it comes to his hometown club, Middlesbrough, Clifford believes their academy, under the guidance of Dave Parnaby, is setting a rare, but good example of how to develop talent. “Dave’s not a big mouth like me,” says Clifford. “He’s a very humble, hard working guy who is producing great kids.”

He certainly is. On May 7, 2006, in the final match of the season against Fulham, all of Middlesbrough’s starting XI were born within 30 miles of the Riverside. “I’m fortunate,” says Parnaby, whose youngsters won the FA Youth Cup in 2004. “The chairman Steve Gibson and chief executive Keith Lamb have never wavered from their commitment to youth development. The managers, like Bryan Robson, Steve McClaren and now Gareth Southgate have also been ommitted. We’ve also been lucky in that we’ve had a stable league position so we could take a few chances. We’ve also played in Europe, which has meant a big squad that’s given youngsters a chance.”

But far from being satisfied with his lot, Dave Parnaby, like Simon Clifford, is downbeat about the direction youth development is going in this country. “There needs to be a major review,” says Parnaby forcefully. “The academy system has given us much better access to young players. But some clubs don’t have the right staffing levels, the quality of coaching or the right facilities. Standards have been eroded, but it all comes down to money.”

At the moment, the Premier League and FA give just $24 million to help fund the academies and centres of excellence in the Football League; that’s $350,000 per club. Other grants are available, but it’s no wonder that some of them aren’t up to standard.

“For me the model club is Crewe,” says Parnaby. “They have a great commitment to youngsters, a great manager, are well-organised and committed to playing in the right way.”

But even Crewe chairman John Bowler believes the Cheshire club’s commitment to youth is coming under pressure. Bowler, who has been chairman of Crewe for almost 20 years, believes rising costs and falling revenues are having a real impact in the League. He thinks that academies and centres of excellence – smaller, cheaper academies – will be the first things many clubs cut back on: “We are finding it harder and harder to carry on with such an extensive youth program.”

Bowler is fortunate to have had Dario Gradi as manager of Crewe for the past 24 years. Along with Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson, Gradi was the longest serving manager at a single club. On July 1, Gradi, who has overseen the development of players like David Platt, Neil Lennon, Danny Murphy and Dean Ashton, became technical director at the club, and his new role will see him even more immersed in youth development than ever. His latest success, striker Luke Varney, has just been sold to Charlton for £2 million ($4.7m) – which will be re-invested in player development and as far, as Gradi is concerned, proof that the academy system works.

“We’re still producing good players,” Gradi enthuses. “We’ve now got the best boys playing against the best boys on fantastic facilities. But you have to trust that the players you produce are good enough. You never know how good a player is until you throw them in, but the top clubs don’t like taking risks any more. If you’re a youth team player at Manchester United, you’ve got to be a wonder kid to make it. Even their transfer policy is more cautious. The days are gone when a club like Liverpool would buy a player from us like Danny Murphy. These days the player would take the same route as Dean Ashton, for example.” Ashton moved to Norwich from Crewe for £3 million ($7m) in 2005 before securing his move to West Ham 12 months later.

But having the same manager for 24 years has allowed Crewe to implement a long-term vision. Sadly, long-termism is a scarce commodity in English football. “I was once watching our under-14’s playing a match,” explains Gradi. “I saw the first team manager of our opponents, which was a Championship club at the time, and I told him how glad I was to see him taking an interest in the kids. He said ‘Oh, I’m not here for that, I can’t get involved at this level, I won’t be around by the time they’re ready for the first team.’” Such is Gradi’s experience and knowledge of youth development, you could spend all day talking to him, but his final point raises another concern about the 1997 Charter for Quality.

“The main reason the top clubs aren’t interested in the academy system,” Gradi concludes, “is that they don’t like the one hour restriction because they can only develop players from their own patch.”

This rule was also introduced by Howard Wilkinson, and meant clubs were restricted to taking in players who live fewer than one hour or 90 minutes from the academy.

It was meant to stop the top clubs from poaching the country’s best youngsters, but has led to clubs (Arsenal in particular) being forced to look worldwide for the best players. The London club employs 28 full-time scouts who are working all over the world. You only have to look at the squad to see that very few have come from north London.

“Arsene Wenger bemoans the fact that he’s not allowed to look for players in England’s football heartlands,” says Philippe Auclair, L’Equipe’s London-based correspondent. “Most children’s football is played in the North West and the North East, but it’s out of Arsenal’s reach. That doesn’t mean to say Arsenal are neglecting their youth academy like many people say. In fact, Arsenal have produced more English players than any other club in recent years.” It’s a bold and surprising assertion, but on close inspection, Auclair’s view holds water. Ashley Cole, Stuart Taylor, Steve Sidwell, Matthew Upson, Jermaine Pennant, David Bentley are just a few names of players now plying their trade elsewhere in the Premiership. Of those players, only Cole was deemed good enough for regular first team football for the Gunners, while Sidwell is also at Chelsea now, albeit via Reading.

“Arsene doesn’t have anything against English players,” Auclair continues. “He’s just not convinced they all have what it takes to play at the top. But he likes English players, and Justin Hoyte is one who has a great future at Arsenal. His younger brother Gavin will be even better.”

So the problem seems to be that while clubs like Crewe, Middlesbrough and even Arsenal are producing plenty of good English players, good enough for the lower reaches of the Premiership and below, they’re not producing enough “great” players who will become future stars in the Champions League, England internationals and World Cup winners.

The problem is that with the influx of foreign players to the Premiership, the bar has been raised. Who’s the best player from Germany? Michael Ballack. Portugal? Ronaldo. France? Thierry Henry. How about Holland? Arjen Robben or Robin Van Persie. All played in the Premiership last season. English clubs need to keep up.

Dave Parnaby certainly believes Middlesbrough could be doing much more. “Are we producing enough skilful players?” he asks of Middlesbrough and English football in general. “That’s a tough question. But I don’t think we have enough youngsters playing eight-versus-eight, which is better for developing technique. Manchester United have come up with a four-versus-four programme for their eight to 11-year-olds, and it’s great – but United have the staff, the cash and the facilities to do it. We’d love to do that here and maybe that needs reviewing, but it costs money.”