A top South African sports scientist Prof Ross Tucker coined the term ‘Ghosts in Machine’ for youngsters that are taken in by the youth football system before being thrown out.

Over 1.5 million youths reportedly play organized youth football with the hope that they would be among the 180 that would appear in the Premier League. With a very low success rate of 0.012 percent, such dreams are usually crushed with the victims left to bear the pain.
Few years back Reece Staples was labelled the next star from Notts County. He did his trials at big clubs like Manchester United before moving to Nottingham Forest. The dream barely begun as he was released in the 2008/09season. Like many others, he could not handle what came next. Clair Dunne said her teenage son – at 19 – tried bringing in cocaine into Britain but the swallowed products led to his death at a police station. Continue reading HOW YOUNGSTERS FALTER ON THE ROAD TO PREMIER LEAGUE SUCCESS