You must learn to crawl before you try to walk, a famous proverb that accurately summarises the current state of the modern game. Blinded by pound signs, swayed by insatiable agents and conned by false promises, many of England’s brightest stars have faded from the limelight.

Crystal Palace boast a long-standing tradition of consistently producing exciting players from their highly regarded academy. Over the past decade the team’s nucleus has been built from local talent, helping to create a real sense of community and pride from within the club.

Sadly though, the rapidly inflated wage packets currently being offered by Premier League outfits are causing young players to abandon their parent clubs. You need look no further than John Bostock as an example of how the young can be lead astray.

I was fortunate enough to be at Selhurst Park on the 29^th of October 2007 when at the tender age of 15, John Bostock became the youngest ever player to represent Palace. It was a crisp Monday evening, the team were two nil down against high-flying Watford and seemed resigned to defeat. As the groans of discontent echoed round the ground, the crowd were suddenly buoyed to see the youngster warming up on the touchline.

Although he was only on the pitch for a few minutes, every successful pass and surging run was greeted with a deafening cheer. The introduction of Bostock helped inject a real buzz of excitement amongst the supporters and masked an otherwise uninspired performance.

As with many fairytales, this one wouldn’t have a happy ending. After making three further appearances for the club Bostock announced he would be joining Tottenham at the end of the season, with the fee going to a tribunal. The club were awarded an initial fee of £700,000, described at the time by owner Simon Jordan as the equivalent of ‘a packet of crisps’, which would rise by a further £1.5m depending on his future number of appearances.

Since then Bostock has endured a torrid time at Spurs and has only made one competitive appearance for the club this season. He’s shown brief glimpses of his potential during loan spells at both Brentford and Hull but it remains increasingly obvious that he would have been better served continuing his development at Palace.

Bostock is not the only player to suffer disappointment since his departure from the Eagles. Wayne Routledge is only just finding his feet at Premier League newcomers Swansea having become somewhat of ‘journeyman’ over recent years. His time on the football club merry-go-round has been long and arduous, having been initially seduced by the bright lights of White Hart Lane back in 2005.

Lets not forget Tom Soares, who has recently been dumped on loan at SPL strugglers Hibernian after failing to impress Tony Pulis at Stoke. Ben Watson and Victor Moses are arguably the exception to the rule but despite their growing number of first team appearances for Wigan, it looks like they too will be playing for a Championship side next season. Are you reading Wilfried Zaha?

There is a strong sense that this ugly trend will continue to be a focal point in the sport, with the introduction of the new Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP).

The idea behind the scheme is that the best players are developed by the finest coaches at clubs using state-of-the-art facilities. This will in turn allow a greater number of youngsters to realise their potential and ultimately benefit the national side. Whilst on paper this scheme seems beneficial, it stems from deluded logic that will have a significant impact on clubs outside the Premier League.

If you ask any teacher, they will inform you that the best learning environments are intimate and structured to engage with the varying personalities of each student. Herding the cream of the crop into one giant pen will not aid their development. Clubs will be bursting at the seams with handpicked players, who will slowly drip feed them back down the leagues as they inevitably fail to excel in such a chaotic atmosphere.

There seems to be very few incentives for clubs who fall shy of the financial requirements in order to be a ‘category one’ club. Palace chairman Steve Parish has recently slammed the scheme in the media suggesting that:

“As far as the Premier League is concerned, we’re here for their benefit. Are we meant to spend all our time and money finding talent and educating kids, only to give them to Chelsea?” (The Sun)

It’s easy to understand his reasons for complaint. Under these new regulations Palace would have received a poultry £130,000 for the services of John Bostock and whilst at present that figure looks like an over-valuation of the player, it offers a terrifying glimpse into the future.

It appears that the FA are hell bent on moulding top English sides to match the achievements of Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona. But do we really want to see Premier League mutate into La Liga? With the same clubs trading blows at the top in an all too predictable and dull affair.

As a fan of a Premier League club, do you currently value your own academy? Do the ends justify the means if it brings success on the international stage?

If you’re a fan of a club outside the top flight, do you feel bullied by financially superior clubs? Do you fear these new rules will impact on the very existence of your club?

Leave your comments below and join in the debate on Twitter @theunusedsub

The standard of football between the two divisions has improved vastly over the last several seasons and this season sees the quality of the Championship as good as it ever has been. In defence of these players, there is of course a higher standard of football despite the dip in margin. For example, strikers are up against better teams and while they might have got 10 chances per game in the Football League, they may only get the odd few in the Prem.

So what unfortunate ten make my top ten list of players who are Championship rather than Premier League quality? Find out below…

Click on Routledge below to see the Top TEN

But despite the lack of heavy spending, there were a number of clubs and individuals who caught the eye. Whether it was clubs looking to strengthen following a poor first half to the season, or simply the backing of a new manager from an ambitious owner, there were most definitely talking points. Maybe not enough for Jim White in the Sky Sports News studio to get too excited about, but talking points nonetheless.

Click on Alan Pardew for a  roundup of the 10 biggest winners and losers of this past January

The Welsh side went into the semi final second leg one goal down, but an Anthony Gardner own goal levelled things up. Neither side could find the winning goal in normal or extra time, so the game was decided on penalties.

Bluebirds goalkeeper Tom Heaton was the hero, saving both Jermaine Easter and Sean Scannell’s spot kicks, before Jonathan Parr blazed wide to send the hosts through.

Cardiff boss Malky MacKay was ecstatic after the victory, and spoke of his pride at reaching the final.

“I’m delighted for everyone at the football club. It’s a fantastic achievement for everyone and I thought the players were terrific tonight,” he told Sky Sports.

“I think the first goal settled the whole stadium down and it certainly settled the players down.

“I thought we started at a fantastic tempo and with real belief. Getting the goal meant we could sit and probe.

“We knew the way Crystal Palace were going to play, they wanted to hit us on the counter-attack with pace. We had to make sure that we manipulated the ball.

“I think the fact that there were so many chances in and around their goal meant that the team kept believing,” he concluded.

Cardiff will play either Manchester City or Liverpool in the final, with the second semi final being decided on Wednesday night.

By Gareth McKnight

Sam Allardyce is preparing an audacious bid to bring Premier League-bound Crystal Palace winger Wilfried Zaha to Upton Park in January according to The Sun.

The England under 19’s sensational has been touted as one of the best youngsters in the country at the moment and looked set for a move to the top flight in January. However, Allardyce believes he can tempt the winger to stay in London and help the Hammers earn promotion at the first attempt.

Earlier this week, Palace boss Dougie Freedman suggested that Zaha could sign a new deal at Selhurst Park but the £5million rated player could be open to a long term contract at West Ham instead.

Irons boss Allardyce has informed owners David’s Gold and Sullivan that the club need to strengthen in the window if they are to stay on track for promotion after a loss of form and a series of injuries. Wingers Gary O’Neil, Henri Lansbury and Matty Taylor all missed Saturday defeat at Reading and Jack Collison will start a three match ban this week after being sent off at the Madejski.

The reality of a 46-game season is dawning on Allardyce, therefore a January move for Zaha could be forthcoming.

There are definitely some bargains to be had in the second tier of English football and also some genuine Premier League quality that is waiting to be snapped up by the big clubs. Youngsters are breaking through into Championship sides and it may be the case that the clubs look to cash in on the future stars.

Last season Premier League clubs Birmingham and West Ham have held on to the majority of their quality players and some experienced heads are having a much welcomed second wind in their careers that could be worth a gamble on in January. Here are the ten players that have the Premier League clubs sniffing around.

Click on Jay Rodriguez below to unveil the top 10

Crystal Palace stunned Old Trafford on Wednesday night with a 2-1 extra-time victory in the Carling Cup quarter final. Sir Alex Ferguson fielded a weakened team against the Championship side, who completely deserved their win as United’s strength in depth was once again lacking.

With Manchester City five points clear in the title race and United struggling to confirm their progress from the Champions League group stage, the League Cup was perhaps a good chance of silverware this season. Surely it is slightly disrespectful to the supporters to deny them a possible chance at another trip to Wembley or a two legged semi final against one of their arch rivals.

Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal also fielded second string sides in their quarter final games with varying levels of success, but it is almost as if they don’t care about the competition anymore, which is a sad reality.

If it wasn’t that the players were too tired to play, then it was the managers disrespecting the competition and denying the supporters the chance to be competitive in all competitions. Are supporters of successful clubs bored of playing in cup finals? Are they bored of visiting the new Wembley, seeing their side walk up the famous stairs and lift the trophy?

Premier League rules force clubs to play their best team possible in every league game but no such rule applies for cup competitions. This allows managers to rest first team regulars and give the squad players a chance which rarely ends up in them progressing to become first team regulars the week after.

A Championship side will be in this year’s Carling Cup final and the two second tier semi-finalists have both claimed Premier League scalps along the way. Both Palace and Cardiff have taken the competition seriously and their supporters will be extremely excited about the possibility of a trip to Wembley next year if they can win their two legged semi final.

With the FA Cup third round draw taking place on Sunday, Premier League and Championship sides enter the competition and will be eager to find out their opponents for early January. The majority of top flight clubs will face weaker opposition and inevitably field a weakened side from their usual league 11, leaving them vulnerable to a shock. As much as everyone loves an FA Cup upset, I feel every team should take the once great cup competition seriously again.

Fans who travel all around the country to follow their club deserve the strongest possible line up to give them the best possible chance of victory. Every fan from every club wants to go to Wembley and it is up to the managers to give them the best chance of that. Hopefully the FA Cup draw will deliver some glamorous ties and clubs will go all out to win the trophy to make it as competitive as possible and make any giant killing an unarguable success.

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Sir Alex Ferguson fielded a second string side, but with the likes of Dimitar Berbatov, Antonio Valencia and Ji-Sung Park in the home side will have expected to progress.

Darren Ambrose gave the Championship side the lead in the second half, before Federico Macheda equalised for the hosts from the penalty spot and pushed the game into overtime.

Substitute Glenn Murray grabbed the all important winner after 98 minutes, and away manager Dougie Freedman was delighted with his team’s efforts.

“It is a wonderful night for the football club considering the position we have been in in recent years. We really enjoyed our night,” he told Sky Sports.

“We got the win, which I thought we deserved, we played some good football and showed desire to see out the game.

“When you come to Old Trafford you have to give everything you have got and the lads did that. We believe in each other and that takes you a long way at times,” he concluded.

Ferguson meanwhile apologised to the home supporters, and admitted his disappointment at being eliminated from the tournament.

“I’m so disappointed. I have to apologise to my fans and all the players who weren’t playing. We never expected that,” he said.

“Any time we go on the pitch it means a lot to Manchester United. We have our pride to protect and our history to protect. Every time we walk on the pitch it’s important. We didn’t see that tonight.

“Nine internationals out there. So that was a big disappointment.”

The draw for the next round has been completed also, and Crystal Palace will play against Cardiff for a place in the final, whilst Manchester City take on Liverpool.

By Gareth McKnight

Add to that the longest headed goal in history, a couple of tasty debates about Manchester City‘s Adam Johnson and whether you’d rather your team played sexy football or got the points on the board, and you’ve got a video show that you scoundrels and roustabouts will love.

Watch The Football FanCast below…

Elsewhere Fernando Torres and Raul Meireles get the chance to face off against their former employers, while in-form Crystal Palace get a money spinning tie at Old Trafford.

Quarter Final draw in full

Arsenal v Manchester City
Chelsea v Liverpool
Manchester United v Crystal Palace
Cardiff v Blackburn

The ties are to be played the week commencing the 28^th November