This is the strange thing, most of the GP clubs ARE funding and developing excellent facilities and programs to capture and develop young local talent. Saracen's Academy for example is literally so full, the club is paying any Bed & Breakfast/Pub/Inn with free rooms nearby to take young hopefuls. The facilities at the Academy are said to be superb and are so good, they cover all the local clubs in the Counties of Hertfordshire, Essex and Buckinghamshire.
Yes, we've bought Chris Jack, a load of Italians, a Scot and a couple of Boks but that I think is just a stop gap until the younger talent comes of age and starts to prove its worth. One of the earliest signs of good local talent coming through is Number 8 Ben Skirving who hails from Bishops Stortford in Essex, just up the road from me. The Gaffer (Alan Gaffney) is definitely not afraid to be brutal selection wise and if he sees a good English prospect in the Saracens A team, he won't hesitate to push them into the first XV.
Allot of other clubs like Worcester, Bath, Quins, Irish and Wasps have to turn to local talent because they haven't the financial muscle or the recent form or reputation to lure big names. Worcester managed to pull off a coup with signing Rico Gear but I think that was done simply on the sheer charisma of Mike Ruddock and Cecil Duckworth alone rather than any reputation or gaurantees of getting a decent position in the GP. Remember, since promotion Worcester have hung on by the skin of their teeth most seasons in the GP and barely escaped relegation last season in the last game.
In conclusion, while it may come as a shocking surprise to some SH chaps, not all GP clubs are rolling around in used £50 notes snorting cocaine off of the bums of fresh Latvian hookers. This is a consequence of meddling by incompetent administrators in all levels of the game in England and Europe as a whole.
So really, the idea of this forever running conveyor belt from the SH to the GP is a false one. There simply isn't the cash to sustain such big name signings in the future, clubs will be forced (if they haven't already) to look locally or at least within England to develop talent.
