RYAN Giggs, Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Gary and Phil Neville, Nicky Butt and Wes Brown ... hardly names at the top of the popularity charts with Wanderers fans.

But ask any football manager in the land and he'd have any one of them in his squad - never mind all seven.

Alex Ferguson is blessed to have such a wealth of home grown talent rolling off the Old Trafford production line.

Another fortunate manager is David O'Leary, who has at his disposal the skills of Jonathan Woodgate, Gary Kelly, Ian Harte, Stephen McPhail, Alan Smith and Harry Kewell - all blooded at Elland Road without causing so much as a ripple in the transfer market.

Lucky Uniteds? Not a bit of it.

The Manchester and Leeds giants are reaping the benefits of forward planning; cashing in today on the investments of the past.

So it is hardly surprising, when Sam Allardyce sets targets and standards as he draws up his Ten Year Plan, that he should look to the nation's most respected academies - and take a leaf out of their investment portfolios.

"Leeds have spent big money - on Danny Mills, Darren Huckerby, Michael Bridges and Dominic Matteo - but look at the money they've saved on Kelly, Woodgate, McPhail, Harte, Smith and Kewell," he explains.

"And just look at what Manchester United have spent on players who are behind the Beckhams and Nevilles in the reserves! They cost nothing because they came through the ranks.

"That's what we have got to be looking to do ... first and foremost to get the best young players from our own area but also from further afield - even abroad."

Time was - and it's not that long ago - when Wanderers did not consider it necessary to have a chief scout. Now Allardyce, who has recruited former Blackpool, Bury, Blackburn and Sunderland talent spotter, Jack Chapman, to take over where Dean Crombie left off, can see the day when the club will need two.

"We certainly need a European scout," he says, "and a network of people in various countries who will save us having to rely on agents to recommend players.

"But it's essential to get more funding for the academy and I don't see why government - either central or local - shouldn't be involved.

"After all, football academies are part of the nation's education system. We send our young players through college and employ education welfare officers. We offer young people the chance to fulfil their dreams.

"We should be funded a lot more than we are. We need to be able to offer fully-funded scholarships so that we can not only find the best talent but develop them and educate them at the same time."