The Academy has always had a number of functions.
We, as fans, just want to see first team players produced for us and rightly so. Part of the Academy's remit is to produced professional footballers, and if that isnt with us then at other clubs and another part is to bring in funds for the club. Since it opened in 1998 in its current guise we have done that in spades with the likes of Downing, Johnson, Gibson etc going for big money.
Just 6 months ago the likes of Josh Coburn were a million miles away from being ready for a first team squad place. Hes had a brilliant season, and come on leaps and bounds with training with the first team. The likes of Josh and Kav need carefully managing though, and cant just be thrown in as it could work totally the other way.