We have had lots of very promising youngsters but there seems to be a glass ceiling when it comes to maturing into the first team. We have had numerous players playing for England age groups that seem to hit a brick wall.
I can't really tell if it's:
A, our post 16 academy acts as a poor "finishing school" and fails to develop them
B, we have failed to come up a coherent plan on how we are going to develop pathways for our youngsters into our first team
C, our success getting players into the England age groups is as much down to us being viewed favourably by people within the FA who possibly overrate our academy plus the influence a number of Ex Albion people have had on the englush age teams (Ashworth, Downing, Boothroyd)
I tend to think B and C are the biggest two factors, although you could make the argument that since the Woosld/Berahino/Sawyers/Roofe team, we haven't really produced any premier league quality players who have gone on to do well after leaving us.