LIKE all Blackburn fans, I was delighted to see Paul Gallagher score his first ever Premiership goal against Birmingham on Saturday.

It's always incredibly satisfying to see a home-grown player make it big in the first team and Rovers' record in that respect compares with most in the country.

But as for the Academy system in general in our country, I'm not so sure it has been quite the success that everyone was hoping for.

If anyone can show me any evidence that suggests Academies have produced more players than the old youth system then I'd like to see it.

Don't get me wrong, I don't deny the fact that Academies do get people into a lot of good habits but many of those players who do come through would have come through anyway.

It's those that don't make it who I'm worried about because the drop-out rate is absolutely phenomenal.

When you look at the size of first team squads these days and the pressure which is placed on the manager to get instant success, it's very hard to see a clear pathway through for our younger players.

At the end of the day, any players who are going to be good enough will be playing in the Under 19s at the age of 17.

Then after six months to a year of that, they need to be moving up to the next level, otherwise they are going to stagnate.

I know reserve football is not what it used to be but you still need to play in it because it's all part of a player's development.

The problem is that for every player who does make the grade, there are hundreds who end up on the scrapheap with their dreams shattered.

That's why I believe the whole system needs an overhaul.

Firstly, we've got to look at the huge amounts of money being spent on Academies and we should be asking ourselves 'are we getting a proper return for our investment?'

It currently costs Rovers around £3 million a year to keep the doors open to their Academy at Brockhall.

Some will say if it produces one first team player every two or three years then it's worth it.

But how many players have had to go through the system for that to happen, and if you had an old fashioned youth system would that player not have been produced anyway?

Damien Duff and David Dunn both came through the youth system at Rovers before the Academy was in full swing.

Secondly, I think we need to address the amount of foreigners who are playing in our game.

I'd love to see a rule introduced which limits the number of players who could play in the first team, but that would probably go against the laws of the European Union.

I'm not against recruiting genuine top-class foreigners like Thierry Henry or Ruud Van Nistelrooy because they add something to our game but it's the sight of average foreign imports clogging up the system which annoys me.

And it's not just happening at first team level either, because clubs are now looking to recruit youngsters from the continent for their Academies.

Thirdly, and finally, the current Academy system needs scaling down, which is due to happen in the summer.

At the moment, we have Under 17 and Under 19 competitions but that's going to be replaced by an Under 18 competition.

That means clubs will be able to cut down on the number of players they have to recruit.

I know it sounds cruel but at the moment a lot of players in our Academies are simply there to make the numbers up, which is no good for anyone.