Well, the question was not whether it was better to buy and recycle old farts versus training youngsters. The question was whether or not training is profitable. It is still profitable to train and sell guys, just not the crazy profits that it used to be.
And if people want to do the old fart recycling dance, that doesn't bother me. It can be successful, but I wouldn't call it any more successful than a well run training program. I've seen it work, but I've also seen that when it goes bad, it goes bad quickly. That leaves those managers in a tough position, cause they get stuck with a bunch of crappy old farts whom they can't sell for enough to get to the next cycle, but then don't have any younger players of value to build from.
But really, if people want to think that training isn't useful, and want to buy crappy old players, trained by managers who have a now antiquated view of what skills are important for what position, then that's fine by me. I'll happily accept the competitive advantage.