What value can you bring if you refuse to simply log onto another site
I'm sorry if I wasn't clear on this. I see it as simple but vital: I will train my players.
If they have u21 value and are trained properly - in a manner that is conducive to the u21 team - then that should be seen as extremely valuable to the u21 community.
I also have to disagree with you completely that a player's stats at the time he's drafted aren't important. My guess is that a player's skills at the time of draft are at least 50% of his ability to get to the u21 team. If he's starting from the right point AND he's trained the right way THEN he can be an u21 player. But I seriously doubt we can have one without the other.
Correct me if I'm wrong on that last part.
You're correct that both are required, but I think what people are trying to say is that beyond a fairly basic cut-off (i.e. "u21 prospects should at the least be 18yr old and have a 5k salary or better after the draft" or something along those lines) there really aren't a lot of broadly applicable guidelines anyone can give you about specific skill requirements because it's very hard to say anything definitive that early in the process.
Does a guard
need to be drafted at respectable OD to compete on the u21 team, 3-4 seasons from now? Could he start with mediocre OD? Could you get away with inept OD if you focused on making him more of an offensive focused player who could be used by the u21 for some extra scoring off the bench? What if you just trained OD really hard for four seasons? There's so many possibilities for how you might train a player, what his prospective role on the team may be, and even what sorts of skills/players the u21 may need four seasons from now that it's really difficult to ask the managers to come up with guidelines for specific skills, especially at such an early time point.
And even if the managers did cave in and decide to throw out some specific skill cutoffs for 18 year olds fresh out of the draft, they would probably either be so low/broad as to be fairly meaningless, or high enough that a half dozen people would be on the forums here disputing an absolute requirement for 6 OD at draft time because if you train them so and so, then they could still do such and such, etc.
Paraphrasing what's already been said by several other posters, I think it's totally fair and probably the only practical solution for the managers to say something like:
"We're always here to help you, we'll gladly answer any emails/questions and go over your prospects in depth with you, we have a lot of good discussion on the off-site forums where we talk about this stuff too, but it's difficult for us to make specific guidelines for general 'prospects' and if you're flat out refusing to even consider visiting the off-site forums or emailing us, there's not much else we can really do here."
The reality is that it probably takes a lot more effort to train a guy well for four seasons than it does to reach out on an off-site forum occasionally, so personally I don't understand your reluctance to use the off-site forum if you are interested in seeing one of your prospects on the u21 team. If you just feel like it'd be a nice bonus to make u21 but really just want to focus more on what's best for your team, then just train however works best for yourself, don't worry too much about the u21/NT community, and if by their 21st year your players are good enough then 'hey, sweet deal' and somebody will already be contacting you about calling them up probably.
If u21 is a goal for you, the managers seem to be saying that this is a two-way street and they're willing to help but it's gonna take at least enough effort on your part to visit the off-site forums or send an email.