Terry Bondo

tangible

tangible

Well-known member
6ft 3in and looks a real unit. If he fills out a bit he should be knocking defenders around like skittles. And still only 18. Had a short spell with Matlock last season and scored a couple. If he's destined for another loan I hope he goes somewhere further up the pyramid and really thrives this season.
 
Chunkylad said:
If he's not at the Conference at worst, then he's not going to be able to break through again.
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Rob Apter was in NPL ( same step as Matlock were) at aged 18, so that level does.work for those who are good enough.

Very few are good enough, Rob stood out above all other young players at that level. For example he came on loan the same time as Ewan Bange, Ewan is now in NPL.at Bamber Bridge permanently.

So many others pass through. Jake Daniels, Rowan Roche, Will Squires, Taylor Bowen, Ewan Bange, Joe Strawn to name a few off the top of my head, all played at Bamber Bridge over the last few years, only one of those is now a professional footballer as it stands.

People cry out for young players to go to "a better level" than Step 7 but maybe it's the player not the loan level that ultimately counts.

Terry Bondo is still young, will he make it, I don't know, I don't know enough about the lad or seen enough of him, but don't diss step 7, look what it did at the start for Rob at exactly the same age.
 
StevieBanksDiscoPants said:
Rob Apter was in NPL ( same step as Matlock were) at aged 18, so that level does.work for those who are good enough.

Very few are good enough, Rob stood out above all other young players at that level. For example he came on loan the same time as Ewan Bange, Ewan is now in NPL.at Bamber Bridge permanently.

So many others pass through. Jake Daniels, Rowan Roche, Will Squires, Taylor Bowen, Ewan Bange, Joe Strawn to name a few off the top of my head, all played at Bamber Bridge over the last few years, only one of those is now a professional footballer as it stands.

People cry out for young players to go to "a better level" than Step 7 but maybe it's the player not the loan level that ultimately counts.

Terry Bondo is still young, will he make it, I don't know, I don't know enough about the lad or seen enough of him, but don't diss step 7, look what it did at the start for Rob at exactly the same age.
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Thanks SBDP. I know you've got a real life understanding of the levels so your feedback is appreciated.
 
StevieBanksDiscoPants said:
Rob Apter was in NPL ( same step as Matlock were) at aged 18, so that level does.work for those who are good enough.

Very few are good enough, Rob stood out above all other young players at that level. For example he came on loan the same time as Ewan Bange, Ewan is now in NPL.at Bamber Bridge permanently.

So many others pass through. Jake Daniels, Rowan Roche, Will Squires, Taylor Bowen, Ewan Bange, Joe Strawn to name a few off the top of my head, all played at Bamber Bridge over the last few years, only one of those is now a professional footballer as it stands.

People cry out for young players to go to "a better level" than Step 7 but maybe it's the player not the loan level that ultimately counts.

Terry Bondo is still young, will he make it, I don't know, I don't know enough about the lad or seen enough of him, but don't diss step 7, look what it did at the start for Rob at exactly the same age.
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Bondo was given game time in the first team early last season which suggests the club believe he has the potential to make the grade.
 
tangysider said:
Bondo was given game time in the first team early last season which suggests the club believe he has the potential to make the grade.
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So was Jake a few seasons ago,

I do think they see Terry as a potential, hopefully he is. Like I said, I don't have the knowledge or experience or insight to make any judgement on that. I do however know that Step 7 isn't as bad as people make out for young lads of that stage in their career.

Rob Apter played for our first team briefly in a.couple of cup games before going to Bamber Bridge and the his subsequent other loans. He stepped up year on year, Brig, Chester , Scunthorpe, Tranmere which is the plan I would assume for all youngsters the club hold hope for. Unfortunately only a few make it all the way through. Terry is on his way with that though, let's hope he does 👍
 
Yet we released Jake Daniels who looked all over a natural goal scorer.
This Bondo lad is typical of the British game whereby those of a certain height and build have far more chances to succeed.
Still hope we can get another lad through from the academy to the 1st team though, so fingers crossed he can push on, find a suitable loan and come back match ready.
 
tangerine_neil said:
Yet we released Jake Daniels who looked all over a natural goal scorer.
This Bondo lad is typical of the British game whereby those of a certain height and build have far more chances to succeed.
Still hope we can get another lad through from the academy to the 1st team though, so fingers crossed he can push on, find a suitable loan and come back match ready.
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Unfortunately if you re a big lad who looks the part you often get the slot . Smaller more skillful players often , unless completely exceptional , don't often get the benefit of the doubt
 
tangerine_neil said:
Yet we released Jake Daniels who looked all over a natural goal scorer.
This Bondo lad is typical of the British game whereby those of a certain height and build have far more chances to succeed.
Still hope we can get another lad through from the academy to the 1st team though, so fingers crossed he can push on, find a suitable loan and come back match ready.
Click to expand...

I take the point in the general British (English?) tendency towards the physical but to be fair to the club, the one lad who has actually made it through in the last X years isn't exactly a beanpole is he?
 
Holmes was a player who I thought had a future. Made his full debut in 2021 then went out on loan. Featured in Championship and then released. Think he went to Bamber Bridge and now in NPL.
Biggest disappointment since Danny Midgley
 
tangerine_neil said:
Yet we released Jake Daniels who looked all over a natural goal scorer.
This Bondo lad is typical of the British game whereby those of a certain height and build have far more chances to succeed.
Still hope we can get another lad through from the academy to the 1st team though, so fingers crossed he can push on, find a suitable loan and come back match ready.
Click to expand...
Jake is a good player, he was one that had noticeable ability that you could see stand out a bit at NPL level, he played at Warrington last year, and had a good spell. However he's not in the same category as Apter was. I think Jake still has a good chance at making it professionally and may get another club, maybe national league level, I would have liked us to have given him another year.

Brad Holmes on the other hand, was never going to make it unfortunately imo.

The harsh facts are in youth level football, and academies at our level, the ratio of release to pro contract is very small. Something that I think as a club we are getting better at, but all clubs have similar. It's a tough ask to make it.

Sometimes we get it wrong, and release a future success... Ricky Lambert for example, and for the older ones amongst us, you may remember Pat McGinlay who went on to play at a pretty good level.

Kian Best from the nobbers a kid who played a few games last year, then was released has just signed for Chelsea ( again he may end up not making it) Tyrese Dolan was released by nobbers. Harry Kane was let go from Arsenal at a young age, Rob Apter was released by Tranmere at 16.

Dion Charles, George Thomason also ex Blackpool.

It's a gamble, but historically very few make the journey to the first team either with us or other clubs.

Also, these days, any player that hugely shines, gets picked off to big club academies, Schutler looks like falling into that category, unless we can keep him.
 
mull said:
Unfortunately if you re a big lad who looks the part you often get the slot . Smaller more skillful players often , unless completely exceptional , don't often get the benefit of the doubt
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Bondo did well in his loan and scored a few, Daniels didn’t really do much bar one good goal, they were in the same league and Daniels is older. Nothing to do with bias about size, you have to actually show something in real competitive football.
 
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