Youth team news.

Insider

Insider

Well-known member
A scroll through the Academy's twitter feed shows you who has been offered scholarships from the u/16s.
It looks like we'll have a relatively young u/18 squad this season.
Interestingly there seems to be a big change of approach from last season when we were bringing young players in from all over the place including a number of 17 yr olds on pro-contracts.
I'm not sure if this is down to Ciaran Donnelly or whether those signings preceeded his appointment.
I am of course looking forward to the u/18 and Championship seasons and hoping I'll get the chance to see plenty of both
UTMP.
 
Insider said:
A scroll through the Academy's twitter feed shows you who has been offered scholarships from the u/16s.
It looks like we'll have a relatively young u/18 squad this season.
Interestingly there seems to be a big change of approach from last season when we were bringing young players in from all over the place including a number of 17 yr olds on pro-contracts.
I'm not sure if this is down to Ciaran Donnelly or whether those signings preceeded his appointment.
I am of course looking forward to the u/18 and Championship seasons and hoping I'll get the chance to see plenty of both
UTMP.
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How would you describe the new approach?
 
I see the youth team have 7 friendlies arranged It gives the dates but no indication of the time or venue Have you any 'insider' information as to when and where these matches will take place

Thanks
 
Are they still going to play at Stanley Park Oval Insider?. There doesnt seem to be any indication a professional football club will be using the facilities.
 
Alfie Conn said:
Are they still going to play at Stanley Park Oval Insider?. There doesnt seem to be any indication a professional football club will be using the facilities.
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They won't be playing at Stanley Park but I don't where they will be playing. I've the question forward for the Structured Dialogue meeting.
 
Icywaves said:
I see the youth team have 7 friendlies arranged It gives the dates but no indication of the time or venue Have you any 'insider' information as to when and where these matches will take place

Thanks
Click to expand...
No. I only get the information off the Academy twitter and that doesn't get posted much in advance. I'm sure you'll see the young pro's featuring against Squires Gate on Friday.
 
Insider said:
I'm not certain that the previous approach was particularly successful, with the exception of Brad Holmes, so I can only say we'll have to wait and see.
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I'm sure Sadler and Critchley have a strategy, and it needs to be different from what went before. I just wondered what caused you to say the policy has changed and if there is anything consistent about the new recruitment?
 
voyeur said:
I'm sure Sadler and Critchley have a strategy, and it needs to be different from what went before. I just wondered what caused you to say the policy has changed and if there is anything consistent about the new recruitment?
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Could this be a sign that perhaps the older of the bunch will move into a Development reserve side? Or maybe as part of the restructure they'll be looking to source loans for those over age?
 
voyeur said:
I'm sure Sadler and Critchley have a strategy, and it needs to be different from what went before. I just wondered what caused you to say the policy has changed and if there is anything consistent about the new recruitment?
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It was just my observation. The strategy "appears" to have changed might have better wording.
 
Insider said:
I'm not certain that the previous approach was particularly successful, with the exception of Brad Holmes, so I can only say we'll have to wait and see.
Click to expand...
Would you say the higher up the EFL the first team is competing, and maybe above natural level, the more having a youth set up seems like a waste of money when you can just borrow a better more developed player at the same sort of age like Ellis Simms?

If you're say a Rochdale and on your arse in the bottom league then there's more need to make sure you've got young lads to fill first team squad places, at a level they can cope with, and put them in the shop window for sales. And easier to do it because of where they're based?
 
poolfc said:
Would you say the higher up the EFL the first team is competing, and maybe above natural level, the more having a youth set up seems like a waste of money when you can just borrow a better more developed player at the same sort of age like Ellis Simms?

If you're say a Rochdale and on your arse in the bottom league then there's more need to make sure you've got young lads to fill first team squad places, at a level they can cope with, and put them in the shop window for sales. And easier to do it because of where they're based?
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Borrowing players doesn't generate income, owning and selling players does, surely. The choice is between developing kids from scratch yourself, or taking on kids released from the top academies, giving them better opportunities, and selling them on. Kings Lynn took Carey from Norwich and have made good money from that. And probably have additional payments and a sell on clause built in.

Key question is, can we get better young players from big club cast offs than we can develop ourselves. I tend to think the most efficient strategy would be to cherry pick from top academy rejects, and give them the game time they need. Casey and Grimshaw are examples of this.

But football clubs should be community based. Provide opportunities and facilities for local kids.

So both approaches can and should co-exist. Like boxing clubs, football clubs can be great places for kids to develop, physically, mentally, socially, academically. Sadler seems to see this as a priority of the club's purpose. Which is brilliant, in my opinion.
 
poolfc said:
Yes that too. Take lads on permanently who haven't quite made it elsewhere but have still had a better football upbringing than we can offer with borrowed facilities etc and are likely be closer to the first team earlier.

I don't know where they're trying to get to with the youth set up but I'd say they're not going to catch up by trying to do it grass roots level up because of the situation inherited, and how local competition has stolen a march. So there's going to be a gap where the set up doesn't quite work for the first team. And it's how to bridge that with something that's actually useful.
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I think that's the case for the dual approach. Provide grass roots cos it is good for the local kids, whatever comes of it. Cherry pick from the big academy rejects cos we should get some first team players and some profit from them. Get a strong reputation and gradually attract better kids.
 
Some good points made by Pooly and Voy.
The first objective of the BFC board, unless it's changed, was to become 1st in class at Cat 3 and then move up to Cat 2. Whilst the incomings increase so of course do the outgoings. The Academies are part funded by the Premier League in return for lower transfer fees, I think but ultimately there's a big cost for our benefactor.
If we do produce players like Josh Keeney (Cods), Callus Styles (Bury), Luke Matheson (Dale) then it's good business.
But we still get back to the question of how we develop young professionals when they graduate from the Academy at 18.
Rowan Roache was an excellent prospect up to age18, playing internationally, but never made it.
Most recently Nathan Shaw has moved on without really getting a chance.
(I fully accept I don't now how good either of them were in the wider football world).
So do we effectively ditch the academy at 18, let the other academies do the hard work and incur the costs before we cherry pick the best rejects?
Or do we do that work at the risk of losing our very best graduates, but with financial compensation, and keep the next best as part of our
#5for25.
Or, as Voy says, aim for a bit of both.
I really don't know the answer.
 
Insider said:
Some good points made by Pooly and Voy.
The first objective of the BFC board, unless it's changed, was to become 1st in class at Cat 3 and then move up to Cat 2. Whilst the incomings increase so of course do the outgoings. The Academies are part funded by the Premier League in return for lower transfer fees, I think but ultimately there's a big cost for our benefactor.
If we do produce players like Josh Keeney (Cods), Callus Styles (Bury), Luke Matheson (Dale) then it's good business.
But we still get back to the question of how we develop young professionals when they graduate from the Academy at 18.
Rowan Roache was an excellent prospect up to age18, playing internationally, but never made it.
Most recently Nathan Shaw has moved on without really getting a chance.
(I fully accept I don't now how good either of them were in the wider football world).
So do we effectively ditch the academy at 18, let the other academies do the hard work and incur the costs before we cherry pick the best rejects?
Or do we do that work at the risk of losing our very best graduates, but with financial compensation, and keep the next best as part of our
#5for25.
Or, as Voy says, aim for a bit of both.
I really don't know the answer.
Click to expand...
The good thing here is that Sadler has a vision to be a community club, and he's employed Critchley, who understands better than anybody what youth development is all about. So we could hardly be in better hands.
 
I think we will be seeing Bange, Apter, Antwi, Hill, Mariette and the 2nd year scholars playing against Squires Gate tomorrow.
 
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