06-11-2019, 03:23 PM
(06-11-2019, 02:47 PM)baggiebloke Wrote:(06-11-2019, 12:51 PM)Shabby Russian Wrote: There is no doubt that our production of youth players has improved over the past 13 years.
We seem to have developed some that have gone onto make a career in the game.
And the further we have gone into Harrison's tine in charge the more there seems to be coming through.
My quibble with youth development at the club may have nothing to do with him. But it is this, what happens to them when they reach the age of 18, they appear to stall. And sometimes this is just stalling at the club, both Roofe and Sawyers had to leave the club and take a step backwards before their careers seem to get back on track (for want of a better expression).
We seem to struggle with the final step with our youngsters that of assimilation into the first team.
Yes, absolutely. Snagging as they transition from youth to first team football.
But there may be reasons for this. There are an awful lot of our ex kids making a career at the game right now. In our 8 years at the top level the products of the academy weren't good enough to play there and so moved on. But the Academy quality improved and we went backwards. Now we are at a level where a number look like they can do a job for us. I agree our managers have been slow to play them (for differing reasons of their own), but was the Academy improvement (under Harrison), due to our Prem money/status? Or due to it evolving over time ?
It certainly seems like we're losing a good 'un and any business worth it's salt would be ensuring we don't lose any more. It shouldn't be impossible to replace the guy, but do we have the will to do it without resorting to cost cutting?