What players did he think would make it and hasn't - then why? Who made it who he necessarily didn't think would.
It was a pleasure to listen to Steve Avory, my unsung hero of CAFC. It was quite clear he was going to steer clear of any discussion of the ownership, so I just enjoyed listening to a man who has more football knowledge in his little finger than I will ever have. He watched Charles-Cook recently, and said he was very comfortable at that level. He advised Poyet not to go to wham, and Gus also wanted him to stay, but he made up his own mind and has no regrets about the decision. Steve mentioned that Poyet was a terrific kid to work with. He rates KAG, and thinks there is a lot more to come from him. He was pushed too early and his confidence was affected. But if he gets consistent game time he can progress. On KR, at last he has a manager who really listens to him, and he can work with. For the first time, we have two full-time scouts, as well as 25 part-timers. I'd already left by the time you posted this. Joe Gomez was a very poor header of the ball, and Steve credits Paul Hart with improving this aspect of his game. He kept saying to him "Joe, you've got to find a way". He's still in touch with Joe, and was gutted not to be able to go to Wembley for his England debut. All the Academy players who have left still have an affection for their old club, and he even saw Shelvey in the crowd to watch one of the junior games(I don't know which one). He wouldn't be drawn on whether we would achieve Cat. 1 status, but doesn't believe we're being held back by being Cat 2. He's very pleased with the G4 pitches, and so are the players. He sees his job as having to produce players for the first team, and also to make sure they have a holistic approach, so the whole person grows, not just the footballer. The good news is that he has no ambitions to move on. He expects to stay in his present job until he retires. The AGM was the same bore that AGM's usually are.
I’m glad he put the rumour of Gus trying to engineer a move away for Diego. Did he mention that DP was trying to come back to English football and if he’d spoken to him?
He seemed to join West Ham at the wrong time. They’ve near abandoned their trust in kids over the last few years. They seem certain to lose Reece Oxford.
As I remember it... this directive came straight from the Chief Exec. with her in depth knowledge of English Football.
