So after a season playing against good youth teams, Leeds United U18s have managed to finish second in their league, being pipped in the final game by Newcastle who won 1-0 at Barnsley to clinch the title. This is an excellent achievement by the Academy, and bodes well for the future as surely some of this talent will grow into the senior setup. The lads had some great results against Wolves, Middlesbro, Sunderland, Man City, Everton, Bolton and Newcastle (who they beat home and away), and superb results against the Steel City clubs - beating Sheff Utd 6-0 and Wednesday 5-1. The future certainly looks bright, and surely Leeds will develop a few gems from this group. Names to look out for from this squad include Cairns, Gimpel, Killock, Poleon, Clamp and Lenighan. The talent moving into the U18s from next season who are worth a mention are Denton, Atkinson, Dixon, Booker and Coyle. Leeds are renowned for producing young talent, its just a shame a number have left for the bright lights and had their development destroyed at clubs that never allowed them to flourish. Lennon at Spurs aside, too many good young 'uns left Leeds only to suffer. Woods and Taiwo are a goid example, Chelsea ruined them. Ben Gordon, a super young left-back now at Kilmarnock where he played a starring role in their Lge Cuo Final win over Celtic. At least Garbutt at Everton and Rose at Spurs still have a chance, but if they are not playing a lot of competitive football next season they may also dwindle away. I really hope we bring more goid young players into the squad. Lees, White and Thompson have shown their potential, and there is nothing like playing and learning on the big stage. I really like the look of Charlie Taylor, and a bit of a run could see him become a real asset for the club. Roll on next season, may Warnock build a strong squad through shrewd moves in the transfer market, but please remember the young talent we have and the importance of developing those who show the potential to step up. MOT!!!!
Don't think the next stage is Leeds first team or bench warming. The best of our youngsters will probably go out on loane to L2 or L1 clubs to help take them to the next level. But its good to read that we have a fair crop of youngsters rolling off the production line, especially so given the new financial fair play rules coming our way. In another life, the England midfield could easily read - Lennon Howson Delph Milner. Not too shabby!!!
Expect youth players getting pushed forward for the first team. It's clear to me bates doesn't want anybody on the books who isn't getting used, that includes youth players heading out on loan to get experience, he's expressed his desire to get the youth involved more for reasons I don't need to go into. You know how he feels about our gargantuan squad so he wants to reduce it, and that includes not having players on the books who aren't playing. Since youth players are cheaper than senior players, expect them to be used a lot.
I would settle for that, If say we had a strong squad of about 15 with the youth making up the rest Of course we would need a bit of luck injury wise and maybe play the emergency loan market if needed, but I am trying to be a realist & work with what funds Bates is going to release. Would rather a hungry youngster that maybe a bit raw than a journey man looking for a pay day whos heart isnt in it. Put the wages somewhere else, or heaven forbid actually back Warnock!
I just can't get excited about potentially doing well in the short term with strategies like this. The rest of the framework isn't there to make it work properly. I just can't shake the idea that he's going to push Warnock into using mostly youth players throughout the squad, and stand in the way of signings in positions where "we've already got someone". The really frustrating thing about things like this is it's the right idea for the wrong reasons, and if you do things for the wrong reasons it's only a matter of time before it bites you in the ass. There doesn't appear to be one individual strategy for moving forward, it's just "how can we cut costs? right we'll go in that direction" I can't get excited about anything until I feel Leeds United are putting everything into success, at the moment they are not. They're holding back and trying to get something while spending as little as possible. I can't get excited about it because on the off chance it works, then ye fair enough, we managed to "do a Blackpool" (which in itself is disgraceful considering they managed to do something beyond what their fans expect - we expect to be challenging every season until we go up instead of treading water with a small-club mentality). But this strategy of cutting costs at every opportunity, "not paying over the odds" on players, being cautious and taking everything as slow as possible for fear of actually committing to something, we're not going to go anywhere. It's like we're a PC, and bates is the power supply unit (PSU). Your hardware will underperform if it's not getting enough power, with frame rates dropping and processing time increasing etc etc. It's doing what it should but not to the level it's capable because the PSU is holding it back. The PSU will eventually burn out and the PC will stop working. Then the technician tries to fix it by replacing every part except the PSU, insisting the PSU is fine and insulting you for asking for a replacement to put you off doing so, because he's getting paid every time he replaces a part.
