It is great to see our chairman backing the Academy like he is. Nicola has so far done everything that he has said he will. Can't wait to see who we will be signing up next from our kids to a full professional contract. A win tonight and I may be forgiven for feeling like I am in heaven. I hope!!!
Saints Academy looks to be going from strength to strength. Its good to see the club are prepared to pay good money to invest in youngsters.
I think the above is a fair comment. NC may have his critics, but you have to admit he says he will invest in the right sort of players and by all accounts that will be done. He may not be the most vocal of chairman, but to be honest and fair to him, what he has said he will do he has done. Despite the media trip ups or what ever they call it. Isn't it time his critics acknowledged this? bpl234 the problem is, is when to play them.... Its a nice problem to have though isn't it........Especially as you get first pick of the very, very best. When are you going to join Saints?
I was one of those critics when he stopped the payment plan. Soon realised that it wasn't him in the wrong but the supposed fans who were fleecing the club. Since then apart from his photo issue which has been rethought he has done only good as far as I am concerned. I would be proud to shake his hand.
Yeah it's always a problem to introduce the youth into the first team especially when there is a promotion push. I think Saints youngsters are lucky with the Under 21's league set up we are in. They receive great coaching & get the games they need at an early age. Hopefully they are gradually introduced at the end of the season or cup games to show how well they can perform in the first team set up. But they then have the extra problem of breaking into the first team when unproven at this level & the team is fighting for promo. The worse problem arises when someone isn't making the first team & is getting older & isn't a youth player eg Martin. I feel sorry for these guys, as at this age they need match experience to improve. This is the grey area. Not proven enough to risk in the first team but need to get games. I like the idea of the loan market as they can train well but its the extras you gain as a player by playing matches.
I hope we can keep Martin because I have high hopes for him. Not sure why we haven't signed him yet unless it is him because he wants to play more games. This season if we hadn't had such a poor start we might have been able to play players on the fringe more often. Success is paramount for this season and I am expecting more of the same next season if we buy more in the close season. Very difficult to see how the youngsters cn get a game if we keep bringing in better players than we already have.
I think we only need to look at the likes of Mike Williamson (playing regularly at Newcastle) to see we shouldn't be too hasty getting rid of young centre backs! I'm really surprised we haven't got Martin's deal sorted (unless I've completely miss it and we have?). Give him a 2 year deal and perhaps send him on loan for 6 months or so if we can't offer him first team football.
Some really good youngsters could make up a good chunk of our cup squads, which might keep our squad from picking up as many injuries - The lad comes with a good reputation, and is pretty versatile too, so can only help provide competition in the under 18 squad which is packed with talent already as their league position shows
