I see he keeps getting called up for England's u17s, anyone know anything about him or seen him play? Does he train/play with our reserves yet? Anyone who used to speak to barmby ever ask about him? As burton is only 15 mins from me I may pop down next Wednesday to see what he's like vs Italy u17s.
He's still only just 16, but he made his reserve team debut in March and he's expected to feature regularly for the reserves this season. I've not managed to get to reserve games as often as I used to, so I've not actually seen much of him, but he's highly rated by everyone at City. Unfortunately, he's highly rated by a lot of other clubs and his England appearances have resulted in him being regularly watched by top teams, there were rumours of a Liverpool approach last season, but as far as I know, nothing happened.
aren't young players contracted to their registered club for a period of time these days to prevent nabbing?? thought some regulation had been introduced on this..
The regulations have been changed to benefit the Premier League clubs, the Football League were blackmailed into accepting them, if we lose him soon, we get nothing like a decent fee for him.
hmm.. surely if the lad has as much potential as mentioned.. why arnt we offering him a senior/pro contract, have him on the bench and make some appearances ? the old saying is if your good enough, your old enough..
Once he turns 17, isn't he properly contracted to us, meaning that we can't lose him for anything other than a proper fee?
As far as I'm aware, he's on as good a contract as we're able to give him at his age and if we make it to a full contract in a year(when he's 17), then we're okay.
looks and plays like a mini-macca. needs a few games wearing a torres hair band now to really mature!!
Just looked him up - born 19th January. 4 months, fingers crossed. Unless of course there's some messed up rule that means we can't seal the deal until the end of the season in which a player turns 17...
He is still training at ideal with the youth players. Plays mainly centre half or left back for reserves ,has a great left foot and is getting better every time I see him. The EPPP (elite player performance plan) basically means the rich get better and poor get worse. If we were to lose him to say Liverpool we get £3000 per year he's been at the club so in this case £21000! It's a joke.
That's ****ing ridiculous! What a scam! Football really is a joke when compared to other sports in the way it's run. Not saying all other sports are perfect or that no others are corrupt but it's so blatent in football it's embarrassing. I think the saying goes "they're pissing on us without the courtesy of even saying it's rain"
I'm guessing well lose him just before his 17th, it's probably pre arranged and hes happy where he lives and doesn't want to move quite yet til it's necessary, if he's good enough for England youth then one of the big PL clubs will obviously take a gamble for a mere 21k. Maybe I won't bother going to watch him, waste of 3 quid, I'll go for a pint instead.
Although he turns 17 in a few months time, would us being promoted to the premier league change the rules on him joining a bigger club?
The worst thing that Max Clark can do now is join a top team. imo. He needs to develope his game, become a first team regular @ Hull City and then the rest will follow. We all saw what happened to Paul Anderson when he went to Liverpool and the career he has had so far. Where is he now ? sitting on the bench @ Bristol City. Max Clark is a real talent - but one for the long term. imo I would not worry about losing Max Clark anytime soon with the Allams and Bruce in charge. It would not surprise me if they have him on a belt and bracies contract. But by getting to the PL would make life that much simpler though. One example i can give you. Josh McEachran @ Chelsea. Great talent and where is he now ? Middlesboro on loan to play games. He is good enough for half the PL clubs imo. Top clubs just buy up then destroy whatever talent England has. imo., rant over.
Yeah, but realistically when the big boys come calling and flash their cash and make some empty promises to his parents everything you said goes out the window. I 100% agree it would be probably be stupid for him to move on with no league experience under his belt (the exception being if he is exceptional) but money and power > sense. There are loads of examples of promising youngsters who moved to soon and fizzled out and dropped into the lower leagues, but it doesn't stop youngsters being tempted when the opportunity arises.
Sadly you are correct with ^^^^ this. If Max Clarks parents have anything about them they will know whats right for his career. Sadly many parents just see the short term gain. IF we still had Nick Barmby at the club Nick would be the perfect man for this role. Nick Barmby should have been given the role of Special Talent manager imo. I would hope that good sense prevails and think it will especially with Steve Bruce as manager. We shall see though.
