Back then, we were a solid yet boring team, and Graham would hardly play the kids at all. But Graham did what we needed him to - provide that solid foundation that had slowly sapped away over the ensuing seasons post-Div 1 Champion glory. Then in came O'Leary, blew away the cobwebs and brought in the kids pretty much immediately to build upon the confidence in the squad and provide a creativity and speed and fluidity unseen in many years. And they played without fear. Kewell, Smith, Woodgate, Harte all sealed themselves as regulars. Under Graham, Kewell had seemed scared of the ball, getting rid of it as soon as he got it. Under O'Leary he stormed down the wings, free from any criticism if he lost it. And he became one of the best players in the League (shame he turned into such a git) We now have a great crop of kids coming through, and it may be that at the end of this year when Warnock retires, we may get a new manager that has the audacity to bring a crop of them through again as regulars. Warnock is blooding them slowly, and the next manager may reap the rewards of this process. This thread is not knocking Warnock, but looking at the possibilities for the future. As long as we keep hold of these kids, I think that future may be about to become bright white again
Guess we all have to agree, Ken. Otherwise you dish out abuse to us morons if we say something without your permission.
The likes of Smith, Kewell, Speed and Woodgate are and were a lot more talented than our current crop of youngers. DOL had no choice but to play the youngsters, he was lucky that they matured so quickly.
Ok, Elland try this. In a year or two, Gimpel for Woodgate, Byram for Kewell (ok, not as skilful as a winger but could offer the equivalent of Speed, although he was under Wilko), any of the Turner twins or Charlie Taylor for Harte, Poleon or Lenighan for Smith, Thompson for midfield, etc etc I see a lot of good young kids coming through and they are all coming through at the same time Would be fantastic to see. Its only been the last season or two that anyone has taken any notice of our development squad. The likes of Tiowo, Woods and Delph all got sold before they could take a real grip of our first team, though I suppose Woods and Tiowo were pouched (5m for the pair, very nice) not that we saw any of that....
One big difference, we were a big name then, now we're just a stepping stone for these kids unfortunately, they all want to play in the premier league, in reality what can we offer them??????? Do we look like a club on the up? Hopefully they will come good and stay for 10 years but somehow I can't see it at the moment.
Our current crop of youngsters aren't the same quality as Woodgate, Smith, Kewell etc. I think Byram can go a long way in the game though. It's early days for him, but he has enough to become a good Premier League right back if given the chance. Tom Lees...I can't see him being a top flight footballer. Aidy White, could have been a good left back but has been messed around too many positions, not given a proper chance early enough and now seems average. Poleon is an unknown really. Hasn't had enough time to show what he's about, but has a bit of pace which is always a bonus for a striker. Then Thompson and any of the others...I can't see them making it that far. We have one quality prospect in Sam Byram, but the others in the first team this season are average.
How the **** would you know? FTR we could have been 4 down in 20 minutes, the right side of midfield is ****e, Peltier was all over the place. We got a very scrappy first goal and blackburn fell apart defensively and we pllayed well to get to 3-2. The midfield fell apart again and blackburn scored their equaliser. Diouf fluuffed his lines with the goal gaping. The ref gave us **** all for 90 minutes. But it was a cracking game to watch.
