My summary of the game is available at you know where. Opinions of new training ground. Still playing Nextgen games on wonky outside pitches !!! Though to be fair tis why that area is called Forty Hill. Nice to be let into the reception area and use the drinks facilities. But a bunch of utter c--ts for bullying people pitch-side who wanted to take piccies. And starting on that kid for wanting to do nothing more than take a piccie of the big cockerel emblem on the reception centre wall : utterly disgusting (I had a go at the jobsworth Nazi who did that) .
The club sees taking photos on the touchline as an infringement of their youth protection programme. Some clubs enforce the protection issue more vigorously than others, Reading for example do not allow spectators beyond players' immediate family, to watch their youth games.
Is this all to stop other sides from scouting youth players and potentially tapping them up, SC? Seems a little strange, as presumably the other clubs will still be able to view the youngsters, albeit only with their youth coaches.
Fair enough. Given some of the less savoury tactics that you hear about with regards to youth players, I guess it's only to be expected. I read an interview with Frank de Boer yesterday and he discussed Ajax's policy of trying to maintain 70% of their first team as products of their youth academy. If richer clubs can just come along and essentially steal them, then that goes straight out of the window. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19985608 It'd be nice to see us continue our relatively newfound focus in this area. Caulker and Livermore are our first breakthroughs in years and I'd like to think that someone like Pritchard would get an opportunity soon. Sounds like he deserves one.
Is the cockeral on the wall part of our youth programme too Sounds good RDBD, I posted up a photo from Twitter of the reception area on the Bill Nick thread and I think the guy also had a couple of photos from the game. That person happened to be the co-founder of the Nextgen competition so I guess he's allowed to get away with it
I'd like to think Pritchard will get a chance soon. He and Luongo were class acts last season, both individually and as a midfield partnership. Pritchard has continued to develop without his 'side-kick' and although he generally now plays in a wider role, his impact has not been marginalised. One who didn't play today, but is impressing is Josh Onomah. He is only 15 and has been playing CM in our under 18 side and is highly rated by the coaching staff. I know we've been down this road before, but to be considered good enough for this level at his age is extremely encouraging.
Someone will probably offer it more wages than us. Which side has he been used on, SC? I think Townsend could really make an impact down our left, so it'd be nice to see a bit of competition and back-up for Lennon. I'll keep an eye out for the name. Hopefully these kids will take note of what it takes to make it and how easily you can get off track. Caulker, Livermore and to some extent Townsend all seem to have embraced a more professional and mature approach. Do the work when out on loan, keep pushing yourself and take your chance when it comes.
"Is this all to stop other sides from scouting youth players and potentially tapping them up, SC?" To stop them putting faces to names ?? Can probably do that via the OS website. In the first half, two old boys next to me were definitely scouts from other places. One had written something like "MF, holding" against Velkjovics' name.
to keep them on track,just show them Bentley as what happens if you go off track!.He had the world at his feet,and he blew it
I was thinking more along the lines of not seeing them play too much, to be honest. Considering the way that this stuff tends to get talked about, it doesn't seem that it'd be that effective, though. I thought he was a centre-half. Shows what I know!
"Is the cockeral on the wall part of our youth programme too" Did he do something bad ?? He's nailed up on the wall outside just to the right of the area shown in the piccie you posted.
He came on against Barca didn't he? Looking forward to getting a proper chance to see him play in the future.
Yes, he replaced Coulibaly. What a great education for him to come on in that game because at the time he'd only had a couple of games at this age group.
1-1 at Anderlecht (were 1-0 up) . With Barca away, it looks like the Wolfsburg faffing about last week may cost them.
It's very tight, isn't it? Both still have to play Barcelona away, but Wolfsburg have to play Anderlecht away too, whereas we've got them at home. Might go down to the wire.
Pritchard was missing last night through suspension but is available for the Barc game next week. He is such a big player in this side he will have been sorely missed yesterday. Apparantly Coulibaly took a hefty challenge and had to go off. We're still second beind Barca, but it does look as if the unacceptable complacency we showed last week will be our undoing.
