1. I guess the claim is that with squad sizes as they are, that club training sessions now fulfil that role for PL clubs. 2. I am not sure the U23 league really cuts it for injury-returning seniors. In 2012-13 I saw Kaboul play in an U23 game against the Spanners and it was literally like man vs boys (though twas one funny incident) . 3. Perhaps something initially like 10 games max for each PL club (opponents drawn at random) each season would be a start. Get some feedback from the players in the clubs as to how they thought it was for them wrt #1.
One thing I have seen WindyCOYS mention is that, once Poch elevates a player from the U23s to the first team, he refuses to have them return to the U23s On the one hand this makes perfect sense if the player is establishing themselves in the first team like Winks was a couple of seasons ago, but on the other hand this makes little sense for players clearly on the periphery of the first team like KWP as he's barely featuring for the first team yet isn't getting run-outs for the U23s to keep his sharpness up
Jermain Defoe being a little less than complimentary of Gareth Bale... https://www.reddit.com/r/coys/comments/c23fcr/jermain_defoe_on_gareth_bales_attitude_to/
Just tuned into watch the England under 21 game and the studio "expert " was non other than .......Jamie O'Hara, scraping the barrel here Sky
I heard him on the radio a couple of days ago....Not great is being really charitable to him as he offered zero by way of insight. At best, he repeated some dreadful old cliches, at worst, he was just plain wrong on a few occasions. He also couldn't pronounce a couple of words with more than 3 syllables. It made my toes curl.
Dour Yorkshireman ?? Tick. Knew how to manage a team to play silky smooth football ?? Tick. Had an exemplary team captain and leader on-pitch ?? Tick. Won domestic and UEFA silverware ?? Tick. Computer says : Spurs manager.
When you throw in Graham Roberts, Ray Clemence, Gary Mabbutt, Tony Calvin, Paul Miller, Mickey Hazard, Chris Hughton, Garth Crooks, Steve Archibald and most importantly, Colin Lee you have to admire his eye for a player!
Good luck to them both. Hopefully Etherington's over his gambling issues and he can bring something back to the game.
Watching penalties today,I had a vision of yesteryear......little Tommy Harmer walking up to the ball at an acute angle and putting the penalty to the goalie's right as the goalie is completely sold going the other way. I think I only saw Tommy miss one...….(?).
His one mistake? He thought Barry Daines was the furure.He was misinformed. I always felt like I'd lost a brother.....!
So did I, especially as he always said 'the day I leave Tottenham is the day I hang up my boots'. Everyone was devastated. At least Keith had the decency to admit, some time later, that it had been a big mistake. Shame because he was a very good manager and such a nice guy.
That ball must have weighed a tonne...no wonder nowadays records get broken every week...never saw one cross get height and whip on it...not a critisiscm just an observation. Got it easy now for the 25 yard screamers
It's quite an interesting point you make, i certainly always thought that the older footballs were heavier, although it appears not to be the case. Footballs were originally 13-15oz that changed to 14-16oz, so not really any difference, so why did the older footballs appear heavier and more cumbersome. It appears it was down more to the raw materials that were used in the early days, and the dangers of heading a stitiched ball! Although there was some weight difference dependent on weather conditions, today a ball is not allowed to weigh more than 16oz including water absorption, whereas older balls held a lot of water and i don't think there was any regulation governing this. I think it's more the aero dynamics of footballs have improved rather than the weight, due to the changes in material and the manufactoring methods now used.
