Im not going to pretend i know the goings on in and around the club, especially the relationship between 1st team and U23s and the junior set up. What we all have witnessed though is pretty evident. Not naming a full bench, playing with no strikers etc. It speaks volumes to me. At Leeds, the progression is fantastic. Youngsters given opportunities to travel with the 1st team squad, to gain that match day experience. They see the way through to the 1st team and that offers hope. In many of the European countries ive coached or attended sessions in, the purpose of the youth set up is to deliver players for the 1st team. Results are secondary to development. Not every club will produce a Sterling or an Eze but they get the opportunities to at least try show their worth. If other clubs had persevered with Eze then they would have coined it in. What really pisses me off at The R's is the lethargy and sometimes lack of effort shown over the last 3 months. These young kids will run their ****ing socks off and give their all. Duke Mckenna, Bettache to name 2 have always showed the desire and effort. Could they possibly have been any worse than Johanson lately?
Anyone on here actually see Armstrong play? Comments I've read on LFW from people who have seen him play for Torquay and now Aldershot were that he is way off Championship standard at present. They maybe wrong of course.
I would have loved to see Duke mckenna get a chance in Willocks role after he got injured. Bettache is just as capable of receiving the ball and passing it backwards %90 of the time as Hendrick did. Im sure we would have still finished mid table if they and one or two more had played and it would have set a great example as a progressive club
Exactly this. Pathetic not to name a young lad in a first team squad when the opportunity arose. Warburton may not come out of all this too well.
I am not defending Warburton here, as I have the general feeling as many of you do that...he did not and had no intention of playing youngsters at the serious end of the season ...but... but I have a recollection of Armstrong being injured before he went out of loan recently. He had a good loan at Torquay period just before Xmas, got injured before he went out on a short loan in March to Aldershot. Duke-McKenna went out on loan to Oxford City in January. I do not think either were available. Bettache is the mysterious one. He got a year loan to Oldham but cane back in January... I think also injured. He has been playing a bit towards the end of this season. I think he played today. But as I have said I am not sure our best u23 were available to Warburton. Maybe that was the cause of the row in fact... When he needed them they weren't there. If that is so...perhaps we are putting at least some of the blame in the wrong place. Separately why our youngsters playing at such a low level... mostly nonleague. Bonne has had a season at a goodish club, but after a bright start faded. Masterson has played near every game for Gillingham, Kelman has been in and out of the team. No body has shone though like Eze did at Wycombe or Chair did at Stevenage (?)
Why send him to Aldershit for 4 league games then ? We could've kept him here and started him in the last 2 games of the season. What did we have to lose, he gains some immediate experience of playing at this level and finds out just what is required in the future. Another inept and short sighted piece of thinking by the club as a whole.
I've read Bettache went backwards after his loan at Oldham and Duke- Mackenna looked our worst player in a recent U23 game. Maybe nonsense of course.
Like I said from what I read from people who have seen him play he is well off being good enough to play for us in the Championship. I've only seen clips of a couple of goals he scored. No way we can make judgements when we haven't seen these U23's play! That's why I asked if anyone here had. The Management decided Armstrong would get more out of playing at these places. Ramsey presumably sees him play a lot and came to that conclusion with the others.
I have seen him play actually, and he's very raw but physically imposing and quick. Just because they decided it was better for him to go to Aldershot doesn't make it the right decision. Can you not see that whether he played well or not, the experience he would've gained in playing these 2 games for us would've been invaluable . What exactly is he gonna learn in 4 games for Aldershot that will benefit us next season ? It's these sort of short sighted decisions that had me questioning Warburton, Ramsey and Ferdinand in the first place. Ramsey is head of technical coaching and also the head of our youth coaching, he's hardly pulling any trees up is he ? Where is all the young talent ? Look at where our youth teams are in their leagues. There's far too much of an old pal's thing going on between Les and him, in my eyes they are as culpable as Warburton for what's happening. Either Tony and Co are just turning a blind eye or are too dense to notice it who knows, but something needs to change further up the food chain aswell before I can see us making the necessary steps forward. I fear that the next manager or head coach as they now say they want will just be another piece in Les' little jigsaw, a yes man and another old pal. I sincerely hope I'm wrong and we get a guy with the balls and knowhow to do it his way without all the numpty's interference.
It actually comes across as stubborness mate, youre right. Even if you have no intention of bringing him on, the positives so outweigh the negatives. It shows a path and gives hope.
I will take your word for that as im non the wiser. What i do know is that the majority of our 1st team went backwards and the likes of johanson as an example looked our worst player against sheff utd. Sometimes, enthusiasm to prove ones worth is the thing that has sorely been missed in our team.
I used to watch a lot of u23, but this season with recast, I haven’t been able to watch a single match. I understand that recast was a failure...and the club know it...and next year something different will happen
Above are the highlights of Armstrong's debut for Torquay. His goal is in the 41st min of the match. He got man of the match !
So at the start of this season we had 5 CD. Dickie, Dunne, Barbet, Masterson, de Wisj...plus Kakay and Ball both who can play in an emergency. At the end of season..we have to get Sanderson as a loan and we play a flat back 4 as we haven't got " enough" CDs...odd and not great forsight
If the new manager is in the position of having to stand up to Les and Chris Ramsey then he’s already in trouble. They need to be a team fixing the wrongs and keeping the rights and making the play-offs.
