I know it's Neil Ashton, but I've been thinking this about Koeman for a while, about the academy. As much as I love Ron, it's my one criticism of him.
In reality, can anyone actually think of an U21 player who looks good enough to play Premier League football? I can't.
I don't think I have ever wanted a shut transfer window and international break this much for a long time.
This season? Nope. In the next few seasons if they carry on improving then a few players will make it.
This would explain the de-stabilised start to the season, but is hardly a journalistic masterpiece. The fact that the academy standard hasn't quite kept pace with the first team over the past 5 years isn't surprising as the ceiling height to be the best has improved exponentially in that time, however, between RonKo and Les, surely they have the nouse to work it all out. As a club, we produce more talent than most via our academy but with changes to scouting and sign ups for young ages, we are really up against it. As long as the board are happy to sanction the sales of "unhappy" players, we will remain a selling club... The friction will always be between manager and chairman over this.... But les should be more worried about the feelings of the fans. I applaude the refreshing rhetoric coming out of Norwich regarding Lewis Grabban. Manager speaks, player, agents, other clubs listen. Wish we learnt this lesson from top to toe, it seems RonKo and Les maybe in a different page in their respective books.
Not hear Koeman say he knows we will find it hard to keep our best players? Koeman knew what he was getting into before he joined us. As for the youth, we have a few that I feel will make the grade, but that will be a season or two. As for you saying you like how Norwich are being with Grabban. It would be totally different if it was a much bigger team after him. It's the way football works, the bigger teams will always get what they want in the end.
Exactly. Especially as we are now in the Premier League, players will have to adapt quickly, and many won't. We will always be a selling club though, everyone is. In the end the players that want to go hold all of the power. Take Vic for instance, he won't sign a new deal with us, he know's we will sell him next Summer as we wont want him to go for nothing the next. Not much many clubs can do in that aspect, such is modern day football.
It's been evident to all of us that Koeman isn't playing as many Academy lads as we are used to. In part this is due to the fact that some of the better ones have already moved on...in the shape of Shaw, Chambers, Lallana and Schneiderlin, leaving us with Targett. JWP and Reed. Ronald does play James, but I am surprised Reed hasn't been given more of a chance. I don't think Ronald shares Les Reed's enthusiasm for bringing youth through....this may be due to ambition, but may also be due to a dearth of talent coming through. I haven't heard anything that makes me think a Bale, Lallana or a Morgan is waiting in the wings (willing to be told I'm wrong there). Reed is a prickly character and I can believe that Ron is frustrated by the speed of some transfers....however, I have no idea how happy he is with our new players...they may be his selection after all. I see nothing unrealistic in what the journalist has written, but I also have no idea if it true. It is a scenario written around some facts and opinions. I doubt Ronald is concerned about his reputation in Holland...that is pretty unassailable.
I like the sound of what Norwich are saying but I know it's not all it's cracked up to be. The PL is massively stacked so many ways in the favour of the big clubs, although FFP was weak at best, it at least made the big boys do some basic maths and operate a kind of one in one out policy(ish).... But now that has been abandoned by the apparent incumbent to be the new head of FIFA, even more power is with the big clubs again. As with Stones and Grabban, I liked the way RonKo said last week that we don't need the money as it's about more than that.... But in reality I know it's just the minor clubs being a fly in the money trough if the top table.
We will see when a big team actually moves for Hazard. City only get away with it as they pay crazy wages. For the time being I see Barca and RM on their own level.
RK will have known what he was coming into, and having worked in Holland where teams lose their best players all the time, he should be more at ease with what is happening here, than many other managers. My hope is that the players we have brought in, have all been wanted by him, and not forced on him by the "Black box committee". From what I have seen of the U21s, we have one or two with skills but players like Sims and Hesketh are so slight of build, you feel a strong breeze will knock them over. Beefy, you seem up to speed with the youngsters. How close do you think Hesketh is, to getting a place on the bench? Strikes me that he is the type of player we lack in the first team, dare I say it, being in the mould of Lallana.
