"Reserve-team quartet Deale Chamberlain, Steven Irwin, Alex Cooper and Nikola Saric have left the Reds following the expiry of their contracts." Qutoe form Lfc website. My thoughts are thus; 1. Chamberlain is not really a suprise 2. Stevie Irwin is not either but is very sad... for me as a captain of our reserves, a versitile player AND a guy i thought perosnally was better than spearing I'm sad he didn't make it. I think it had a bit to do with energy and stamina as he never quite looked like he could run for hours.... It is a shame cos he has a lot of talent and could make it elsewhere. 3.Cooper cost 100k from scotland. we've a couple of left full backs coming up the ranks (smith) and robinson has the reserve slot now. Its a pity cos he too has good potential, good going forward and a good engine. Perhaps he wanted to go back to scotland? not sure. 4. Saric... No suprise for me. I thought he improved a bit this year after injuries but i never saw what rafa saw in him anyway. not a great striking option IMO. Kind of like n'gog but even less experienced. So all in all.... Irwin is the saddest for me cos maybe he was there longest and known best... the rest? the reality fo so many kids coming up the ranks means they have to move on.
We seem to have some decent strikers in reserve and at youth level at the min so thats okay in regards to Saric Irwin like you say is sad
Apparently we've lost Jason Banton as well which I think is sad because the few games I saw him in he was pretty good! We only signed him this season from blackburn too..
I agree with your assessment. I did at one stage have high hope's for Stevie Irwin but I don't think he has progressed as much as we expected, hopefully they can all go on to have good career's in the game.
It's sad when any player fails to fulfill their dreams. However, its not the end of their careers per se. As far as the club is concerned, they have to look at it in the same way as a gardener - you plant in hope and then you take care of it but if it fails to flourish you have to remove it to make room for another flower. The better the Academy gets at spotting and developing talent the more players we will produce who don't quite make the grade. It would be good to know just what the support these lads will get from the club following their release.
It's a shame to see these players released and you always hope that they can become first-team players for Liverpool but I guess it wasn't to be... I wish all four of them players the very best for their future careers.
Irwin's problem was that he was used by the reserve coaches just to fill in at some positions. He never got a consistent run in one position meaning he could never stand out and could only do the simple things, because you're generally less confident and adventurous when you're playing in an unfamiliar position.
