How do they do it? http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21275227 This small article says a lot about football on what is a crazy day, not involving too many teams in Div 1&2 getting players in. Newport County have a youth development programme, Wolves will develop him further (and then loan him to us?); I can't remember the last time anything like this happened in Shropshire. To Salopian residents, is there anything about youth development in The Star? When I went to the Meadow EVERY week I used to know what happened but since moving away hear next to nothing. We've sold two goalies and have a couple of useful additions to our squad but any more on the horizon?
......Atcham......living in the deepest South West you may not have the answer......let's wait for the replies to come flooding in telling us we have a vibrant scouting system that brings in one or two top (in a Division 1 sense!) finds every season and that we will soon be playing London clubs again in the youth cup. We can but hope!!
We have a youth development system and it works fairly well. The only thing is we don't have a huge amount who don't make it to our reserves, and obviously the best move up to bigger clubs. The new system brought in this season might put an end to the youth systems in lower league clubs.
Youth development seems to be OK without really being able to compete with the bigger clubs. Scouting,however, seems to be minimal and does not compare with the days of Jock Fulton and Ron Jukes who GT knew well.
......"and obviously the best move up to bigger clubs." Which ones, apart from two goalies? I don't remember the names of too many who have gone to big clubs. I appreciate that a couple of our youngsters are in and around the current squad. How do we compare with Crewe and Vale?
We have a fair few reasonable talents. Obviously Crewe's system will be better; they spend £500k p/a on it. Not sure with regards to Port Vale - do they really have a notable set-up? As the lads in the youth set up are my age I happen to know a few of them quite well. Most of the pick of Shropshire's talent plays elsewhere, with Stoke, Wolves and Birmingham the most common destinations. They view STFC as a last resort; a fall-back if you like, due to the lower league status. For example, there's one lad here: http://www.chelseafc.com/academy-article/article/2854637 who went to Shrewsbury school (played a game against him once for School. We lost 6-1, he scored 5 from centre mid and set up the other one and just jogged from the halfway line to our penalty box whenever he felt like it) but chose to join Brum's academy as a 12/13 year old rather than Town's. He left for Chelsea on a scholarship this summer. The fact is that unless they are genuine fans of STFC, the top young players will always go elsewhere.
