Kokolo

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It MAY not be the academy though.

A young lad gets his head turned because some Club in a higher league is said to want him on their books.

How can The Academy be blamed that his head gets turned.

You could point out that Sheffield have only just returned to the top flight after years in the doldrums, but would that make a difference.
Villa have been something of a yo-yo club of late but would that matter?
Probably not.

The pay increase that a Premier League side is likely to off might though.

Showing him the example of Joel Asoro might help though.
From being a promising regular for us he's flopped in the few games he had at Swansea and been shipped off to Holland this Season.

But the old expression,

'You can't put an old head on young shoulders'

Come to me every time this sort of thing happens.
 
Teesdarlomakem said:
When you look at how well Egan is doing for Sheff united, and hourihan for Villa etc etc. Could we have dropped another bollpck here?
We're in League 1 ffs, if hes linked to those clubs surely he must be close to our first team?

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/spo...middlesbrough-williams-kokolo-bayern-17953621
Click to expand...

It's tough to say what's happened from that article. Bayern and Napoli took a look at him but he ended up at Boro. This kid was thought to be a massive prospect a couple of years ago and could well have been on the radar of those clubs. Maybe offering a trial was just to confirm if he still had that potential. I can't imagine he chose Boro over Bayern so it suggests they're not that interested.

As for the other point, Hourihane and Egan are both excellent players that I really like, but I'm not sure we dropped the ball on either. They both benefitted from gradually stepping up the league's. Hourihane was still playing in league one at 25 and Egan was at 23. Neither were good enough for the Premier League at the time.
 
polyphemus said:
It MAY not be the academy though.

A young lad gets his head turned because some Club in a higher league is said to want him on their books.

How can The Academy be blamed that his head gets turned.

You could point out that Sheffield have only just returned to the top flight after years in the doldrums, but would that make a difference.
Villa have been something of a yo-yo club of late but would that matter?
Probably not.

The pay increase that a Premier League side is likely to off might though.

Showing him the example of Joel Asoro might help though.
From being a promising regular for us he's flopped in the few games he had at Swansea and been shipped off to Holland this Season.

But the old expression,

'You can't put an old head on young shoulders'

Come to me every time this sort of thing happens.
Click to expand...

Thats more or less what the academy are alluding, and although in every case the circumstances are are different, the results are worryingly the same. the poor decisions are not all made by the players being impressional or ill advised, but maybe by a lack of judgement at a higher level and that is the worry. Robbie Stockdale had exactly the same problems and seemed to be doing fine under similar circumstances and was shown the door, and I will not forget that the team who beat the champions Wolves first team in his first and last game in charge, playing a brand of football not seen since. That team included a boy who is now playing for South Shields, and the man of the match in that game has not been given a place on the bench this season even though he also is fit and ready for involvement in a mid field that has struggled to rise above mediocre teams all season.
 
Flash Gordon said:
It's tough to say what's happened from that article. Bayern and Napoli took a look at him but he ended up at Boro. This kid was thought to be a massive prospect a couple of years ago and could well have been on the radar of those clubs. Maybe offering a trial was just to confirm if he still had that potential. I can't imagine he chose Boro over Bayern so it suggests they're not that interested.

As for the other point, Hourihane and Egan are both excellent players that I really like, but I'm not sure we dropped the ball on either. They both benefitted from gradually stepping up the league's. Hourihane was still playing in league one at 25 and Egan was at 23. Neither were good enough for the Premier League at the time.
Click to expand...

Not true about Egan mate. He was captain of our reserves and highly thought of. He had a really bad leg break though that ruled him out over a year. Once he recovered we released him when his contract ended.

In response to Kokolo, why not choose Boro over them other clubs? He has more chance of breaking into their first team, so you cant fault him for choosing them. Boro have a great youth set up and lots of academy kids break into their first team. I cant fault the lad for sacking West ham and Napoli off where hed probably not even get a sniff of first team action. He may also be settled in the NE.
My point is, hes 19 now which isnt really that young.
Hes also a Left back, which is an area we are weak in. He must surely have been worth given a chance on the bench?
 
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Flash Gordon said:
It's tough to say what's happened from that article. Bayern and Napoli took a look at him but he ended up at Boro. This kid was thought to be a massive prospect a couple of years ago and could well have been on the radar of those clubs. Maybe offering a trial was just to confirm if he still had that potential. I can't imagine he chose Boro over Bayern so it suggests they're not that interested.

As for the other point, Hourihane and Egan are both excellent players that I really like, but I'm not sure we dropped the ball on either. They both benefitted from gradually stepping up the league's. Hourihane was still playing in league one at 25 and Egan was at 23. Neither were good enough for the Premier League at the time.
Click to expand...


This is the problem, it is all about timing, and we seem to be getting it wrong.
 
Teesdarlomakem said:
Not true about Egan mate. He was captain of our reserves and highly thought of. He had a really bad leg break though that ruled him out over a year. Once he recovered we released him when his contract ended.

In response to Kokolo, why not choose Boro over them other clubs? He has more chance of breaking into their first team, so you cant fault him for choosing them. Boro have a great youth set up and lots of academy kids break into their first team. I cant fault the lad for sacking West ham and Napoli off where hed probably not even get a sniff of first team action. He may also be settled in the NE.
My point is, hes 19 now which isnt really that young.
Hes also a Left back, which is an area we are weak in. He must surely have been worth given a chance on the bench?
Click to expand...

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Teesdarlomakem said:
Not true about Egan mate. He was captain of our reserves and highly thought of. He had a really bad leg break though that ruled him out over a year. Once he recovered his contract was ending so we let him go.

In response to Kokolo, why not choose Boro over them other clubs? He has more chance of breaking into their first team, so you cant fault him for choosing them. Boro have a great youth set up and lots of academy kids break into their first team. I cant fault the lad for sacking West ham and Napoli off where hed probably not even get a sniff of first team action. He may also be settled in the NE.
My point is, hes 19 now which isnt really that young.
Hes also a Left back, which is an area we are weak in. He must surely have been worth given a chance on the bench?
Click to expand...

Egan was always a tricky one, the injury was definitely the issue, but the lad was going on 22 and not in contention for the first team, you can't really hold him back. I remember that both him and Laing were very highly rated.

I take your point on Kokolo, though I'm hoping that we must have got it right if Ross and Parkinson weren't considering him.

There are issues with our academy in general though and it's becoming absolutely glaringly obvious. I think that if a new owner brought Robbie Stockdale back as his first order of business, it would be very well received.
 
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clockstander said:

This is the problem, it is all about timing, and we seem to be getting it wrong.
Click to expand...

We're in a different position now and there aren't really any excuses. I can understand those 2 decisions though, we were a premier league club and those lads weren't ready until their mid to late 20's. Not much we could have done differently.
 
Flash Gordon said:
We're in a different position now and there aren't really any excuses. I can understand those 2 decisions though, we were a premier league club and those lads weren't ready until their mid to late 20's. Not much we could have done differently.
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His competition in 2014 was Coates, Vergini, Brown and OShea.
Brown hardly played and the other 3 were shyte. Id have kept him and given him a chance if we could rewind the clock, Premiership or not.
 
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Flash Gordon said:
Egan was always a tricky one, the injury was definitely the issue, but the lad was going on 22 and not in contention for the first team, you can't really hold him back. I remember that both him and Laing were very highly rated.

I take your point on Kokolo, though I'm hoping we must have got it right if Ross and Parkinson weren't considering him.

There's issues with our academy in general though and it's becoming absolutely glaringly obvious. I think if a new owner brought Robbie Stockdale back as his first order of business then it would be very well received.
Click to expand...

I agree on that one, and your previous article about structured development. Our academy is in crisis imo. and its not the players fault, we still have some promising talent, but its ebbing away at a rate of knots. Mumba, Taylor and Robson have all recently played well at first team level only to be ignored when at times they could, on merit, have expected to be included. I doubt whether any of those mentioned will be brought through by Parkinson now, but I hope I am wrong.
 
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clockstander said:
Thats more or less what the academy are alluding, and although in every case the circumstances are are different, the results are worryingly the same. the poor decisions are not all made by the players being impressional or ill advised, but maybe by a lack of judgement at a higher level and that is the worry. Robbie Stockdale had exactly the same problems and seemed to be doing fine under similar circumstances and was shown the door, and I will not forget that the team who beat the champions Wolves first team in his first and last game in charge, playing a brand of football not seen since. That team included a boy who is now playing for South Shields, and the man of the match in that game has not been given a place on the bench this season even though he also is fit and ready for involvement in a mid field that has struggled to rise above mediocre teams all season.
Click to expand...
Was that Embleton?
 
clockstander said:
I agree on that one, and your previous article about structured development. Our academy is in crisis imo. and its not the players fault, we still have some promising talent, but its ebbing away at a rate of knots. Mumba, Taylor and Robson have all recently played well at first team level only to be ignored when at times they could, on merit, have expected to be included. I doubt whether any of those mentioned will be brought through by Parkinson now, but I hope I am wrong.
Click to expand...
Interesting that Mumba is being played in an attacking role at South Shields. If he has a future under Parkinson, it might be as one of the wide forwards.
 
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