Joe Bryan seems to think so - http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Bris...tory-19190244-detail/story.html#axzz2VEEe4Xtn So do you think it would be the right time for us to rely on the youngsters instead of paying money for other players? With the likes of Reid, Burns, Bryan and Ajala involved in the first team last year. League 1 will be slightly easier for them to break in and maybe keep a place. So would you rather see them in the team or look elsewhere and have them as backup
A bit of both a couple of experienced pro's and youth is the way to go but it depends on who is going to leave the club if too many experienced players go it might be hard for a team of youngsters to raise themselves if they get thrashed one game experienced Pro's have been through it all before and usually recover quicker, I did say usually, can think of one or two who don't.
Lots of reasons to bring them in but also great reservations about putting too many in at once. Even the great AD did not flood his first team with them from 1969 onwards. First came Geoff Merrick, then Gow and slowly but surely those like Tom Ritchie, Cashley, Whitehead, Rodgers, Collier. But there were plenty of older pros like Drysdale, Rooks, Sweeney, Gould to help them through the bad days. And it also depends on how talented the current crop are and how resilient they will be when things don't go right. Which is why I do not believe we will pull up any trees next season. Just so long as we stay away from the bottom of the table. The coming season will be a learning and hardening process for the Under 21's when they play in the first team. And the crowd will need to show a great deal of patience with them, otherwise the flower of youth will not flourish, but will wither and die.
Football 101 If you have an experienced keeper who tells his defence what to do then young players coming into the defensive set up don't feel exposed the worst thing you can do is have an inexperienced keeper behind and inexperienced defence, unless they are all wonder kids and you don't get many of those in one side at a time in the lower leagues. You need a touch of steel in the midfield, just look at the Fergie Man Utd teams usually full of young creative midfielders but there was an Ince, Robson or Keane to give them bite. I like the way Arsenal play football but they don't win anything because they lack the 'Steel' core if you look back to the most recently successful City team under AD Whitehead, Tainton, Mann but they also had Sweeny in midfield before becoming a right back then, Gerry 'I'll tackle anything that moves' Gow giving the Steel in midfield, Then an older, though not so sure about wiser, Big Norm added to the defence. If we had a development squad full of players like Gary Collier, David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gordon Banks, Alan Hanson, Cesc Fabrigas, Paul Cheesley, Jermaine Defoe, Terry Cooper, Gerry Gow & Micah Richards for instance the yes go with youth but we do not have that sort of squad so we need some experience to shore up the youth that we currently have and might well sign. First and foremost a goalkeeper so that young Dylan can continue to develop, Second the Big commanding CB that we need, Third a real powerhouse midfielder who will allow others to play around him, 4th a 30 plus goal scorer per season player that's not too much to ask surely is it really?
It's the right time for Reid and Bryan, especially Bryan he look good when he played in the handful of games last season the others like Ajala Burns i would expect to see on the bench often
I agree with you otib. Reid and Bryan would be the only ones I feel comfortable being on the team sheet.
Don't forget Wynter Now is the Wynter(2013) of our discontent made glorious summer(2014) by this son of Arsenal
Last time in this division the club was competitive, and financially had easily serviceable losses, or even the odd profit. Players coming through included Amankwah, Brown, Burnell, Carey, Clist, Coles, Doherty, Hewlettt, Hill, Hulbert ... Clear synergy between youth, academy and first team. Relegation was not even glimpsed. I hope to see that synergy re-established. Pointless installing O'driscoll, other coaches, director of football and attempting to gain a academy level above the Gas etc otherwise. It is time to create a Bristol City way and re-define what the club is about.
I agree and that is what O'Driscoll, Burt and Pemberton keep banging on about deciding what makes a Bristol City Rb, CB, Forward etc and looking for those type of players, I just hope they are talking about the promotion winning sides of 1976 and 6 years ago not most of the ones we have had since 1980.
Bristol City should develop players based on technique. West Country players. If coaches locally do not see a XI based on using those principles why point their best prospects towards City! We have had players whose touch is poor constantly. A principle throughout the club should be you can be expected to control a football with one or two touches v run loads. Joe Bryan here appears to fit this building block. Intelligence v brawn hopefully in Bryans case. It's hard to use 1976 as a benchmark, but those players did adhere to a clear team mentality, most were skilled. Gow was lnot local but was brought on on with patience, beyond the ultra competitive nature he could play.
It's the right time to start playing players that SOD wants in the squad. If that's new, younger players then that's fine. If it were up to me, I'd start pushing out some of the dead wood and would start loading the team with youth. Wynter is a good start, but I'd like to see more.
The players you see with superior technique in seemingly all of Europe do not happen by accident. City run courses for pre academy kids x3 for 5 - 8 year olds term time, courses during school holidays, there are numerous coaching schools for pre academy kids like Brazillian soccer schools ... If Bristol City itself does not show itself worthy of the best talent they will go elsewhere by nine. It's essential that Bryans and Reid's grow Into Carey's here and that the club is set up to create that pathway.
If I had the money to invest in Bristol City my plan would be simple tell the EPL to go and take a hike Hire Dario Gradi as the head of Academy affairs and get the best coaches, and names, for the Academy. That I think would do more for the club than getting Elite Player status, could you imagine the reaction of parents if for example their kids were going to be coached by people like Butch Wilkins, Glenn Hoddle, Bryan Robson and say Kevin Keegan etc. that sort of group, they would be banging on the doors trying to get their kids in
Current Team --------------Castanheira--------------------- Moloney--Fontaine---Nyatanga--Cunningham Adomah----Elliott------Kelly-------Anderson -------Davies------------Baldock-------------
I'd love to see us go the Ajax way. Set up an academy and say that within twenty years we should be able to field a full team of just academy products. Limit scouting to just the academy, land some of the best youth coaches, and set up an ethos of play in the academy. This way, we can produce a few good players that can fit into a good passing system.
