Does anyone else see a strange parallel here, or am I just being overly desperate for good news ? 2 years into his reign here at AG, Alan Dicks turned his attention to the youth academy, and began shipping in some of the best young players of that generation - Ritchie, Merrick, Whitehead, Collier, Tainton, Cashley etc Where he couldn't find them in schools he bought raw kids from other clubs - Cheesley, Gow, Mann, Gillies... Within 5 years we had unveiled the team to the rest of England with the slaying of the great Leeds United. It was the only way we could compete with the big clubs of English football, much as Ipswich, West Ham, Norwich, Southampton etc have done. I have been bleating this for about 5 years now, but it has seemed to me that mine has been a voice in the wilderness...until now. In the last few days McInnes has landed one of the most promising kids in England, a jewel of a midfield playmaker called Joe Morrell. McInnes is now announcing that his rejuvenated youth academy will produce the goods 'sooner rather than later', as indeed it should have been doing since AD left. In the middle of all this bad press happening for our manager, I thought it worth a mention that it took AD 9 years to get us there, and it could take McInnes just as long. But if you look back on the last 25 years, can you honestly say we have that much to lose by taking a chance on another AD ?
It is my honest opinion that Joe Morrell should be in the first team setup right now. I've read a few reports about him over the past year and it looks certain to me that he needs games at this level to really improve. Our academy is still quite poor, despite having players that can make the step up. A lot of the players that come through our doors end up in non-league football or struggle in League 2. McInnes needs to drop underperforming players and to put kids like Morrell in the first-team, not just because they can do a job for us, but because it'll send a message to future academy hopefuls that Bristol City takes care of its kids. I'm surprised that he turned down Liverpool though! Their setup is fantastic and he's probably got a better chance of first-team action for them than with us given our record of bleeding youth players into first-team football.
I do understand what you're saying BRR, but like iv'e said in other threads, football as moved on leaps since AD days, (by the way, I remember them well)! Most players in those days never stood a chance of earning the sums they do now.....makes a massive difference. I wouldn't trust Del with another 9 days never mind years, the man is clueless and the quicker people realise this the quicker we can move on. At the end of the day, SL has always said he wanted this club to achieve much bigger things, premiership football, new stadium etc....sorry but not many clubs achieve that by going the cheap option. I'm not going to get sucked in by all this, he ploughs 11m into the club each year etc, if you want a big toy to play with that's what you expect..otherwise don't make brash statements that you can't deliver. Had he said he was putting the money in so we can stay afloat then that would be different.......He's a rich business man, it's a project for him / penis extension!! That most of us would love to do!!!
£11 million a year is a lot less than the interest he gets on his massive fortune. Steve - Some fiscal advice for you. LOL. A/ Stop wasting £11 million a year, keep it in the bank. OR B/ Spend some big dosh and have a real dart at the promised land. I'm telling you - if you live to be a hundred you'll never spend the hundreds of millions sat in your account. Over to you mate, and remember - if you pay peanuts you get ................................... McInnes.
Love the way, we are telling SL how to spend his money like its ours By the way Redprint if you look at SL's money he lost a big chunk of it last year!
McInnes was highly thought of, and recomended by some of the big names in British football. Wish i could get something near the reference he got. Just because McInnes came from St Johnstone - hell youve got to come from somewhere. Nothing said on this thread so far has sounded convincing to me. No manager can march in to a small club and turn them into Champions League material in an instant. The job will take time. Question- are Bristol City so big and important a club that they should expect succes as a matter of course ? Be careful what you wish for guys~without SL we could end up the biggest club in Div 2
I believe you have very lucidly and clearly put down what I tried to say much too briefly in another thread and I agree with (almost) every word. Times have changed since AD arrived but the parallel is there for all to see. After Big John retired, the club under Fred Ford signed players like McImoyle, and Crowe who never really produced the goods. When AD arrived he inherited an ageing squad mainly based on the 1959-60 youth team and a fair number of cheap signings. Good in it's own time from 1962 to 1967 but on the wane. I've said before that if Harry dolman had booted out AD after one/two seasons, the great rush of youth would never have happened. The same situation appears to be taking place at City again so don't throw out Derek McInnes for just the same reason. It's too early to judge. Just two corrections about Gow- he came as a 16 year old I think straight from school and was in the first team within 18 months and Cheesley born in Bristol but even then picked up as a schoolboy by Norwich and AD paid £30,000 for him at 19 or 20 years of age. Such a shame that the City youth under 18's lost in FA Youth cup tonight to Ipswich but that will not stop the progress already made on the playing staff from under 21 and younger ages. We must continue this rebuilding process, although before anyone says the obvious, we really do need to get some positive results and consistencey of performance at first team level. Sooner rather than later. So will DMc do an AD and throw in Reid, Edwards, Amadi-Holloway, and Ajala to join Joe Bryan? I really hope so! I have not seen him play, but is Joe Morrell the next Gerry Gow?
What age was Rooney when he made his Everton debut? Don't say never ROD, as it could happen here if Morrell is good enough. PS. Just looked up Gerry Gow's data. Born 29 May 1952 Signed apprentice in June 1969 First team Debut at 17 years and 10 months on 14 April 1970 v Charlton. More amazing is that the next season he played in 46 games (started in 43 and sub for 3 more)
Like I've said before.....The game has moved on miles mate, apart from the ball being round, you can't compare then to now.
"McInnes was highly thought of, and recomended by some of the big names in British football. Wish i could get something near the reference he got" Yeah but Onefor says he's clueless and he must have some serious football qualifications to be telling us all this.. I mean who are we?
Proof is in the pudding Banksy, where are we in the league? what improvement has del made in over 12 months being here? You don't need serious football qualifications, just plain common sense. These big names in British football, they wern't Scottish by any chance?!!!! Of course that's the first place one would go for recomendation isn't it!
When are you going to realise that just because you say the sun revolves around the earth and that Del was the "cheap option" don't mean it's so. We all know your opinion on Del and also that if you were in charge, he would have been shown the door but here's some news for you, you are NOT in charge and, Del is still here to stay so you banging on about it is pointless because SL pays the bills and until he decides you are right, you are wasting your breath. Fortunately, our owner is in the investment business and is aware that you sometimes things don't happen overnight and you have to wait a while (i.e. not sack the manager 12 games in to the season) for your investment to come to fruition. Luckily, unlike some of our fans, SL can see a bit further than the end of his nose and realises that the old squad was even less capable than we all thought......
And as you are fully aware Prem, SL's decisions in the past few years have not been great........He did not take on Bristol City football club as an investment, so he wouldn't even run it like one, even you should know that. NOBODY DOES, NB. I will keep banging on until Del goes, someone needs to, for the GOOD of the club.
Were you at the gate last Saturday,many thousands made it quite plain they don't like what they see on the pitch at present.many thousands, in fact many hundreds left at half time.
Hmmmm...baby and bathwater Thats no way to run a football club or anything else. WE WILL NEVER PROGRESS UNTIL A MANAGER IS GIVEN TIME AND LICENSE TO DEVELOP THE CLUB it took AD 9 years End of.....
That was 36 years ago for gods sake.......READ....the game has moved on. Give Del 9 years and we will be playing on the Downs mate.
"the game has moved on" - really...? All I have to say to you is Paul Lambert (Norwich), Paolo DiCanio, Gus Poyet, Eddie Howe, Roberto Martinez (Swansea), David Moyes (Preston), Tony Pulis, Nigel Adkins (S****horpe & Southampton), Brian McDermott - all built something given time, just to name a few.... The game has moved on = a meaningless phrase = bollox....
Hang on, Paul Lambert in his first season got Norwich from League 1 to the championship, in his second year to the premiership. That's instant! no build up what so ever. Di Canio? one season and got them promoted.... Where are Preston? You're talking twaddle again Prem. Are you really saying the game hasn't moved on since AD's day? Come on Prem, even you ain't that stupid!
