Spillane

[Karl Pilkington 0]

I read ricks column in Saturdays pinkun in which he highlights (Michael?) Spillane as a good player for the future in the City Midfield.

Anyone seen him play, provide feed back???

[Rasputin was a C... 0]

The 15 or so minutes he played against West Ham in the facup I was more impressed with him than Jarret and Etuhu who had started. He could pass the ball very well and looked hungry with a good touch. So no doubt he''ll be off to Peterborough sometime next year along with the Jarvis brothers. :(

[apprentice 0]

Seen him play loads both at youth level (whilst still at school and not training full time) and reserve level.  Will be imo the biggest name to come through the academy both comfortable in central midfield of central defence, very strong, quick and agile.  Still a little rough round the edges but will be one to watch for the future for sure.  One slight minus point seems to be a little bit of a hot head at times, and picks up silly bookings but im sure this can be nutured.

VERY VERY EXCITING PROSPECT!!!!

[AJ 1,231]

maybe to be known as Norwich''s fabregas?

[Rossi 0]

put it this way - i hope that he signs pro, but there are lots of clubs waiting to pounce on his 17th b''day. he is really good and he fits the worthy build, the only thing he needs to improve is his kicking, at the moment he wouldnt be able to hoof it high or hard enough

[apprentice 0]

Rumour has it he will not sign for Norwich on his 17th birthday but will wait till the end of the season when he will sign a 5 year deal.  Lets hope thats true, Shacks and Spillane very exciting future centre half partnership.

[Chris Meadows 0]

we have some promising youngsters in ryan and rossi jarvis, shackell and spillane.

Spillane may get his chance next year when he is stronger and older, his kicking should improve as he gets older

[LinkNR9 0]

So why aren''t they being played, like most other Clubs would do? We capitulated our season a few weeks ago, so let the youngsters have a go. Oh, sorry, I forgot, "we''re still in with a chance of the Play Offs, mathematically".

[Fat Barman 0]

Great to read the comments on Spillane''s ability - seems like a superb prospect.Not so impressed with those who can''t resist another dig at Worthington, when this thread has no reference to the guy at all.Please don''t drag your single issue into every area of this forum - leave some places where we can discuss players etc. without the bitchiness!

[Karl Pilkington 0]

Thanks for all your feedback. Looks like a good prospect for the future. I just hope when he does get his chance that the fans don''t epect too much and get on his back if he makes an error like they have done with Hendo.

[Willmeister 35]

good he might be but that doesn;t matter except fpr jarvo and hendo which youth team players have broken through under worthless he just doesn''t give youth a chance jarvo and hendo haven''t been played regularly mainly because the latter is useless so can''t get on worthless back about that, but apart from them noone, while other teams are playing lots of home grown players.

[still holding out for new heroes 0]

FB - I think it is perfectly justifiable to be concerned about the lack of development of our youth players under the present manager.

[mystic megson 0]

Re. bringing youngsters through.  I hope that next season the board will have learned a hard lesson and let the manager operate with a slightly bigger squad, instead of the smallest in the Championship as we have this year.  We may not be the richest club in this division but we are certainly not the poorest either, so there''s no use pleading poverty.  Then perhaps we can have one or two more 17/18 year olds in the squad who are likely to be bit part players at first.  (We might also be able to hang on to a player at the other end of the age spectrum who, similarly, may not play many games but would be invaluable in terms of experience.)

Agree with those who comment that in the past we as fans have not always shown enough patience and understanding towards young players trying to break into the side.  This needs to change.

[Fat Barman 0]

Come on then, who are the missing youth teamers?Henderson - had a few chances, barracked by suporters.Ryan Jarvis - injuredRossi Jarvis - injuredJason Shackell - just back from injury and back in the first teamWhat has happened to the others? They''re not setting the world alight anywhere else are they? We have a small population base to draw our youth from (especially if you want to compare it to the scummers down the A140), yet people continually refer to the lack of youth coming through as Worthingtons fault!In previous years we had satellite set-ups in the south-west and in north London. Both of these fell foul of the dire financial straits we got into under Big Fat Bob - those land deals are starting to look a little less like good business aren''t they? If the money had gone on the first team we''d have probably not been relegated. If the money had gone on the youth side we might have been promoted a damn sight earlier and been in a better state for recruiting new talent than we could ever hope to be today!

[Hump 0]

If you have a look on the FONCY website you may be surprised to see that most of the youth team are not local boys so the Academy must be doing some good things to locate players from outside the region and attract them from London clubs. People say there is little opportunity for the Youth but at present I do not believe any of the boys are ready for 1st team action. Where the problem is that we do not because of the structure of the Academy system keep the boys on a 1/2 year professional contract when there scholarship is finished.This could be done at a nominal cost and this is where the club and the manager are shortsighted. Not all are the finised article at 16/17 like Rooney and need that extra time. If we had patience these players could be introduced at 19/20 rather than becoming rejected disillushioned and sent to the Conference where it is similar to asking Constable to paint your garden shed.

What cost to have offerd Crow £200 a week on a 2 year deal 

  

[Fat Barman 0]

The problems caused by Chase led to no intake of youngsters for about 5 years. Many of the current 16-18 year olds joined the club from other academies after being released (like the 16 year old from Spurs this week).I may be wrong, but I think we are just starting to see the first crop of youth players coming through since the change of leadership allowed the reinstatement of a full youth programme at Colney. This is Chase''s legacy, that we are still recovering and waiting for our youth programme to start providing more players. I think we should be happy if we found 2/3 worth a chance in a year - more likely one!I also doubt Crow would have stayed for £200 a week, he''d have been on a much lower wage than Jarvo or Henderson. That can be just as damaging to a young players confidence.

[apprentice 0]

I THINK THIS IS A VERY VALID POINT, ESPECIALLY THIS YEAR AS THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THE SCHOLARS HAVE BEEN ON A 2 YEAR CONTRACT.  I BELIEVE THAT IT MUST BE WORTH OFFERING SOME OF THEM EVEN A 1 YEAR PRO CONTRACT FOR £200-250 PER WEEK (A HUGE INCREASE ON THE £50 THEY GET NOW) AND LET THEM WORK WITH THE FIRST TEAM, PLAY ONLY ONE GAME (RESERVE)  A WEEK AND OF COURSE "MATURE" THIS IS SURELY THE BEST WAY TO SEE WHAT THEY ARE MADE OF AND AT A VERY SMALL COST.  SOME OF THE BOYS COULD ACTUALLY BE RELEASED BEFORE THEY ARE 18 YEARS OLD AND THAT JUST SEEMS TOO YOUNG IMO.