He's one of our own????

[Jimmy_Fitch 35]

Was Saturday the first time in years that we fielded a starting eleven that didn't include a single academy player?

 

A sign of the times or simple unlucky with injuries? It wasn't too long ago we had the likes of Max, Jamal, Ben and Todd all starting. 

[TIL 1010 4,767]

All part of Webbers legacy.

[RobJames 883]

18 minutes ago, Jimmy_Fitch said:

Was Saturday the first time in years that we fielded a starting eleven that didn't include a single academy player?

 

A sign of the times or simple unlucky with injuries? It wasn't too long ago we had the likes of Max, Jamal, Ben and Todd all starting. 

Yes, where are the academy players coming through....... other than, err Warner, Springett, Rowe and Idah. And it's not like we have any up and coming young players out on loan either. Just one of those games, that's all.

[splendidrush 700]

.... sign of the times, how many academy players are starting in the Premiership?.... money dictates that Clubs just buy in ready made talent..... the fact that we don't have any money,  tells you everything you need to know about why we're not competitive.... 

[KeiranShikari 1,423]

Because Rowe and Gunn are injured.

[Jimmy_Fitch 35]

1 hour ago, KeiranShikari said:

Because Rowe and Gunn are injured.

Before we were fielded 4 in the starting 11 and possibly a couple on the bench.

18 hours ago, RobJames said:

Yes, where are the academy players coming through....... other than, err Warner, Springett, Rowe and Idah. And it's not like we have any up and coming young players out on loan either. Just one of those games, that's all.

I wouldn't say Idah is a player coming through. He's 22 and made his debut 4 years ago. Josh Sargent is only a year older but comes across much more senior. As for the other 3 only Rowe will go for a large sum. 

I don't wish to bash our academy players, but I will bash the management. We need a coach who knows how to coach youngsters and progress them to the first team. Even Rowe was a prodigy of the Farke era.

[ridgeman 132]

20 hours ago, TIL 1010 said:

All part of Webbers legacy.

Webbers legacy that’s worth a thread on its own.lol

[norfolkngood 1,087]

That is something the Club really needs to look at Someone at the club at a time was Identifying these youngsters at smaller clubs and we hoovered up some great players 

Godfrey ,Lewis and Max 

we have done it for many years but it seems to have stopped and will take a few years to get right again 

 

[Worthy Nigelton 1,058]

Webber's legacy around this stuff will be judged over the next 4 years or so. For all his slagging off of the previous regime, he didn't half benefit from their youth products... let's see if Knapper gets the same luxury with Webber's. I hope he does, but early indicators suggest BK might have a tougher gig than the one SW inherited (at least football-wise). 

We have generally produced pretty good youth players down the years but there was a period in the 00s where we didn't produce much aside from Jason Shackell, who let's face it was pretty average. I hope we're not in for another period like that. Time will tell I guess.

[Thirsty Lizard 3,169]

14 minutes ago, norfolkngood said:

That is something the Club really needs to look at Someone at the club at a time was Identifying these youngsters at smaller clubs and we hoovered up some great players 

Godfrey ,Lewis and Max 

we have done it for many years but it seems to have stopped and will take a few years to get right again 

 

Er..... Kellen Fisher........ Liam Gibbs 😉 

[Branston Pickle 3,667]

21 minutes ago, norfolkngood said:

That is something the Club really needs to look at Someone at the club at a time was Identifying these youngsters at smaller clubs and we hoovered up some great players 

Godfrey ,Lewis and Max 

we have done it for many years but it seems to have stopped and will take a few years to get right again 

 

Everyone goes on about those three, but we did ‘steal’ all of them from other sides. I think Godfrey was at York until 18, the other two at Luton until 16.

[Feedthewolf 4,861]

16 minutes ago, Thirsty Lizard said:

Er..... Kellen Fisher........ Liam Gibbs 😉 

And, a little further down the pecking order, Montoia (Benfica), Manning (Watford), Forsyth (Hamilton), Wilson (Everton) and Ogwuru (Man City). And then there's Adegboyega, who came from an Irish club as Omobamidele and Idah have done.

Whether they get to the first team is obviously up for debate, but it's not like we've abandoned the policy and principles.

[norfolkngood 1,087]

23 minutes ago, Thirsty Lizard said:

Er..... Kellen Fisher........ Liam Gibbs 😉 

Yes sorry Forgot about these very good young players , who are 1st team ready 

i was Really talking about the younger 16/17 year olds that go into youth and then come into first team

[Thirsty Lizard 3,169]

20 minutes ago, norfolkngood said:

Yes sorry Forgot about these very good young players , who are 1st team ready 

i was Really talking about the younger 16/17 year olds that go into youth and then come into first team

The reality is that it's just getting harder and harder for a club like ourselves to compete as the Chelsea's and Man City's of this world hoover up all the young talent as well as all the more established stars.

An absolute classic case in point is Alex Matos - Webber did incredibly well to bring him in from Luton (yes, same club as Max and Jamal) at a young age - but Chelsea knew all about him and eventually managed to prise him from us at the age of 19 before he'd ever even made a first team appearance for us. 

[Thirsty Lizard 3,169]

In addition to my previous post, it's not just clubs like Chelsea and Man City either.

We lost Ruben Shakpoke (he once reportedly scored 11 goals in a game for us at U10 level or something like that) to Aston Villa in 2020.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/ruben-shakpoke-aston-villa-transfer-19035935

[Midlands Yellow 4,013]

6 minutes ago, Thirsty Lizard said:

In addition to my previous post, it's not just clubs like Chelsea and Man City either.

We lost Ruben Shakpoke (he once reportedly scored 11 goals in a game for us at U10 level or something like that) to Aston Villa in 2020.

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/ruben-shakpoke-aston-villa-transfer-19035935

Is he making many Villa squads this season? 

[BigFish 1,988]

4 minutes ago, Midlands Yellow said:

Is he making many Villa squads this season? 

Would be very unlikely, he is at West Brom now.

[ged in the onion bag 856]

9 hours ago, splendidrush said:

.... sign of the times, how many academy players are starting in the Premiership?.... money dictates that Clubs just buy in ready made talent..... the fact that we don't have any money,  tells you everything you need to know about why we're not competitive.... 

a couple that really never got a look in here.    Toffolo and Morris, both playing higher level than us and both released for nothing I think.

[ged in the onion bag 856]

Youngsters need opportunity.... for that the club needs a talented and courageous manager who can instill belief, a team philosophy and squad that allows for players to flourish and a longer term attitude than solely the next result and promotion. 

No point bringing in another manager and just asking him to get results, that's not how we address this mess. 

[Terminally Yellow 2,471]

On 27/11/2023 at 14:35, TIL 1010 said:

All part of Webbers legacy.

Not really. More bad luck.

[canarydan23 4,060]

1 hour ago, Branston Pickle said:

Everyone goes on about those three, but we did ‘steal’ all of them from other sides. I think Godfrey was at York until 18, the other two at Luton until 16.

Yes, identified and hoovered them up. It doesn't matter what age they are when we acquire them, the previous regime clearly had an eye for spotting these youngsters, and whilst it was the Webber one that oversaw their transition into the first team, the point @Worthy Nigelton made about it benefiting from the foresight on the previous regime is entirely valid.

[hogesar 9,706]

1 hour ago, Feedthewolf said:

And, a little further down the pecking order, Montoia (Benfica), Manning (Watford), Forsyth (Hamilton), Wilson (Everton) and Ogwuru (Man City). And then there's Adegboyega, who came from an Irish club as Omobamidele and Idah have done.

Whether they get to the first team is obviously up for debate, but it's not like we've abandoned the policy and principles.

Yes, we are still clearly signing and *trying* to develop players. We don't know if they're good enough or the manager can make them good enough etc etc as per Farke's time here but the club still have a huge focus on youth.

And worth noting that our squad this season has included:

Idah

Gibbs

Warner

Springett

Fisher 

Rowe

So it's hardly like we're abandoning everything.  There is an argument that Wagner hasn't done enough to integrate the youth past maybe Rowe and Idah.

[Well b back 3,238]

56 minutes ago, hogesar said:

Yes, we are still clearly signing and *trying* to develop players. We don't know if they're good enough or the manager can make them good enough etc etc as per Farke's time here but the club still have a huge focus on youth.

And worth noting that our squad this season has included:

Idah

Gibbs

Warner

Springett

Fisher 

Rowe

So it's hardly like we're abandoning everything.  There is an argument that Wagner hasn't done enough to integrate the youth past maybe Rowe and Idah.

Plus we have loads of kids out on loan in 1st teams, Brad Hills springs to mind at Accrington ( I think we have another one at Accrington as well ).

[Feedthewolf 4,861]

Just now, Well b back said:

Plus we have loads of kids out on loan in 1st teams, Brad Hills springs to mind at Accrington ( I think we have another one at Accrington as well ).

Yep, Lewis Shipley. Plus Kamara at Portsmouth, and Tomkinson at Bradford.

[Branston Pickle 3,667]

45 minutes ago, Feedthewolf said:

Yep, Lewis Shipley. Plus Kamara at Portsmouth, and Tomkinson at Bradford.

And McCracken in goal - we’ve got three players on loan with Stanley, though McC does seem to be a series of short-term ones.

[norfolkngood 1,087]

3 hours ago, ged in the onion bag said:

a couple that really never got a look in here.    Toffolo and Morris, both playing higher level than us and both released for nothing I think.

i am impressed with Luton team to be honest  players look comfortable and selected to slot into team maybe more the system and players knowing their job ,

a lot of unknown players who want to prove people wrong maybe not enough but having a good go and playing quite well on highlights anyway 

Morris and Toff both do a job in the PL