Youth policy

[0ridgemanddMMyyyy0Falseen-USTrue 0]

I was somewhat suprised this week to read the comments about the number of six foot players in the Premiership and that the youth academy had been advised of this fact. Does this mean that in four to five years time our team will be six foot plus headless chickens.

I have spoken to one or two parents lately who say that the main quality the youth academy apparently look for is the ability to run around covering the pitch. Surely the main attribute should be the natural ability to play football.

Would I be the only one who is somewhat dissapointed in the return from the youth academy Green came through a few years ago Shackell looks as though he is about to break through I am still unconviced about Henderson, Jarvis and Crow. No creative midfielders are our local players so poor or is the training and development defective.

[3pmkickoff 0]

What you''re forgetting is the years of non-existent funding for the youth which means we won''t see results until the next few years. Plus football is becoming more athletic so players who can cover the whole pitch is a must, naturally they''ll only make it if they have talent rather than be ''headless chickens''. We also can''t pluck the likes of Bellamy from Wales due to the new rules.

[silver fox 0]

[quote]I was somewhat suprised this week to read the comments about the number of six foot players in the Premiership and that the youth academy had been advised of this fact. Does this mean that in four to ...[/quote]

Running around and covering the pitch sounds like we are looking for another Gary Holt.  With the current manager and coaching staff going for the ''old and bold'' there isn''t much of an incentive to do well in the academy.  As I have posted before, just about every Premier manager gives their promising youngsters an extended run in the team, alas the same cannot be said about Worthy.