Why aren't any youth players coming through?!

[Robbo007 0]

Over the years we''ve produced some top players from the youth ranks, but no-one has really come through in the past couple of years.

From yesterdays squad, there was only Greeno and Shackell who have progressed from the youth set-up. Also around is Hendo and Jarvis, but if you notice that all of these 4 made their debuts 3+ years ago, and from early promise, Hendo and Jarvis are failing to progress.

Wasn''t Aidy Boothroyd in charge until around 3 years ago?? Has he been replaced with anyone??

 

[apprentice 0]

It does appear that the academy has lost its way over the last couple of years - since Adie Boothroyd left, as he was not replaced for virtually a season and that is a long time from a youngsters development.  His replacement who joined at the start of last season is David Williams who I believe is a good coach (involved with the Wales Youth Team) although It takes time to settle. 

Nevertheless looking at what Adie Boothroyd is doing now at Watford it makes you wonder if Norwich realised what a fine coach they had at the time? and if it is any wonder that the academy appears to have lost its way a little.  

 

[silver fox 0]

It makes no difference even if we had any good youngsters as Worthy prefers to play older players.

 

 

 

[Creative Midfielder 1,985]

[quote]It makes no difference even if we had any good youngsters as Worthy prefers to play older players.[/quote]

Precisely.

Someone else said Jarvis and Henderson showed promise 3 years ago but havent progressed. How can they progress when they hardly ever play competitive football?

Good enough for England but not for Worthy.

[FatMan Fat 0]

Could this be another indication of W''s management skills, or rather lack of??

[Yellow Rider 0]

I have always maintained that Worthy has no genuine commitment to developing our own your players.

Hendo and Jarvis have been sidelined. Green is NOT a Worthy recruit as he had made his debut originally when Bruce Rioch was manager. It was clear he was the successor to Flapper long before Flapper went down the A140. At the moment only Shackell has actually made it into the first team and a regular starting position under Worthy. My own view again (for what it''s worth) is that Worthy never actually wanted to bring Shacks in. I think he was ''leaned on'' to do so.

Again (for what it''s worth), I spoke to one of the main guys involved with FONCY several months ago and asked him whether Worthy was genuinely committed to developing your players. He refused to answer. Read into that what you will.  

[huck tastic<IMG src="http:new.pinkun.comforumsimagesline.gif"><BR><FONT face="Comic Sans MS">Bryan Hamilton could turn this around...<BR><FONT> 0]

I think the problem is simply that we''ve got more money at the moment, and with it the chance to buy in new players and hence a lot higher expectations and probably short-termism too. Jarvis in particular has had his progress sadly blocked by a series of fairly big money buys over the last 12 months. I think this is a real concern though, if it means that we end up short-sightedly not developing the player, and he ends up elsewhere. I hope also that Worthy''s apparent searching for a new centre-half is not at Shackells expense...

 

[breaker 0]

There is, sadly, a culture around football nowadays that exploits smaller clubs with excellent youth programmes (who have to run these in order to produce sufficient squad numbers). I think that Nigel is one of these new breed of managers who feel that it is better to pay a small amount (£100K - £500K) for a player who has proved himself, albeit often at a lower level, rather than take a chance with existing youth team players. Look how many good players have been sold on by Wimbledon/MK Dons in the past few seasons - Francis, McAnuff, Reo-Coker, Cort etc.

It is not necessarily a bad strategy (we did make around £1.3 million from Francis) and I think there are some excellent buys out there, but if there are limited chances for youth team players then this may have the end result that younger players may choose MK Dons, Luton or Cambridge over Norwich as they are more likely to develop into first team players.

The other side of the coin is the treatment that both Kenton and latterly Henderson, have been given by the City fans - making the move from reserve team football to first team is very difficult and most players need both time & support. Hendo has not had much of either from a significant number of home supporters and it is no surprise therefore to see him believing that he must turn in a superb performance from the second he runs onto the pitch or he will be substituted. The poor standard of reserve fixtures over the past ten seasons has also not helped many young players make the upwards transistion. I believe that we have some very good players developing at NCFC but would like to see them being given the sort of chances that were given in the past to O''Neill, Fox, Coote, Forbes, Bellamy, Eadie, Cureton, Akinbiyi, Such etc. However, if they do not succeed immediately how many supporters will support this strategy and how many will bemoan the fact that Worthy has not spent another million quid on an experienced player?

[FatMan Fat 0]

Can''t remember Kenton getting a hard time whilst he was in the green and yellow?

Indeed quite the opposite as I think most saw him as a class act, as epitomised by his very own song -  "You''ll never beat the Kenton".

[Robbo007 0]

Yeh, I cant remember Kents getting much stick.

Surely tomorrow would be as good chance to blood some youngsters. I''m watching Southend Saints at the moment, and Soton have 5-6 promising youngsters who are hungry in the team

[breaker 0]

When Kenton first appeared for the first team he looked very good then had a couple of poor games and certain sectiions of the crowd got on his back which badly dented his confidence and delayed his development. In fact I think the management had to come out and ask supporters to be patient in the press.

[CanariaGlorificus<DL><DT><PRE><EM><STRONG><P><FONT face="Arial Narrow">"I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered." George Best.<FONT><P><STRONG><EM><PRE><DT><DL> 0]

Remember the Dark financial days? Well to stay afloat we had to wind down goings on at the academy, that slowed the conveyor belt somewhat.

Things got started again under Boothroyd, and yes the club knew what a good coach they had, but West Brom also recognised this and offered him a deal he couldn''t refuse, and one we couldn''t match at the time.

This left Sammy Morgan controlling things, and as experienced as he was, maybe he just couldn''t relate to the kids as well as a younger manager, so the current regime was brought in.

Ricky Martin is, i believe, a young, progressivley thinking manager who remembers what it''s like to be a teenager, while Dave Williams is a more respected coach than many people realise, posibly more so than Boothroyd.

These two have been at the helm for less than 2 years, so to expect rexults in that time is being impatient, the first big name i expect to see from their tenure is Micheal Spillane.

I''m sure most of you know how promising this kid is, those that don''t should know that the Irish under-17(i think) boss is building a squad around him for next summers Euro championships, he''s at least a year younger than the other players in the squad.

In short, never fear, there''s a good team in place, just be patient, and wait for the Danish wonderkids to start coming through thanks to Steeno.

[Mook 0]

Breaker''s right re Kents.

He was slated at FCR for a long period of time - one person near me in the Barclay in the Bad Old Days shouting "Are you plannin on playin any football today Kenton you ******** useless weekender" and everyone in the ground heard, including Kenton who turned round and looked.

But then he played a few good games and we all forgot!

[FatMan Fat 0]

I must have a pair of the famed "rose coloured" spectacles somewhere then as I can only remeber Kenton as a classy defender who could tackle, head, pass, and who had balance, time and an abundance of skill

[FatMan Fat 0]

I must have a pair of the famed "rose coloured" spectacles somewhere then as I can only remeber Kenton as a classy defender who could tackle, head, pass, and who had balance, time and an abundance of skill

[Thirsty Lizard 3,155]

People on here do have short memories sometimes.

Can no one remember the Stockport game a few years back which we lost 2-0 much to their manager''s delight (his name was Gary Megson).

The whole Norwich team was poor but Kenton particularly so. Bruce Rioch substituted him just before half time and he left the pitch to a resounding chorus of boos. You could see why Rioch substituted him, but I thought at the time that for the sake of Kenton''s confidence it might have been a good idea to have subbed him at half time.

[ZLF 271]

[quote]People on here do have short memories sometimes. Can no one remember the Stockport game a few years back which we lost 2-0 much to their manager''s delight (his name was Gary Megson). The whole Norw...[/quote]

I seem to have a memory of Kents playing his first few games as a left sided mifielder when it was patently obvious he could tackle and only really had a right peg... 

And it was not worthy who played him out of position either!