Development/Youth Squads 2022/2023 Thread - U18/U21

[Angus Scott]

I know results are not the be all & end all at this level but it really can't be doing these kids any good to be losing every week. Just like the first team all I see at youth level is players stagnating & not improving. Something has to change at this club

[Ric Flair]

We are on the verge of 2 relegation in 3 years in the U21s. We somehow got saved after the 2020/21 season and were told big changes were afoot as a result. Petty somehow held on after Beaglehole had already been moved out to pasture.

 

The U18s are in shocking nick as well, both teams have a smattering of talented players and yet they are massively underperforming. We also have a chronic injury issue and I'm sensing amongst the players they aren't happy about it either, there may well be a general feeling the club are at fault for that which I find very interesting. 

[Jimopinion]

Heard from an insider, Reece Evans was injured in a friendly the day after he made his 21s bow on Monday. He done his ankle ligaments and is looking at 6 - 8 weeks out. Hence no involvement with 21s or 18s today. The injury list of our promising boys goes on! Thats both Popov and Evans now

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

We are on the verge of 2 relegation in 3 years in the U21s. We somehow got saved after the 2020/21 season and were told big changes were afoot as a result. Petty somehow held on after Beaglehole had already been moved out to pasture.

 

The U18s are in shocking nick as well, both teams have a smattering of talented players and yet they are massively underperforming. We also have a chronic injury issue and I'm sensing amongst the players they aren't happy about it either, there may well be a general feeling the club are at fault for that which I find very interesting. 

 

[Ric Flair]

4 minutes ago, Jimopinion said:

Heard from an insider, Reece Evans was injured in a friendly the day after he made his 21s bow on Monday. He done his ankle ligaments and is looking at 6 - 8 weeks out. Hence no involvement with 21s or 18s today. The injury list of our promising boys goes on! Thats both Popov and Evans now

 

Wouldn't surprise me, Fitzhugh and Ewing have interacted with me when I've slated the chronic injuries and how these lads careers are on the line.

 

Thanawat, Wanya Marca, Spencer-Bailey, Flynn, Ewing, Kian Pennant, Alves, Braybrooke, Fitzhugh, Popov, Hughes, Wilson-Brown, Brunt and Cartwright have all had orare suffering long term injuries in the last 18 months as well..

 

[Jimopinion]

3 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Wouldn't surprise me, Fitzhugh and Ewing have interacted with me when I've slated the chronic injuries and how these lads careers are on the line.

 

Thanawat, Wanya Marca, Spencer-Bailey, Flynn, Ewing, Kian Pennant, Alves, Braybrooke, Fitzhugh, Popov, Hughes, Wilson-Brown, Brunt and Cartwright have all had orare suffering long term injuries in the last 18 months as well..

 

Its a huge concern as a Leicester city fan. We as a fanbase are desperate for the next crop to come through at 1st team level

[Jimmy]

if they are having to train the same way the first team does its no surprise Rodgers breaks the first team players almost as frequently 

[Foxy-Lady]

On 25/02/2023 at 18:06, South Shire Fox said:

Ben Petty needs to take himself and his Villa academy rejects back up the M6 and fck off 

You made me laugh.....But on a serious note, i do wonder if the attraction of Ben Petty was his connections to the Villa academy and his potential to attract some of their players as there was an influx at one point (ie Johannsen, Clarke, Brunt etc...).

 

Cant think what else he has done in his time with us as the facilities and talent he has at his disposal is as good as most of the other academies our U21s are playing against.

[South Shire Fox]

9 minutes ago, Foxy-Lady said:

You made me laugh.....But on a serious note, i do wonder if the attraction of Ben Petty was his connections to the Villa academy and his potential to attract some of their players as there was an influx at one point (ie Johannsen, Clarke, Brunt etc...).

 

Cant think what else he has done in his time with us as the facilities and talent he has at his disposal is as good as most of the other academies our U21s are playing against.

All players they have released as far as i know, not exactly poaching Villas golden boys. That Appiah is absolutely dreadful 

[davieG]

 

Quote

 

https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/sport/23350116.lewis-mcnab-seals-professional-deal-leicester-city/

 

Lewis McNab seals professional deal with Leicester City
4 hrs ago
By Neil Walton
@EchosportNeil
Senior Sports Correspondent

Weymouth's own Lewis McNab has signed a pro deal at Premier League side Leicester City (Image: ALI MCGIVNEY)
ONE of the most promising young footballers in Dorset has signed a professional contract with former Premier League champions Leicester City.

Lewis McNab, 15, is Weymouth born and bred and signed for the Foxes after they beat off strong competition from a host of other clubs, including Southampton and Bournemouth.

Budmouth student McNab also attracted serious interest from Leicester’s top-flight rivals Nottingham Forest.

However, the player’s representatives, Optimum Sports Management, felt the pathway at Leicester was well-suited to McNab given a lack of competition for the gloves in his age range.

 

McNab duly impressed on a week’s trial at Seagrave, Leicester’s £100m state-of-the-art training complex, and has now signed a two-year professional contract.

Commenting on McNab’s move, Weymouth’s youth section took to Facebook to congratulate the teenage custodian.

“Lewis has worked extremely hard to get this opportunity and we are so excited to see him rewarded,” the Terras said.

“We wish you the very best Lewis and we look forward to following you along your journey!”

And McNab is progressing speedily following his move, training with Leicester’s under-21s already.

So highly rated is McNab, the teenager is being tipped for a future international call-up and sponsors are also interested in signing him up.

Leicester were alerted to McNab’s availability after his previous club, Exeter City, released him last year.

McNab was first scouted by Optimum director Ali McGivney while playing for Weymouth Cougars aged eight.

Meanwhile, Weymouth's first team will play the Dorset Senior Cup final at Poole Town on Wednesday, March 8.

The fixture comes 24 hours after the Terras are due to play Chippenham Town in the Vanarama National League South, raising the probability of a much-changed side for the Terras.

 

I thought we had an abundance of Keepers?

 

[Kilworthfox]

On 25/02/2023 at 19:39, Ric Flair said:

We are on the verge of 2 relegation in 3 years in the U21s. We somehow got saved after the 2020/21 season and were told big changes were afoot as a result. Petty somehow held on after Beaglehole had already been moved out to pasture.

 

The U18s are in shocking nick as well, both teams have a smattering of talented players and yet they are massively underperforming. We also have a chronic injury issue and I'm sensing amongst the players they aren't happy about it either, there may well be a general feeling the club are at fault for that which I find very interesting. 

Spoke with a coach. 

 

I asked what he believed the issue was, he said they are collectively too nice. 

[Ric Flair]

2 minutes ago, Kilworthfox said:

Spoke with a coach. 

 

I asked what he believed the issue was, he said they are collectively too nice. 

Yeah something seems off recently, especially when I look at the squads and see genuine promising talent in there. 

[Kilworthfox]

Just now, Ric Flair said:

Yeah something seems off recently, especially when I look at the squads and see genuine promising talent in there. 

I told him to toughen them up, he said he was trying. 

 

There is that mental obstacle with some players, however unusual collectively. 

 

It's great being a nice person in general life of course, but when you cross the white line you aren't there to make friends. 

[Ric Flair]

3 minutes ago, Kilworthfox said:

I told him to toughen them up, he said he was trying. 

 

There is that mental obstacle with some players, however unusual collectively. 

 

It's great being a nice person in general life of course, but when you cross the white line you aren't there to make friends. 

Isn't this a theme throughout our club? The 1st team, the manager, the family friendly atmosphere.

 

Don't get me wrong, those positive things shouldn't be a handicap to our performance as a club but this is elite level sport and its brutal, there's often no medal for niceties that's meaningful anyway.

[surrifox]

32 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Isn't this a theme throughout our club? The 1st team, the manager, the family friendly atmosphere.

 

Don't get me wrong, those positive things shouldn't be a handicap to our performance as a club but this is elite level sport and its brutal, there's often no medal for niceties that's meaningful anyway.

Absolutely right . I’m not in the anti Jon Rudkin camp by any means but I believe that he and the coaches  and managers  go back years and the optics suggest he’s looking after their interests and that is an obstacle to real progress . 
I cannot fathom why any business making a 100 million investment in facilities would tolerate the ineptitude of these time servers. 
we need to recruit ( overseas if necessary) to get some coaching talent into the club 

[Foxxed]

34 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Isn't this a theme throughout our club? The 1st team, the manager, the family friendly atmosphere.

 

Don't get me wrong, those positive things shouldn't be a handicap to our performance as a club but this is elite level sport and its brutal, there's often no medal for niceties that's meaningful anyway.

Also Mr Nice Guy. It runs quite deep.

 

Vardy should be the antidote, however. Kasper was hardly mr nice either. Morgan and Huth were not to be messed with. Fuchs was lethal from a throw in. Pearson loved a strangle.

 

Yet you could argue they're all imports.

 

That said this "They're too nice" is a bit hackneyed. I'm not convinced that's the entire problem with the academy. It seems too simple. "Losing games? Have you tried sticking the boot in?"

 

On 25/02/2023 at 22:33, Angus Scott said:

I know results are not the be all & end all at this level but it really can't be doing these kids any good to be losing every week. Just like the first team all I see at youth level is players stagnating & not improving. Something has to change at this club

If we were losing and developing it's no problem. I'm not seeing much development. You could argue Braybrooke and Alves were developed in this period though...

 

[filbertway]

53 minutes ago, Kilworthfox said:

Spoke with a coach. 

 

I asked what he believed the issue was, he said they are collectively too nice. 

Very old school British mentality.

 

The club isn't doing anywhere near enough to make the academy one of the best in the country. The fact we have coaches at the club using this as the main excuse for under performance suggests that we are nowhere near appointing elite staff to improve the academy development.

 

Hard to see it ever changing as it would mean someone has to have a difficult conversation and admit they're failing.

[moore_94]

They seemingly tried to make an improvement with bringing in Paul McGuinness as Head of Player Development, which looked like an absolutely brilliant appointment

 

But since he unfortunately had to leave I haven’t seen anything about a replacement

Edited 28 February 2023 by moore_94

[Foxxed]

3 minutes ago, filbertway said:

Very old school British mentality.

 

The club isn't doing anywhere near enough to make the academy one of the best in the country. The fact we have coaches at the club using this as the main excuse for under performance suggests that we are nowhere near appointing elite staff to improve the academy development.

 

Hard to see it ever changing as it would mean someone has to have a difficult conversation and admit they're failing.

Largely agree but if Braybrooke and Alves make it you'd call this period successful rather than a failure.

 

Were Braybrook not injured and we had a manager who gave him a chance, and if we were watching Alves weave his magic in the u21s, then things would look different.

 

You can obviously argue we should be doing better with the talent we have of course.

[filbertway]

7 minutes ago, Foxxed said:

Largely agree but if Braybrooke and Alves make it you'd call this period successful rather than a failure.

 

Were Braybrook not injured and we had a manager who gave him a chance, and if we were watching Alves weave his magic in the u21s, then things would look different.

 

You can obviously argue we should be doing better with the talent we have of course.

We should be bringing plenty of talent like these two though. I'm really not interested in averages or what other clubs are doing to be honest. It's such an untapped area of the game that we could use to genuinely provide 1st team talent or produce players that we can sell for 5-15 million.

 

We should be looking to bring in the best young talent and be looking to give them the best possible coaching and development. There's been almost no action in that department at all. We're just kind of hoping that some kids in and around the East Midlands area happen to be good at football and happen to join our academy. 

 

Then we give them elite coaching like "you're being too nice"

[An Sionnach]

10 minutes ago, Foxxed said:

Largely agree but if Braybrooke and Alves make it you'd call this period successful rather than a failure.

 

Were Braybrook not injured and we had a manager who gave him a chance, and if we were watching Alves weave his magic in the u21s, then things would look different.

 

You can obviously argue we should be doing better with the talent we have of course.

The fact remains that Barnes , our longest serving player by the way , is the only player to be integral to our starting line up since Chilwell.  KDH is getting increasingly criticised on here I notice. However he will be integral because he has to be. Our overall record is a disgrace to a supposed top ten club. This situation must change but probably not while Rodgers is here.

[Foxxed]

I met some academy footballer in 2015. He was looking for a team. He said we had a good reputation within all his circles for giving players a chance. It's really hard to say that's true now. KDH is the only exception and he went via Bren's preferred route of "players need resilience" ie a successful top level loan spell.

Edited 28 February 2023 by Foxxed

[Kilworthfox]

43 minutes ago, filbertway said:

We should be bringing plenty of talent like these two though. I'm really not interested in averages or what other clubs are doing to be honest. It's such an untapped area of the game that we could use to genuinely provide 1st team talent or produce players that we can sell for 5-15 million.

 

We should be looking to bring in the best young talent and be looking to give them the best possible coaching and development. There's been almost no action in that department at all. We're just kind of hoping that some kids in and around the East Midlands area happen to be good at football and happen to join our academy. 

 

Then we give them elite coaching like "you're being too nice"

You are writing lots of should be's. 

 

Do you have experience within academy football? 

[Kilworthfox]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

Isn't this a theme throughout our club? The 1st team, the manager, the family friendly atmosphere.

 

Don't get me wrong, those positive things shouldn't be a handicap to our performance as a club but this is elite level sport and its brutal, there's often no medal for niceties that's meaningful anyway.

There is a difference between club marketing and club business. 

 

1 is important for the majority of fans to see. Marketing. 

 

The other to quote Neil Warnock would be you've gotta be prepared to die for 3 points. 😍

 

There is a stark contrast in both messages. 

[orangecity23]

2 hours ago, Kilworthfox said:

 

The other to quote Neil Warnock would be you've gotta be prepared to die for 3 points. 😍

 

Based on having watched us lose 1-0 to Warnock teams on many occasions, plus the refresh of what those games were like to watch which all came back from watching the end of the Arsenal game, I'm assuming Neil was implying you've got to be prepared to pretend that you are dead to win 3 points. That or be perfectly happy to spend 10-20 minutes of football on taking 3 throw ins

[Lambert09]

3 hours ago, Foxxed said:

I met some academy footballer in 2015. He was looking for a team. He said we had a good reputation within all his circles for giving players a chance. It's really hard to say that's true now. KDH is the only exception and he went via Bren's preferred route of "players need resilience" ie a successful top level loan spell.

depends your definition of giving a chance. We are happy to carry chancers like leshabella for 5 odd years… that’s definitely  giving someone a chance.

 

We don’t have an easy route of progression to the first team but i’m not sure any premier league club does. If you are good enough and prove yourself on a loan you’d have a good chance to break through though. 

 

Even league 2 standard players like dailey-campbell got to play for the first team so it’s not a completely blocked path.

 

I think some people have an old school mindset with youth players… that they should just be chucked in. But both our club and football has progressed and you need to go out and earn it by proving yourself and developing on loan and i’m fine with that.

 

What i’m not fine with, is not allowing players to go out on loan because either we think our facilities are better / our under 21s need to win / they are being held incase of an injury crisis. 

 

One thing I will say, is the club have very rarely got it wrong when releasing a player. We had a couple of players who chose to not be here basey being the obvious one. But even he may not be good enough for the prem. so most of the arguments about why aren’t we giving youth a chance are largely validated as simply… the crop hasn’t been good enough. It’s not like we’ve missed out on a rashford because we haven’t given someone a shot. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 28 February 2023 by Lambert09