[Archived] Rovers Young Guns

[Sparky Marky]

Completely depends on who comes in as his replacement. If Big Sam gets a say in it then I imagine it will be someone incredibly well qualified with modern ideas, it could potentially transform our academy.

Yeah, just like the notlob academy that produced bugger all aswell....it'll probably be chris sulley who was at notlob as academy director when sam was there...he soon left when megson took over.....

[LeChuck]

Yeah, just like the notlob academy that produced bugger all aswell....it'll probably be chris sulley who was at notlob as academy director when sam was there...he soon left when megson took over.....

I must admit I don't know a whole lot about Bolton's academy, but I can't imagine where the funding would have come from the have built one that comes even close to ours. We've got top notch facilities we just the need the right personnel, I get the feeling it would have been an uphill struggle for anyone who arrived at Bolton's academy.

Even so, they've still had Kevin Nolan, Nicky Hunt, Joey O'Brien, Ricardo Vaz Te and Chris Basham coming through into the first team over recent years, Tope Obadeyi looks a decent prospect too in the handful of games he's played. Not too bad, probably better than ours unless Doran, Judge and Hoilett come good.

[Hughesy]

I think you underestimate the opposition.

I think you underestimate us then - we should be of a similar level to Everton, Boro, City (Pre arabs). They have all brought through plenty of players in the last couple of years - we havent. We seem to be able to attract the players, we just dont seem to do anything with them. Maybe our approach is all wrong??

MAJIBALL - Get on the blower to John Williams and get him to seriously look at the City guy. Didnt JW tell you there would be changes this summer??

I back fully that Sam will get the right man in for this part of our club too.

I must admit I don't know a whole lot about Bolton's academy

Even so, they've still had Kevin Nolan, Nicky Hunt, Joey O'Brien, Ricardo Vaz Te and Chris Basham coming through into the first team over recent years, Tope Obadeyi looks a decent prospect too in the handful of games he's played. Not too bad, probably better than ours unless Doran, Judge and Hoilett come good.

Didnt Bolton start building a new one just before Sam left??

As for them players you have mentioned - Whilst they have made the prem, they havent made much of an impact - except for maybe Nolan.

[Sparky Marky]

Notlobs academy is woefully poor in all aspects...they have only gone into new facilities last season....so that's a while after sam left...

[Hughesy]

Didnt Bolton start building a new one just before Sam left??

Notlobs academy is woefully poor in all aspects...they have only gone into new facilities last season....so that's a while after sam left...

[rover6]

Well Done Mr Williams......................Better late then never.............The guy was way past the "sell by date"............wasted so much money on the "German Experiment" without giving the players a proper chance..............Its obvious he had his "favourites" and that in the end was his downfall.....................My advise Mr Williams would be that go for one of the German youth club coaches.....Hamburg SV youth academy director Markus Hirte would be a good replacement..........

Rise and Rise of German Football...........

Following the victory against England in the final of this year's U21 European Championship, the German Football Association has raised the bar in 2009. DFB junior teams currently are defending champions at the U 17, U 19 and U 21 levels – a first in European juniors’ football. Coached by Horst Hrubesch, the German U 21 defeated the English team 4-0 in Malmö. The U 19 had ended a dry spell of 16 years for the German juniors by beating the Czech Republic 3-1 in the final of the European Championships in Italy. In May 2009, Germany’s U 17 won the European title in front of the home fans, beating the Netherlands 2-1.........................

We have to look at why and how other clubs on our kind of budget/level are doing well in bringing through young players. Lille were being celebrated recently as a club doing well on a self-sufficient basis, producing their own.

We cannot overestimate the importance of the youth system. As JW has said numerous times, we can't compete financially without a rich backer. We have to start adding value to our own players.

The alternative is to become Bolton Mk2. That is, a club in perpetual change, with Bosman freebies coming and going and the manager juggling the team. Such a team lacks identity and, imo, will lose fans.

For the academy to work, the first team manager has to believe in the system and have some involvement. Imo, Allardyce has something to prove. At Bolton, I do not think that many young players developed much. Vaz Te was great but went off the rails. A few clogger defenders/midfielders came through but, aside from Nolan, nothing significant.

[Hughesy]

Karl Robinson has now left the club too - see official site.

Space for Sbragia now. Sam will soon have a much stronger backroom/ academy team you feel, now that Ince's puppet & Downes have gone.

Good news!

[OscarRaven]

Rovers have a great selling point, premiership club with first team opportunities greater than most if you have the ability!!

Great facilities, probably as good as anywhere in Europe so something was wrong!!

Now we need a guy in there to revamp the recruitment and coaching and now a cheif scout!!

Things are taking shape and I think the club will be better for it!!

Not sure I agree;

Three questions I would ask.

1) How much will they pay me whilst they train me (when I'm 23 I can go anywhere)?

2) How talented, successful, experienced and respected are the coaches?

3) How many players make the first team on average each year?

Three questions I wouldn't ask

1) How easy will it be to break into the first team?

2) Do they have pretty facilities?

3) Are they likely to hang onto me if I'm only half decent?

This is a good move the place needed a change.

[Majiball]

MAJIBALL - Get on the blower to John Williams and get him to seriously look at the City guy. Didnt JW tell you there would be changes this summer??

Its not my place.

If I could choose anyone he wouldn't be British. Poaching someone from City would be expensive, very, I would leave them alone.

We 're 10 years or so behind, so lets jump ten years ahead and see if we can't grab someone from one of Europe's top academies.

We have to look at why and how other clubs on our kind of budget/level are doing well in bringing through young players. Lille were being celebrated recently as a club doing well on a self-sufficient basis, producing their own.

We cannot overestimate the importance of the youth system. As JW has said numerous times, we can't compete financially without a rich backer. We have to start adding value to our own players.

Bingo.

[Hughesy]

Well get him told your views then mate - it wont do no harm and jw wont mind.

[Sparky Marky]

Yeah, you can quote all the french clubs you want, but the truth is that the franch league isn't anywhere near the prem and therefore the standard doesn't need to be as high..

[Parsonblue]

For the academy to work, the first team manager has to believe in the system and have some involvement.

This is the reason that I suspect that Chris Sulley will return to our Academy. He worked well with Sam at Bolton, he has worked at the Rovers Academy in the past and he has seen a great deal of the youth and reserve team in the past few months. He looks the ideal choice in many ways.

[Blue blood]

OK, don't count Boro then. That only leaves Liverpool, United, Man, City, Arsenal, Chelsea, etc, etc to compete with, for the cream of the young talent.

**Simple as that eh? Young Prem stars are being produced every week are they?

My point was that Bobby Downes' sacking wont, on it's own, make much difference - IMO.

Agree, if we don't appoint the right people getting rid of Downes will have been a wasted opportunity.

As for young prem stats being produced every week - no they're not, and I totally agree that getting the very best of the youngsters is a tall order for rovers.

However, so much can change as youngsters develop, and there's a lot of potential within kids which isn't always developed. If rovers can grab those who perhaps need a bit more work but could become just as good/up to premiership standard if they have the time invested in them and develop them, then we'd be laughing. I've a feeling at these bigger clubs these type of players might not get as much invested in them as they concentrate on the "obvious" superstars of the next generation. And rovers should be in a prime position to compete for getting this second tier of youngsters.

Not sure I'm explaining this too well, not trying to say we should take a punt on any substandard youngster, but that we can invest the time in developing players that maybe bigger clubs wouldn't.

Also if smaller teams on the continent can do it, why can't we use some of these methods? There's no reason it shouldn't work for us too to some degree.

Yeah, you can quote all the french clubs you want, but the truth is that the franch league isn't anywhere near the prem and therefore the standard doesn't need to be as high..

Admittedly, but a lot of that is down to the lack of money in the french game. It seems to me they produce a lot of good players, they just have trouble holding on to them.

[waggy]

brilliant news downes has left,just the job for tugay

[Hughesy]

This is the reason that I suspect that Chris Sulley will return to our Academy. He worked well with Sam at Bolton, he has worked at the Rovers Academy in the past and he has seen a great deal of the youth and reserve team in the past few months. He looks the ideal choice in many ways.

Not good enough.

brilliant news downes has left,just the job for tugay

Maybe once he has done his badges in Turkey

[waggy]

Maybe once he has done his badges in Turkey

thats right we'll get some loser in who knows how to play %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% football

[Sparky Marky]

This is the reason that I suspect that Chris Sulley will return to our Academy. He worked well with Sam at Bolton, he has worked at the Rovers Academy in the past and he has seen a great deal of the youth and reserve team in the past few months. He looks the ideal choice in many ways.

Sulley has been overseeing abject failure at notlob for years....he's definately not the right chap for the job.

[Parsonblue]

Sulley has been overseeing abject failure at notlob for years....he's definately not the right chap for the job.

As a former Rover, he knows the club well, he has worked at the Academy before and has been at most Reserve and Academy matches since Sam arrived. If Sam is being given a greater say in how the Academy is run then I would suspect that Chris Sulley would be in the running for the job.

[Ronin]

Yeah, you can quote all the french clubs you want, but the truth is that the franch league isn't anywhere near the prem and therefore the standard doesn't need to be as high..

Fat Sam seems to focus more on the French Leagues, considering our signings so far.

[gazsimm]

Maybe once he has done his badges in Turkey

thats right we'll get some loser in who knows how to play %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% football

yes correct Waggy, someone who has got his qualifications and probably has done a good job at a top level club before. Tugay is a gamble to avoid for now regarding coaching

[Kelbo]

Not sure I agree;

Three questions I would ask.

1) How much will they pay me whilst they train me (when I'm 23 I can go anywhere)?

2) How talented, successful, experienced and respected are the coaches?

3) How many players make the first team on average each year?

Three questions I wouldn't ask

1) How easy will it be to break into the first team?

2) Do they have pretty facilities?

3) Are they likely to hang onto me if I'm only half decent?

This is a good move the place needed a change.

You are not looking at it from a parents angle, remember, they would have the final say here!!

My questions would be these,

What are the facilities like, are they everything needed to develop my son?

Will there be opportunities to get into the first team? (only Boro, Everton, Arsenal and Man U are continually bringing players through to first team and United are drying up now!!)

How will he be looked after and will he be given other educational opportunities as a fallback should he not make the grade.

Quality of coaching? well of course its vital and nowadays the minimum is UEFA A standard and we have those with very young lads, ex rover Simon Ireland has the under 8s I think and he has his 'A' License!!

So they would be given a high standard of coaching and some coaches are better than others admittedly, but if you have got to those levels you should be able to deliver extremely good sessions to develop the lads.

Again at the moment, Rovers have Sam who was one of the forerunners in embracing modern day fitness and coaching techniques.

For me the only academies who have really blossomed over the last few years are Arsenal and Man City, people say Boro but they have been relegated which indicates the players have not been good enough!!

[Majiball]

Quality of coaching? well of course its vital and nowadays the minimum is UEFA A standard and we have those with very young lads, ex rover Simon Ireland has the under 8s I think and he has his 'A' License!!

They should all hold the new youth coaching a licence, or be studying towards it.

The FA have split the courses now, the A is only releveant to adults and you cannot switch to the new youth awards, its straight back to level 2 if you want to do it.

[waggy]

yes correct Waggy, someone who has got his qualifications and probably has done a good job at a top level club before. Tugay is a gamble to avoid for now regarding coaching

just like the division 3 coach he brought in for the 1st team

[gazsimm]

just like the division 3 coach he brought in for the 1st team

are u on about McDonald waggy?

[Kelbo]

Yeah, you can quote all the french clubs you want, but the truth is that the franch league isn't anywhere near the prem and therefore the standard doesn't need to be as high..

Quick Sparky Marky, tell Wenger!!

Wenger has made a career out of developing and buying young french lads. Petit, Gallas, Viera, Henry to name but four, ok he is French but he has done quite well out of them.