[Archived] Hughes Not Going With Youth? = Not Good Enough

[Rovers_Dan]

Just recalling a few posts on here at the start of inces reign mentioning how excited they were that Ince was blooding the younger guys something that Hughes would never do.

Does this beg the question....maybe Hughes never thought any of them were good enough to play anyway?

Players like Olsson, Treacy etc...are they ready for it yet?

[tony gale's mic]

None of them are good enough. Look at some of the youth coming through from other teams - ours just doesn't compare.

[Hughesy]

Ollson is a talent, he just need experience. Treacy however has shown very little so far.

[Bobby G]

Hughes knew Blackburn would be a stepping stone after he realized we wont ever release cash to spend, so he couldnt risk his reputation or our league position by playing youngsters or people with potential. Thats why his lineups were consistent and he rarely dropped players. If there was someone really good pushing at the door, players like Pedersen would have been dropped 2 seasons ago.

[Hughesy]

Very True. I cant understand why Peter has gone, he was/ is much better than Treacy

[Bobby G]

Especially after the Newcastle job fiasco last year, Hughes was going through the motions just steering a steady ship home. I didnt see any heart in his interviews even. But he was a professional and he left us in a much better state than he came here in and considering the amount of resources he had, he really was a gem of a manager to have...I begrudged him when he left, but I see the light much more now, and I really cant wish the man bad, possibly after he has lost the City job in December and with it gone the chance of signing Roque!

[LeChuck]

To be fair to Hughes, Olsson was injured most of last season but had made a few appearances even before then. I'm pretty sure it would have been Hughes' intension to integrate him into the first team squad had he stayed.

Treacy, on the other hand, I'm not so sure about. He seems to have some ability, but he's very rough around the edges and needs a lot of coaching to get him up to standard. Unfortunately he'll never get that with our current management team.

[Parsonblue]

Anyone who is a regular watcher of reserve team football knows only too well that our youngsters were not good enough for the first team last season. Olsson is by far and away the best prospect with young Judge a little way behind. Aaron Doran is another good prospect. Keith Treacy has always lacked consistency in the Reserves and his poor showings in the first team come as no surprise. Hughes knew the youngsters weren't good enough and hence his reluctance to use them. That's way he put his faith in players like Henchoz and Berner. With no funds available and little in the way of young players coming through is it any wonder that he looked for another club? I don't blame him. He had kept the club in the top half of the Premiership and brought two seasons of European football all on a shoestring budget.

If the club can't afford to spend money on new players then the Academy becomes all the more important. Our Academy has failed to produce one outstanding player in the past ten years. That says it all.

[bubblerrovers]

Should we not just scrap the academy, it costs so much money and any decent players in our area are guna go man utd or liverpool or city, we haven't produced any real talent for a long time, this day and age you can tell how good a player will be by 18, we have so many reserves who are 19,20,21 who will never make it.

[bob fleming]

I reckon Olsson can do a job for us. He has pace - for me I'd have tried him on the left wing by now. Get Warnock back at left back. Treacy though? Not good enough I'm afraid.

[almuncle]

My mates son who lived a stones throw from Ewood was offered a place by Liverpool, Rovers and Burnley.Despite being Rovers fans ,they opted for Burnley above Rovers. Says it all really.

[modes98]

None of them are good enough. Look at some of the youth coming through from other teams - ours just doesn't compare.

How do you know they aren't good enough unless you play them though? Also players will improve when thrown into the first team, something that any amount of reserve team games won't compare to.

Olsson looks good, the only game he was out of his depth was against Lennon and Ince didn't realise quickly enough and sub him.

Treacy looked very good early doors yesterday and he could be a good player given the chances.

[thenodrog]

Youth policies are daft and for lower Division clubs. We have the money to trawl the world for talented players, most of whom will walk over broken glass to sample the riches of the Prem so why this daft romatic notion that there are kids born within 10 miles of Blackburn Town Hall who are be better options.

Hughes's tenure showed that we should have no problems with canning the youth policy and putting the resources into scouting.

[CAPT KAYOS]

I reckon Olsson can do a job for us. He has pace - for me I'd have tried him on the left wing by now. Get Warnock back at left back. Treacy though? Not good enough I'm afraid.

Ha ha Bobski - so all of my constant prattling and you where taking notice

[rover6]

Well was Bruno Berner good enough? He got torn to shreds by Michael Mifsud.

Was Aaron Mokoena good enough? He did a job in defensive midfield but he was quite poor and often worse at CM, RB and CB where Hughes tried him.

Was Gamst good enough last season?

I agree that Treacy and Olsson have not done amazingly well but I think Ince was right to blood them. Olsson will, it seems, establish himself into a Rovers squad player. Treacy has a way to go but his levels are not far off Mr Gamst.

Further, it does not help these young guys when the experienced and supposedly reliable players are messing up around them.

[Gav]

My mates son who lived a stones throw from Ewood was offered a place by Liverpool, Rovers and Burnley.Despite being Rovers fans ,they opted for Burnley above Rovers. Says it all really.

Well first of all he should be put against a brick wall and shot for making that decision, but thats a Rovers burnley thing you understand.

I guess he looked at all his options, but how much success in the past 25yrs have burnley had at blooding young players? Certainly far less than we have had here, and despite probably not ever being good enough to get in the Liverpool first team, surely the chance to join the ranks at anfield would also be better than joining the championship journeymen?

Strange decision that one.

[92er]

Well first of all he should be put against a brick wall and shot for making that decision, but thats a Rovers burnley thing you understand.

I guess he looked at all his options, but how much success in the past 25yrs have burnley had at blooding young players?

The most obvious recent success for them was the midfielder who went to WBA for a decent fee.

They got Lafferty quite young and sold him for an even better fee.

I've read that Coyle has ressurected the youth system-I know one of the people involved with it but I haven't seen him for some time-so it would be interesting to know how well it's doing.

Certainly a few years ago there were lads signing for us from the Burnley area, but I'm out of date now.

[Alex Rover]

My mates son who lived a stones throw from Ewood was offered a place by Liverpool, Rovers and Burnley.Despite being Rovers fans ,they opted for Burnley above Rovers. Says it all really.

So he's not that good and didn't fancy his chances? Good decision if that's the case.

[Paulo]

Hughes only started using Olsson towards the end because his agent threatend to take Olsson elsewhere if he wasn't more involved with first team duties.

Sad but true

[neekoy]

Well first of all he should be put against a brick wall and shot for making that decision, but thats a Rovers burnley thing you understand.

I guess he looked at all his options, but how much success in the past 25yrs have burnley had at blooding young players? Certainly far less than we have had here, and despite probably not ever being good enough to get in the Liverpool first team, surely the chance to join the ranks at anfield would also be better than joining the championship journeymen?

Strange decision that one.

Not really, if he didn't go straight away to a Premier League team then he *should* get more chances to shine in the first team at Burnley therefore increasing his chances of going to a better and bigger club.

As DROG said, youth policies are for lower league teams.

[Majiball]

As DROG said, youth policies are for lower league teams.

WHAT!!

Do people seriously believe we should do away with our Youth?

What we need is a youth system that works, that has a reputation for working, sadly its not that well thought off. I have a vested interest in this area of football and honestly feel its an area we should spend on. The 5 year plan is all well and good but when I last spoke to one of the youth coaches and enquired about it "Blank" was the response I received. Not good from a fans point of view. Rovers have great facilities, a great catchment area but yet we are still lacking. Who was the last player to come through the system and make the grade?

I'm now going to say something and receive a battering from the rest of you. Hughes never brought one kid through in 4 years, regardless of reason the impression that leaves is very negative. how do you sell the system if from the outside it looks as if it doesn't work? Tranmere have produced more premiership players in recent years. So why would kids want to come here over teams that show a track record of developing players beyond the youth set-up. We do not, parents have short memories.

This area of our club should have developed as Kenny did. Money invested in coaching, sports science and so on you'd be amazed at what can be done during development. Do we even have a sports scientist in the youth department or does one of the first team coaches IE Howard and GI Joe chip in?

Youth is the way forward for our club whether its another money generator or a player generator it all benefits the club. But it must be looked at top to toe.

Maybe we should look at the yankie model? take it all away from clubs and do it through schools alas I'm not convinced our government has enough dollar to bring PE back up to standard, let alone set it all up IE leagues etc.

Youth is the way forward for a club like ours.

[CrazyIvan]

WHAT!!

Do people seriously believe we should do away with our Youth?

...

Youth is the way forward for a club like ours.

I think you are perfectly correct. For a club like us the youth system has the potential to be a money generating (not huge amounts admittedly) machine and the potential to uncover gems who CAN make it at the top level. To dismiss it as something only lower league sides should do is short-sited and frankly nuts.

[Parsonblue]

WHAT!!

Do people seriously believe we should do away with our Youth?

What we need is a youth system that works, that has a reputation for working, sadly its not that well thought off. I have a vested interest in this area of football and honestly feel its an area we should spend on. The 5 year plan is all well and good but when I last spoke to one of the youth coaches and enquired about it "Blank" was the response I received. Not good from a fans point of view. Rovers have great facilities, a great catchment area but yet we are still lacking. Who was the last player to come through the system and make the grade?

I'm now going to say something and receive a battering from the rest of you. Hughes never brought one kid through in 4 years, regardless of reason the impression that leaves is very negative. how do you sell the system if from the outside it looks as if it doesn't work? Tranmere have produced more premiership players in recent years. So why would kids want to come here over teams that show a track record of developing players beyond the youth set-up. We do not, parents have short memories.

This area of our club should have developed as Kenny did. Money invested in coaching, sports science and so on you'd be amazed at what can be done during development. Do we even have a sports scientist in the youth department or does one of the first team coaches IE Howard and GI Joe chip in?

Youth is the way forward for our club whether its another money generator or a player generator it all benefits the club. But it must be looked at top to toe.

Maybe we should look at the yankie model? take it all away from clubs and do it through schools alas I'm not convinced our government has enough dollar to bring PE back up to standard, let alone set it all up IE leagues etc.

Youth is the way forward for a club like ours.

A huge amount of money is already invested in the Academy. I believe it is all quite forward thinking down there and Gary Bowyer is highly rated in youth coaching circles. However, the bottom line is that the club have still not produced an established first team player in the ten years since it was set up. During that time we have had some excellent coaches like Rob Kelly and Ian Miller but have still failed to produce first team players.

I believe the initial idea was that the Academy would bring in money for the club because those players who didn't make the grade could be sold on to lower division clubs for decent fees. However, the financial crisis that has hit the lower divisions means that they can't afford to pay fees for players. So we tend to release players or sell them for a minimal fee with sell on clauses attached. However, in recent years the majority of our Academy players have drifted into the lower divisions in Scotland or returned to Irish football or the non-League game in England.

While I agree that the development of young players is of vital importance for the Rovers I don't think the Academy system is really working. Apart from Manchester City, Middlesbrough and possibly Aston Villa, there aren't many clubs who are developing genuine talent at this level. The whole structure of Academy and Reserve team football needs to be looked at in my view. It's not just the Rovers who are throwing a huge amount of money at youth football with very little return.

[broadsword]

There's too many other clubs, most will be more "glamourous" to kids, competing in the same catchment area.

It's a complete waste of time and money we can ill-afford.

[T4E]

There's too many other clubs

This is the reason for just about every problem Rovers have, not just youth.