[Archived] Adam Henley

[Kelbo]

Watching young Adams performances to date, I cant for the life in me see why he wasnt used this season under Kean, indeed, his performances last season in the premier league against both Man U and Liverpool were exceptional for a 17 year old!

Michel Salgados comment on Twitter stating 'Adam is an amazing player' confirms my opinion of a player I mentioned on this messageboard after his performance against Manchester United Reseves as a 16 year old, playing Oberton out of the game.

To date, he has seen off Jackson Ramm, who I thought looked like he would make it, Orr, Ribiero and as a 17 year old, thats no mean achievement, so why didnt Kean use him when a right full back was a problem position at the club?

I dont know if anyone else has picked up on this but on Saturday, the starting line up had seven players under the age of 23 with only Robbo, Dann, Etuhu and Murphy older, in my opinion, the younger lads legs immediately improve the vibrancy and movement of the squad giving the midfield many more options, Adam Henleys overlaps were a big feature of Saturdays win and he can really claim a part assist with the first goal!

So why didnt Kean use him, obviously for someone such as Salgado to say such a thing about a player must have some credibility, Berg has decided to play with a settled team a youthful team with the experience and ability of Robbo, Etuhu and Murphy around them, this is a decent blend, they are still learning and there will be setbacks but if they continue to perform throughout this season, it really can enhance the value of the squad substantially!

[philipl]

Henley looks a fantastic prospect.

[Muddboy]

Quite simple really. Kean was a complete and utter dufus whose reign was littered with poor decisions on player selection.

I agree, Henley is a class above. Plenty of energy, a great athlete and excellent at defending.

I think we will be very, very big for us.

No thanks to Kean.

[Andy]

Because Kean was/is as thick as two short planks immersed in alcohol and at no point did he have Rovers' best interests in mind when selecting teams.

[Sparky Marky]

Coco liked his bum boy buddy Bradley there..

[arbitro]

I genuinely believe that not selecting Henley was more about Kean wanting to keep his senior professionals sweet rather than anything else. It is symptomatic of somebody who is ridiculously out of his depth, his constant use and praise of senior players who were clearly out of from (or not interested) was almost his comfort blanket. Aside from a few naive errors Adam has been a revelation and hopefully will play a big part in the future of Rovers.

The point about the majority of the starting eleven being under 23 is a fact I didn't pick up on but I certainly welcome it. The energy and verve they have shown has been a major factor in our upturn in form.

[yoda]

I genuinely believe that not selecting Henley was more about Kean wanting to keep his senior professionals sweet rather than anything else. It is symptomatic of somebody who is ridiculously out of his depth, his constant use and praise of senior players who were clearly out of from (or not interested) was almost his comfort blanket. Aside from a few naive errors Adam has been a revelation and hopefully will play a big part in the future of Rovers.

The point about the majority of the starting eleven being under 23 is a fact I didn't pick up on but I certainly welcome it. The energy and verve they have shown has been a major factor in our upturn in form.

They certainly have, if your good enough, your old enough,

are you still reading coco?

[SergioPeter89]

Henning Berg told TV2 Norway that he was impressed by Henley in our games against Man Utd and Liverpool last season. When he came to the club this autumn, he was immediately impressed by him in training, and therefor had no problems with playing him from day one.

[alexanders]

The commentary on telly said that Real Madrid were monitoring Adam Henley.

Massively impressed with the performances and I love a young back bombing forward! He looks like the real deal.

Henley on one back and Olsson on the other is the future.

[Kelbo]

The commentary on telly said that Real Madrid were monitoring Adam Henley.

Massively impressed with the performances and I love a young back bombing forward! He looks like the real deal.

Henley on one back and Olsson on the other is the future.

Hence Salgados statement, 'an amazing player' I wonder who tipped off Real???

But its too early yet, the lad needs to concentrate on his development at Rovers and think Berg will help enormously, seems very level headed and willing to knuckle down and work, importantly, I hear he has a very supportive and solid family around him to keep his feet on the ground!

[Mercer]

Unfortunately, IMO, self interest and politics played too big a part in Kean's selections.

IMO, Orr, Kean's cheerleader had to play and Simon's continuing exclusion ccould be explained by a Kean / Simon Hunt rift.

No doubt, there are lots ot other selection anomalies and therefore it's good riddance to, IMO, the imbecilic clown who supposedly wanted to sign Simon Cox before Rhodes !

[AndyC]

it's good riddance to, IMO, the imbecilic clown who supposedly wanted to sign Simon Cox before Rhodes !

how highly do you rate this rumour? i've heard that rhodes was really a shebby signing, but don't know what to believe on here sometimes!

[47er]

Here's another one we can blame Kean's man-management skills for:

http://www.dailystar.co.uk/football/view/283295/Stoke-boss-Tony-Pulis-reckons-Steven-N-Zonzi-will-soon-be-at-top-club-/

[Howler]

I've been impressed by Henley whenever I've seen him play. He's one of those youngsters who looks like he belongs in the first team immediately (like Phil Jones did). Good to see the Academy produce another good defender!

What makes his lack of games last season more confusing is that Kean brought him in to the team in the first place.

[Kelbo]

I've been impressed by Henley whenever I've seen him play. He's one of those youngsters who looks like he belongs in the first team immediately (like Phil Jones did). Good to see the Academy produce another good defender!

What makes his lack of games last season more confusing is that Kean brought him in to the team in the first place.

In some ways I can understand him not being selected in a relegation battle as it could have hampered his development, but this season, after showing his capabilities in the Prem, should have been a no brainer, its how you handle the lad that matters and he wasnt handled well at all by Kean!!

[

[The Rover of Finland]

It´s obvious Henley is next who will be leaving us for clubs like Man Utd or City. Hope his contract issues are handled better than Jones´s. I was asking last spring here if anybody knew why Henley doesn´t play. Nobody never answered and I totally think something happend between Kean and Adam. Maybe Simon and Adam told Kean what an idiot he was.

Luckily we have a smart lad on charge now. He sees obvious things and acts like a normal manager. In my eyes Henley wasn´t given a chance by Henning. He just selected Adam like it was supposed to be done for months before.

[Muddboy]

Henley is proof that the Academy is still producing talent (despite Kean's poisonous two-year reign) and the fact that Berg is prepared to give these boys a chance bodes extremely well for the youngsters and us.

It must be a real boost for the young lads to know that if they're good enough, they're old enough. I'm sure that's not something that's been in their thinking recently.

Therefore, I hope we see something of people like Ryan Edwards, Jamie McLaren, Hugo Fermamdez et al in the coming months.

By all accounts, they have real potential.

[The Rover of Finland]

Henley is proof that the Academy is still producing talent (despite Kean's poisonous two-year reign) and the fact that Berg is prepared to give these boys a chance bodes extremely well for the youngsters and us.

It must be a real boost for the young lads to know that if they're good enough, they're old enough. I'm sure that's not something that's been in their thinking recently.

Therefore, I hope we see something of people like Ryan Edwards, Jamie McLaren, Hugo Fermamdez et al in the coming months.

By all accounts, they have real potential.

Henley is proof that the Academy is still producing talent (despite Kean's poisonous two-year reign) and the fact that Berg is prepared to give these boys a chance bodes extremely well for the youngsters and us.

It must be a real boost for the young lads to know that if they're good enough, they're old enough. I'm sure that's not something that's been in their thinking recently.

Therefore, I hope we see something of people like Ryan Edwards, Jamie McLaren, Hugo Fermamdez et al in the coming months.

By all accounts, they have real potential.

What is going on with Hugo? Always thought he will be a first teamer this season in the championship. Atleast given his debut.

[Plastics]

I'm pleasantly surprised how fast Henley has come back into the fold. I wanted him back but was unsure whether him being dropped or not was a matter of him going off the boil a bit, like McEveley. Believing the hype a bit. I agree with an above posters sentiments that it would have been risky to use him in a Prem relegation battle. After Berg came I was interested to see whether Henley would get some opportunities, but I felt that the chances would be that he'd need a bit of match practice to get back into the swing of things after so long outside the first team games. Just like when he first started playing, however, he's back with a relative bang.

Exactly the type of player this club should be promoting given their previous statements about us buying young and selling high. I would have thought they'd have been making the most of their youth this season. It could well have been a case of Kean simply having to keep club politics at the front of his team selections. Spinning too many plates at once.

[Mercer]

how highly do you rate this rumour? i've heard that rhodes was really a shebby signing, but don't know what to believe on here sometimes!

Thought I saw it in one newspaper that Rovers had agreed a fee with WBA for Cox and he was set to travel north when someone put the block on it.

There was lots of rumour that Singh was the driving force behind Rhodes, and that he told Pune that he could do better than Cox. There was even speculation that Kean was trying to make the Rhodes signing as difficult as possible !

As we know, disecting fact from fiction with Rovers has been very difficult over the last two years, however, it would be of little surprise to me if there were fun and games over Cox and Rhodes.

Whatever the facts might be, somehow, I am sure that we got to the right place in the end !

[AndyC]

think Berg will help enormously, seems very level headed and willing to knuckle down and work,

fantastic that our manager played in the same position as our hottest prospect.

can't think of a better manager to learn from over the next couple of years.

tie him down to a 5 year contract now!

[McClarky]

Berg must have identified the lack of pace as a problem and put Olson and Henley straight in at full back to sort that out. God move.

[Mercer]

Henley is proof that the Academy is still producing talent (despite Kean's poisonous two-year reign) and the fact that Berg is prepared to give these boys a chance bodes extremely well for the youngsters and us.

It must be a real boost for the young lads to know that if they're good enough, they're old enough. I'm sure that's not something that's been in their thinking recently.

Therefore, I hope we see something of people like Ryan Edwards, Jamie McLaren, Hugo Fermamdez et al in the coming months.

By all accounts, they have real potential.

Unfortunately, the Kean impact and the shenanigans of recent times might become more clear in time to come.

Development of Academy players is a long haul and starts with recruitment of young lads sometimes up to 10 years before you would see them challenging for a 1st team spot.

I think the risks are, firstly, that there have been not insignificant changes in Academy staff over the last 2 years which I would suggest is not just coincidental with what has happened during the Kean / Venky's reign. Secondly, I think the reputation of our club has suffered significantly since the change of ownership, and this is the key point IMO, as previously, a great selling point to parents and talented youngsters, was that Rovers were renowned for being a great friendly, family and well organised / managed club - unfortunately, I don't think we now are and this is likely to impact hugely on our ability to attract the top young talent going forward.

If you think about it, it was a long and patient process before we really started to see the Academy bear some real fruit. A huge amount of work had to go in over a long period of time to arrive at this point. I sincerely hope not but it would be of little surprise should the production line not dry-up a bit in years to come.

[den]

Here's another one we can blame Kean's man-management skills for:

http://www.dailystar...e-at-top-club-/

Some of "us", always knew that 47er, didn't we!

[Puffsan]

think we may see one or two other academy players getting a chance in our first team this season. This is very much Bergs philosophy, he really likes molding youngsters into how he want them to play and then use them instead of older ones if they are at the same skill level