Academy & U21s

[RevidgeBlue]

5 hours ago, Leyland-Rover said:

Agreed.

Fulham were on top in the first half and I thought Rovers might take a battering, and their attempts at a long ball wasnt getting them anywhere.

Rovers game out with a different approach in the second half and Fulham didn't stand a change. Excellent passing play, fast attacks, and the Travis & Thomson attack down the right was too much for their LW & LB and great to watch.

Tomlinson had a great game. Reads the game very well and gets stuck in.

Great game, shame to let them steal a second goal at the death.

Will Tomlinson be the next youngster to depart Ewood without pulling on a senior shirt in anger because he hasn't been given a chance? 

It beggars belief for me he can't get a game whilst apparently the useless Lowe seems undroppable.

[duggy9197]

https://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2017/04/under-18s-report--chelsea-v-blackburn.html

[Stuart]

5 hours ago, duggy9197 said:

https://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2017/04/under-18s-report--chelsea-v-blackburn.html

As long as things like this happen, players will continue to cheat and feel it was justified. It's about time goals were awarded for handball on the line.

[perthblue02]

14 hours ago, duggy9197 said:

https://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2017/04/under-18s-report--chelsea-v-blackburn.html

Above game being shown now on Chelsea TV

[Oldgregg86]

Off to watch the kids tonight down at ewood £3 for adults pound for kids, free FOR ST. Hope to see a few down their for the semi finals with a place in the final v Liverpool up for grabs. 

[blueboy3333]

http://www.rovers.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/molson-coors-senior-cup-blackburn-rovers-fleetwood-town-3702598.aspx

Live updates.. 1-1 at the moment

[JohnD]

Lost on penalties to Fleetwood

[Parsonblue]

Poor performance tonight and but for Andy Fisher we would have been out of it by half-time.  Fleetwood looked the better side and ultimately deserved to go through to the final.

[JAL]

Just now, JohnD said:

Lost on penalties to Fleetwood

Just goes to show that they ain't good enough. Don't why Grayson gets a start they must be pretty desperate.

[AllRoverAsia]

10 hours ago, blueboy3333 said:

http://www.rovers.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/molson-coors-senior-cup-blackburn-rovers-fleetwood-town-3702598.aspx

Live updates.. 1-1 at the moment

Thx for the link. I followed whilst up watching the Madrid CL game.

[blueboy3333]

http://www.rovers.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/blackburn-rovers-callum-dolan-kyle-connell-3725066.aspx

[JAL]

1 minute ago, blueboy3333 said:

http://www.rovers.co.uk/news/article/2016-17/blackburn-rovers-callum-dolan-kyle-connell-3725066.aspx

Who's the young boys agents and agencies blueboy3333 ?

[Tom]

26 minutes ago, JAL said:

Who's the young boys agents and agencies blueboy3333 ?

Jeff Kenna and Francis Benali

[JAL]

Just now, Tom said:

Jeff Kenna and Francis Benali

Cheers Tom under what agency name.

[blueboy3333]

Just now, JAL said:

Cheers Tom under what agency name.

Kennali Football Clients Ltd

[JacknOry]

I see what they did there

[Leyland-Rover]

JAL querying agents? Whatever else next!?

I keep seeing this "new scholarship...." word being thrown about? Is it something different, or is it just a standard word for signing a new kid on a non-pro contract?

[blueboy3333]

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/rovers/news/15314692.Rovers_academy_chief_predicts_bright_Brockhall_future/?ref=mac

The Academy and Brockhall are still a source of pride. One of the few left

[chaddyrovers]

Rovers wanted to keep cat 1 status

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/sport/15317934.Rovers_remain_committed_to_Category_One_Academy_status_despite_relegation_to_League_One/

[Stuart]

Can't quite work out what the Raos intentions are with the academy. Do they see top flight (or even second tier) football as vanity and feel there is money to be made from growing our own players and selling them.

I guess if Lenihan goes for £2.5m or more then he pays for this season's academy costs. Much like Hanley has done.

But if that was the play, why would they not protect their investment by offering Mahoney a proper deal? They will have a very short window for their player farm to get to market. If a player comes through and signs a four year deal (on a pittance btw) then he will need to be sold in the first two years to make any real money. Which means they have to make a massive impact in year 1 and remain consistent in year 2. For it to work they need one successful youth player every season.

Now, how does that stack up with EPPP?

According to this

http://www.fsf.org.uk/latest-news/view/the-eppp-and-why-youth-development-matters

the compensation is based on academy status so remaining Cat One will keep the wolves from the door. The fact that the Raos continue to invest in this - at the expense of the first team - suggests that this is all about turning this into a money making enterprise. Kinder's comments about the division of the first team not being important to Cat One do allude to the fact that tye academy is the be all and end all of Blackburn Rovers under their tenure.

Is that why they are still here? And are we all comfortable that this is the kind of club we may already be? Is it any wonder that first team attendances have fallen through the floor?

On this basis, we could be stuck with Venkys for years and years and years. The price to watch first team football could well continue to increase because it isn't that important and they have no time for the fans.

[Lancaster Rover]

He may say that the first teams league status is irrelevant but he is lying. Yes, we may keep Cat 1 status (in the short term) however look at the number of clubs outside the prem who are cat 1, speaks volumes. You then have to look at the sort of players you will attract to a league 1 club academy, the players we will get will have realistically been knocked back by every other cat 1 prem club and no doubt a number of prem clubs in cat 2. We've been blessed in recent times of being a prem club with a successful/well run academy, we  no longer have the benefit of elite level football and will no longer be seen as an attractive proposition IMO.

 

 

[AllRoverAsia]

It's just another piece of joint Rovers & LT positive spin propoganda and there's been a lot since relegation. Bulls-hit extraordinaire.

 

[Lancaster Rover]

Absolutely, I think they're relying on the average fan knowing very little about how the scholar and academy systems work in the EPPP era. 

[Stuart]

41 minutes ago, Lancaster Rover said:

He may say that the first teams league status is irrelevant but he is lying. Yes, we may keep Cat 1 status (in the short term) however look at the number of clubs outside the prem who are cat 1, speaks volumes. You then have to look at the sort of players you will attract to a league 1 club academy, the players we will get will have realistically been knocked back by every other cat 1 prem club and no doubt a number of prem clubs in cat 2. We've been blessed in recent times of being a prem club with a successful/well run academy, we  no longer have the benefit of elite level football and will no longer be seen as an attractive proposition IMO.

Good post. Regardless of the quality of the academy a young player will want to join the PL clubs first. So it will come down to catchment area and how far parents are able or willing to travel. Your Damien Duffs are certainly more likely to go to one of the local PL academies. It's one thing being in the Championship but a whole other problem being in L1 for any length of time with nothing for youngsters to aim for except graduating to other clubs' youth teams. Brockhall's infrastructure will only get us so far. We need to bounce back for this to work I guess.

So I'm back to being stumped. Maybe they are simply stupid after all.

[Parsonblue]

41 minutes ago, Lancaster Rover said:

He may say that the first teams league status is irrelevant but he is lying. Yes, we may keep Cat 1 status (in the short term) however look at the number of clubs outside the prem who are cat 1, speaks volumes. You then have to look at the sort of players you will attract to a league 1 club academy, the players we will get will have realistically been knocked back by every other cat 1 prem club and no doubt a number of prem clubs in cat 2. We've been blessed in recent times of being a prem club with a successful/well run academy, we  no longer have the benefit of elite level football and will no longer be seen as an attractive proposition IMO.

 

 

The past two seasons have shown that we can compete on the field with any of those in the Premiership at this level.  The problem we face is that every three years, when the inspection takes place to renew category status, the bar is raised in terms of facilities.  A number of Premier League clubs have moved in recent years to larger complexes which has enabled them to improve the facilities.  Because we developed our facilities in the 1990's, we face a struggle to develop in the same way due to planning restrictions.  In many ways, not being a Premier League club provides lads with an incentive as there is a path to first team football.  The likes of Lenihan, Nyambe, Wharton, Raya, Tomlinson, Travis and Mahoney have all been around the first team this season which wouldn't have happened at Premier League level.  There is a lot of excellent work going on at the Academy and it remains one aspect of the club which continues thrive despite the ownership.  However, future success will depend on the level of financial cut-backs to the Academy.