Academy & U21s

[KentExile]

18 minutes ago, riverholmes said:

The club used to recruit youth players widely from Scotland and Ireland, especially. It was how we got Duff, Hanley, Treacy, Alan Judge, Jon Douglas, etc. That seems to have mostly halted, though there are some occasionally brought in. I wonder if investment in that sort of scouting would be beneficial, though, I'm sure the competition is fierce and likely the pool not huge.

Gilsenan, Bloxham, Finneran (Ireland), Atcheson (Northern Ireland), Fyles (Wales), Montgomery (Scotland) from the current crop.  Just looking at Britain and Ireland.  Also I think 4 (Biniek, Nsangou, Tijon, Michalski) have some eligibility for Poland, Farkas is eligible for Hungary, Duru is eligible for a few different nations, Cirino made his debut for Montserrat this season and Haddow is from Hong Kong and eligible for Japan.  The Edmondson brothers are either from or eligible for the USA

Edited May 14, 2024 by KentExile

[riverholmes]

2 hours ago, KentExile said:

Gilsenan, Bloxham, Finneran (Ireland), Atcheson (Northern Ireland), Fyles (Wales), Montgomery (Scotland) from the current crop.  Just looking at Britain and Ireland.  Also I think 4 (Biniek, Nsangou, Tijon, Michalski) have some eligibility for Poland, Farkas is eligible for Hungary, Duru is eligible for a few different nations, Cirino made his debut for Montserrat this season and Haddow is from Hong Kong and eligible for Japan.  The Edmondson brothers are either from or eligible for the USA

I'm thinking less about nationality but scouting and recruitment directly from Ireland and Scotland youth football. The likes of Bloxham, Finneran and Gilsenan haven't played youth football in Ireland, as far as I know. Not sure about Atcheson, or the others from elsewhere. 

There was more of an emphasis on bringing in players from Ireland and Scotland into the academy and reserve system before and we reaped quite a lot of benefit in the likes of Duff and Hanley and to a lesser extent players like Treacy, Judge and Douglas. There is less emphasis now in that area, which makes me wonder if old scouting ties have been ended. However, it could be that, also, other clubs have muscled into what is probably a small pool, relatively speaking.

It could also be that there is more concern about moving young players as teenagers so far from home - not sure. In our Prem days, Rovers went on a major recruitment drive for youth players from the Continent and I think, basically, none of them broke through. (And then there was the separate Cercle Brugge tie-up that also didn't get anywhere in terms of recruitment though, I'm sure that wasn't the only objective of the deal).

Edit: Just reading on Wikipedia, one of those players in the failed European youth player recruitment drive was Hugo Fernandez, a defender. And, it was that connection between his old club Cornella, that, later, led to David Raya coming to Rovers - a rare success in that type of recruitment, I think.

 

Edited May 14, 2024 by riverholmes

[FourFourTwo]

3 hours ago, riverholmes said:

The club used to recruit youth players widely from Scotland and Ireland, especially. It was how we got Duff, Hanley, Treacy, Alan Judge, Jon Douglas, etc. That seems to have mostly halted, though there are some occasionally brought in. I wonder if investment in that sort of scouting would be beneficial, though, I'm sure the competition is fierce and likely the pool not huge.

Funny you should say this. Watch this space. 

[bluebruce]

5 hours ago, KentExile said:

Cirino made his debut for Montserrat this season

🤣What are Montserrat doing with a national team? It's a British Overseas Territory with a population of 1,200...I'm confident if I'd been born in Montserrat, I'd have been able to play for Montserrat, and I never even got picked up by an academy over here. (I know your point wasn't that playing for Montserrat is impressive btw, I'm just amused FIFA has bothered to acknowledge them..it's not like they're even a sovereign state)

[wilsdenrover]

8 minutes ago, bluebruce said:

🤣What are Montserrat doing with a national team? It's a British Overseas Territory with a population of 1,200...I'm confident if I'd been born in Montserrat, I'd have been able to play for Montserrat, and I never even got picked up by an academy over here. (I know your point wasn't that playing for Montserrat is impressive btw, I'm just amused FIFA has bothered to acknowledge them..it's not like they're even a sovereign state)

England isn’t either.

[bluebruce]

1 minute ago, wilsdenrover said:

England isn’t either.

Fair point, though I'm sure we'd play as the UK if Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland didn't want their own FAs. Anyway I was more pointing it out as an addition to having a tiny, tiny population, which we don't have. It makes a bit of sense if you're very tiny but entirely independent, but I don't see the point when you're tiny and an overseas territory to boot. It would make more sense for the Isle of Man to have a national team, and frankly I'd consider that a bit silly too.

[bazza]

1 hour ago, bluebruce said:

🤣What are Montserrat doing with a national team? It's a British Overseas Territory with a population of 1,200...I'm confident if I'd been born in Montserrat, I'd have been able to play for Montserrat, and I never even got picked up by an academy over here. (I know your point wasn't that playing for Montserrat is impressive btw, I'm just amused FIFA has bothered to acknowledge them..it's not like they're even a sovereign state)

So could your pet cat but not at the moment because it has a groin strain.

[Polky]

 

Today’s result for the u18’s.

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

58 minutes ago, Polky said:

 

Today’s result for the u18’s.

I wonder if the Warhurst who played for City is related to the Warhurst who played for us back in the day ? A top, top player before he got a bad injury. One of the few players who could play in any position and look a natural.

[Norbert Rassragr]

With the nepotism in football he probably is related. Looks like he did well though. Shame he's not in our team as I'd get all nostalgic.

[wilsdenrover]

17 minutes ago, Tyrone Shoelaces said:

I wonder if the Warhurst who played for City is related to the Warhurst who played for us back in the day ? A top, top player before he got a bad injury. One of the few players who could play in any position and look a natural.

I wondered that too but apparently he’s not.

[Moptop1]

I thought he was released from City as a boy and went to Oldham.

Im talking the Paul who played for us.

Edited May 14, 2024 by Moptop1

[Forever Blue]

Edmondson has signed a long term deal. Looked a quality player against Harrogate. 

[FourFourTwo]

2 hours ago, Forever Blue said:

Edmondson has signed a long term deal. Looked a quality player against Harrogate. 

A real versatile player can play 6, 8 or 10 gives a good option in a 4-3-3 and a 4-2-3-1. Good player. 

[bluebruce]

Rovers duo receive international callups

Adam Khan has been called up to the Pakistan national team. Yes, the senior one. Bit of a surprise, I know they're not much good, but either they're worse than I thought or he's better than I thought. Good for him, being called up in goal at 18 for a nation of nearly 250 million people, when you've only played in an academy nearly 4,000 miles away (2 games for the u21s seems to be the most advanced experience he has) is no mean feat, even if that country is far more interested in cricket. If he does well for club and country it may even nudge a few locals into following us. You'd imagine he won't get his cap just yet though.

Cirino has also been called up to the mighty Montserrat again.

[FourFourTwo]

Joe Boggan has signed his first professional contract with the club.

Joe joined from Liverpool at the beginning of the season and took some time to find his feet but the second half of the season has been a real purple patch for Joe as he's got on the score sheet regularly. 

Likes playing as an out and out striker but can play 10, left or right. 

https://twitter.com/Rovers/status/1791483827426128004?t=vYO1zHqZT2YKLCHpc7f6Ew&s=19

[bluebruce]

Perhaps regular viewers can explain for me, but I struggle to understand why Saadi and Baker are being offered new deals whilst Walker, Weston and Harlock have been released. The latter three have always seemed to get better reviews (and look better in what little I've seen of them) than the former two.

[Mashed Potatoes]

3 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Perhaps regular viewers can explain for me, but I struggle to understand why Saadi and Baker are being offered new deals whilst Walker, Weston and Harlock have been released. The latter three have always seemed to get better reviews (and look better in what little I've seen of them) than the former two.

I've no idea but to be fair to the club I can't recall the last time we released a player from the Under 21s or Under 18s and subsequent events showed that to be a poor decision.

[rigger]

3 hours ago, bluebruce said:

Perhaps regular viewers can explain for me, but I struggle to understand why Saadi and Baker are being offered new deals whilst Walker, Weston and Harlock have been released. The latter three have always seemed to get better reviews (and look better in what little I've seen of them) than the former two.

All five are not really good enough, but for me Saadi is nowhere-near good enough. A strange decission, but we do not get to see them day-in, day-out.

Edited May 19, 2024 by rigger

[rigger]

17 minutes ago, Mashed Potatoes said:

I've no idea but to be fair to the club I can't recall the last time we released a player from the Under 21s or Under 18s and subsequent events showed that to be a poor decision.

I don't think the question is about the ones released, but about the two that have been retained.

[Exiled_Rover]

2 hours ago, rigger said:

I don't think the question is about the ones released, but about the two that have been retained.

Maybe it's to do with bodies at positions of weakness? i.e. we don't have enough CBs coming through and the youth teams have X amount of fixtures to fulfil?

Walker disappointed me - he scored for fun in the Academy, but couldn't get a game when he went out on loan. 

[rigger]

3 minutes ago, Exiled_Rover said:

Maybe it's to do with bodies at positions of weakness? i.e. we don't have enough CBs coming through and the youth teams have X amount of fixtures to fulfil?

Walker disappointed me - he scored for fun in the Academy, but couldn't get a game when he went out on loan. 

Center-back seems to one position that is well stocked at all levels. Have you ever seen Saadi play ?

[Exiled_Rover]

1 hour ago, rigger said:

Center-back seems to one position that is well stocked at all levels. Have you ever seen Saadi play ?

I've seen him play in a game or two, yes.

[rigger]

6 hours ago, Exiled_Rover said:

I've seen him play in a game or two, yes.

I have seen Saadi in a few game and he is awful, I have played with better pub center-halves. 

[Oldgregg86]

On 19/05/2024 at 08:02, Mashed Potatoes said:

I've no idea but to be fair to the club I can't recall the last time we released a player from the Under 21s or Under 18s and subsequent events showed that to be a poor decision.

Jack o Connell.