Squad Age

[Massimo Giovanni]

By my thinking we may have the youngest squad (for us) for many years and certainly amongst the lowest in the league; especially after Barks departure. Who, other than Smithy is over 30?
And who is our longest signed player? my guess would be either Barry Corr or Mark Phillips as I can't think that any are pre-PS now.

 

[MK Shrimper]

Were the youth teamers (Payne/Seedy) here when Tilly was?

 

[Jai]

Phillips is 31. It's nice we have a young side but there really is no substitute for experience. It's good to have a blend.

 

[Silencer]

Longest serving players will be Phillips, Prosser and Corr who all signed in Paul Sturrock's first summer.

Most appearances would probably be Freddy Eastwood who of course is in his second spell with the club.

I think it is quite ironic how young our squad is when you consider how many posters on shrimpermoan ripped in to Phil Brown when he first joined and moaned about 'inevitable signing old older players' like Brown supposedly did at Hull.

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

Longest serving players will be Phillips, Prosser and Corr who all signed in Paul Sturrock's first summer.

Most appearances would probably be Freddy Eastwood who of course is in his second spell with the club.

I think it is quite ironic how young our squad is when you consider how many posters on shrimpermoan ripped in to Phil Brown when he first joined and moaned about 'inevitable signing old older players' like Brown supposedly did at Hull.

Still no sightings of Dean Windass on the A127 which is a little disappointing. :unsure:

Good to have a youngish side as long as they have the maturity and experience to match the opposition.
Compared to the position of only 2 or 3 weeks ago, it would seem that the younger players such as Seedy and Payne for instance may not get that much time on the pitch. Still good for them to be regularly involved with the first XI. :thumbsup:

 

[Ayrshire Blue]

Shipping out Harris and Barker has brought the average age down a bit. That's one thing I have to applaud Brown for. We've tried to get out of this league with the 'experienced' players for 3 years and have failed.

Nice to see a fresh approach.

 

[SS3]

The Average age of our Squad is around 24 Yeas old.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

The Average age of our Squad is around 24 Yeas old.

If we have to have a very small squad then a younger squad should be less prone to injury, quicker (fewer "legs gone" moans) points to prove, receptive to ideas, quicker & likely cheaper.
Just not a lot of experience.

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

Didn't Crewe get out of this League with a young side?.............and playing decent football, to boot.

 

[RobB11]

Didn't Crewe get out of this League with a young side?.............and playing decent football, to boot.

Exactly! We are the new Crewe :thumbsup:

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

Exactly! We are the new Crewe :thumbsup:

I'd be more than happy if we were to become the new Crewe, but I struggle to see who the young players we are bringing through to sell on. The only two I can see us selling on for more than nominal sums are Leonard and maybe Bentley, who were both here last season. Full-back isn't a premium position - see how Clohessy can't even get a job and he made the division's team of the year last year.

In recent years we've turned six figure profits on the likes of Ryan Hall, Kane Ferdinand, Ryan Cresswell and should have on Mohsni if we'd accepted the W*** H** bid. This has kept the club afloat.

The players we've signed may be decent players, but they are role players, not stars. We need to develop players to sell.

 

[Rattus Norvegicus]

I see your point Yorkshire Blue but if we instead consider developing younger players as the route to getting back up the leagues then we need players across the range of positions. Being practical it would seem we (SUFC) will have to continue to sell but one could argue that not having "superstars" will help keep the squad together.

I'm not 100% convinced with that argument but I am very pleased that so far we only have 1 loan player and that suggests we would benefit more from player development. Britt sold for £1m+ apparently. We helped develop him and got nothing from the sale.

 

[Southend Pier]

Phillips is 31. It's nice we have a young side but there really is no substitute for experience. It's good to have a blend.

Definetly Jai - Not a good thing to be extreme either way, fully young or old, so as you say a good blend of youth and experience should be how it should be. the older ones to give you the best chance of succeeding with the younger ones looking at their lead and doing their best to impress on them which should in turn motivate their share of the responsibility.

 

[Massimo Giovanni]

The players recently sold cost nothing when they arrived here; I am hoping that the likes of Hurst/Atkinson/Clifford will either stay and get us up a league (or two) OR show some real potential in their play; and get their own moves to championship teams and leave us with similar financial gains.
And that we see some more of Mr. Duncan's lads work their way into the 1st team squad.

Rome wasn't built in a day?

 

[yogi bear up the cagire]

I'd be more than happy if we were to become the new Crewe, but I struggle to see who the young players we are bringing through to sell on. The only two I can see us selling on for more than nominal sums are Leonard and maybe Bentley, who were both here last season. Full-back isn't a premium position - see how Clohessy can't even get a job and he made the division's team of the year last year.

In recent years we've turned six figure profits on the likes of Ryan Hall, Kane Ferdinand, Ryan Cresswell and should have on Mohsni if we'd accepted the W*** H** bid. This has kept the club afloat.

The players we've signed may be decent players, but they are role players, not stars. We need to develop players to sell.

Being the new Crewe, as we know, is rather more complex than just having a young side. It would require time, patience and a lot of investment, which we certainly don't have. No, I think the next best thing is bringing in young players (who haven't quite made the grade at the level they started e.g. Clifford), blending them with experienced players and hopefully developing them, for their benefit and ours.

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

I see your point Yorkshire Blue but if we instead consider developing younger players as the route to getting back up the leagues then we need players across the range of positions. Being practical it would seem we (SUFC) will have to continue to sell but one could argue that not having "superstars" will help keep the squad together.

I'm not 100% convinced with that argument but I am very pleased that so far we only have 1 loan player and that suggests we would benefit more from player development. Britt sold for £1m+ apparently. We helped develop him and got nothing from the sale.

I'd consider developing young players as the route to keeping the club alive.

I hope very much that we've signed Thompson as cover for injuries and not with the intention to plug him straight into the team.

It's bad for continuity and you get a very poor return for your investment as you get the performances as they learn and the parent club reaps the benefit when they've learnt those lessons. Even a successful loan signing like Assomabalonga had a number of poor performances where his inexperience meant he offered little.

Being the new Crewe, as we know, is rather more complex than just having a young side. It would require time, patience and a lot of investment, which we certainly don't have. No, I think the next best thing is bringing in young players (who haven't quite made the grade at the level they started e.g. Clifford), blending them with experienced players and hopefully developing them, for their benefit and ours.

I agree with a blend of young and old, but you want players young enough and in premium positions that they could develop into valuable prospects. Goalscorers are the key - be it a striker like Eastwood use to be, or a central defender like Mohsni or Cresswell who scores an above average amount for their position, or a winger (Hall) or attacking midfielder (Ferdinand) - and they attract a disproportionate amount of attention.

I'd forgotten about Clifford. He's young enough that he could still be considered a prospect and attract a fee in a season's time if he turns out to be good.