Question youth team

[essexshrimper]

having seen crewe have a successful youth system, and hearing that ours isnt that bad, i was wondering, does anyone know who is in our youth team, and what type of contracts their on at the mo

 

[Davros]

Looking at the youth players that were offered developement contracts the other day (wheeled out at HT vs Brizzle), it did make me wonder why the majority of youth players we seem to bring through are always very slight.

There was at least one however, that seemed a big, strong lad... i just hope he wasn't a goalkeeper, as its about time we brought through a big bruising centre half or something

 

[amsemp]

Looking at the youth players that were offered developement contracts the other day (wheeled out at HT vs Brizzle), it did make me wonder why the majority of youth players we seem to bring through are always very slight.

There was at least one however, that seemed a big, strong lad... i just hope he wasn't a goalkeeper, as its about time we brought through a big bruising centre half or something

The majority of the lads we end up with have previously been on the books of higher league clubs but been let go due to their clubs believeing they don't have the physical capacity to cope with their respective league. There are of course exceptions, Michael Ngoo being one of then.

We rarely bring someone through to the first team who we've had from a very young age. Ferdinand was with us from the age of 13 I believe, but the last player we've had from a young age that I can think of to get anywhere near the first team was Justin Hazell, who was with us from the age of 8 I think.

Crewe are very productive with youth players as they are at Academy status, whereas we are not. Being an academy has many advantages that having a Centre of Excellence doesn't. With this is mind, Ricky Duncan deserves nothing less than total admiration for his success.

I remember Tilson saying once upon a time that the new stadium would enable us to achieve Academy status, so hopefully it's a case of watch this space, as things may improve even more in terms of youth development if/when/however the new stadium is built!