Clarke Unimpressed With Youngsters

[animallittle3]

I have said it in earlier thread and will repeat it again , there are none of us on this forum who were the finished article in their chosen profession half way through our training , fans seem to expect a seasoned experienced pro performance from our kids when they walk out onto the field when realistically it is part of their apprenticeship , taking their progression to the next level , some will make the step up ,most will not, it has never been any different throughout the history of the game , every so often a club will get a generation which has rich potential but not every year , the question is , is it worth it ? well that is grounds for a totally different debate , currently I read on different forums some stinging criticism of certain young individuals which really sticks in my throat , it is totally out of order , none of us would like it if we had been judged at 18 , I do not care what anyone says , it is down to the manager to decide when a player is ready to step up and if he is not it is not the players fault it is the manager or HC who has hung them out to dry and any critique should be aimed at them and not the youngster and whilst a manager is right to be honest with his appraisal he should also have a good look in the mirror when playing the blame game .

My criticism Shad isn't really about the individual ability or lack of it from our academy products .

I'm not going to throw young players under a bus .

What I will say is that this is a club who do give it's academy products opportunities , that may well be in cup competitions or coming off the bench in league games , Jalo and Yoganathan started at Old Trafford for instance .

Jalo has had a number of opportunities , he had another the other night and in my opinion he's shown nowt , I don't get the hype surrounding the lad and I haven't for 18 months .

How long do you give him ?

In the time I've watched this club and you yourself have seen what I've seen Shad we've seen young lads come through , what you generally got was a bit of inconsistency but they showed way more ability than I see today so you could live with that inconsistency .

When was the last time an academy product REALLY gave the HC no option but to play him and take a regulars place ?

There isn't a single academy product I would start , not one .

If you are going to continue with the academy then Hassell and his staff need to start hitting some targets with regard to bringing players through to the first team .

Everyone in football had targets to hit apart from Hassell apparently and he should be accountable .

[Shadrack the Red]

My criticism Shad isn't really about the individual ability or lack of it from our academy products .

I'm not going to throw young players under a bus .

What I will say is that this is a club who do give it's academy products opportunities , that may well be in cup competitions or coming off the bench in league games , Jalo and Yoganathan started at Old Trafford for instance .

Jalo has had a number of opportunities , he had another the other night and in my opinion he's shown nowt , I don't get the hype surrounding the lad and I haven't for 18 months .

How long do you give him ?

In the time I've watched this club and you yourself have seen what I've seen Shad we've seen young lads come through , what you generally got was a bit of inconsistency but they showed way more ability than I see today so you could live with that inconsistency .

When was the last time an academy product REALLY gave the HC no option but to play him and take a regulars place ?

There isn't a single academy product I would start , not one .

If you are going to continue with the academy then Hassell and his staff need to start hitting some targets with regard to bringing players through to the first team .

Everyone in football had targets to hit apart from Hassell apparently and he should be accountable .

I think the whole Academy subject is worthy of its own thread to discuss and debate , regarding Jalo , the lad is not 18 yet but coaches at International level and at Oakwell see a player in him , now whether he develops and progresses time will tell , I dont know but these coaches see him day in and day out so will know a lot more about his potential than you and I , I do know young players who have come here and had a hard time, Woods and Toney for example who turned out to be top players and whilst we are talking about Jalo or any other young player at 17/18 , they are no way near the finished article , I wasn"t and I am sure no one else on this forum was , if these youngsters are put on the pitch before they are ready then it is not their fault but surely as a fan base we should show more patience , personally I would restructure the academy and only take players into the set up from the age of 15 to 19 thus serving a 4 year apprenticeship , it would cut the costs and would save a lot of heartache of youngsters and their parents who are star struck from a ridiculously young age but as I say it is a topic on its own and worthy of its own debate

[POGGYWELL]

Surely this is the dedicated thread Shads the youngster's referred to are mostly academy.

The way I see it if the first team coach fails to deliver on the pitch then he’s on his way, well almost taking Collins out of the equation.
If we run a business with top class facilities at our level then it’s fair to say we should expect some positive rewards.

We sign a first team players if they good we sell them and the first team coach has to continue getting results. It would be great if the HC thought fair enough we have kids knocking on the first team door it’s time to use some. Hard facts demonstrate over recent years we haven’t and so the system is broken.

I don’t think for one minute that Clarke is trying to deflect from his own performances but simply highlighting we are going nowhere with the current set up. Time for change.

[Jules88]

I have said it in earlier thread and will repeat it again , there are none of us on this forum who were the finished article in their chosen profession half way through our training , fans seem to expect a seasoned experienced pro performance from our kids when they walk out onto the field when realistically it is part of their apprenticeship , taking their progression to the next level , some will make the step up ,most will not, it has never been any different throughout the history of the game , every so often a club will get a generation which has rich potential but not every year , the question is , is it worth it ? well that is grounds for a totally different debate , currently I read on different forums some stinging criticism of certain young individuals which really sticks in my throat , it is totally out of order , none of us would like it if we had been judged at 18 , I do not care what anyone says , it is down to the manager to decide when a player is ready to step up and if he is not it is not the players fault it is the manager or HC who has hung them out to dry and any critique should be aimed at them and not the youngster and whilst a manager is right to be honest with his appraisal he should also have a good look in the mirror when playing the blame game .

I get he has to criticise, but there should be a measure of it. The kids know that if they aren’t good enough, they’ll be shipped on. Publicly saying it after so many of them were chucked in doesn’t help the lads.

[Shadrack the Red]

Surely this is the dedicated thread Shads the youngster's referred to are mostly academy.

The way I see it if the first team coach fails to deliver on the pitch then he’s on his way, well almost taking Collins out of the equation.
If we run a business with top class facilities at our level then it’s fair to say we should expect some positive rewards.

We sign a first team players if they good we sell them and the first team coach has to continue getting results. It would be great if the HC thought fair enough we have kids knocking on the first team door it’s time to use some. Hard facts demonstrate over recent years we haven’t and so the system is broken.

I don’t think for one minute that Clarke is trying to deflect from his own performances but simply highlighting we are going nowhere with the current set up. Time for change.

I dont disagree, in fact I have mentioned in my previous post about a change in format but the reason I say it needs a separate thread is that we initially were discussing Clarke"s comments following the Doncatser match, what I am saying is that the whole academy system etc which starts with youngsters from 7 or 8 years old , the whole ethos , the structure, the coaching at different levels etc etc merits discussion

[NerfHerder]

I can’t argue with his comments.

I have watched all of our games this year (all home league games at Oakwell, home cup games and away games on stream), which of course includes the BSM cup and there’s only really Yoganathan that has shown anything in my opinion.

High hopes for Jalo but he could do with a run of games to show something. Wilkinson is also highly thought of given his England connections.