Youth team ,scouting system , or the lack of ?

[Elite_Pie]

The way you treat a young player and the opportunities you give them can make a huge difference to their progress.

If a player isn't given a chance in their late ****s and drifts off relatively unnoticed into semi-pro non-league football, having to find employment outside the game as well, it limits their time and capacity to ever realise their true potential. It's far too simplistic to say "well, they went nowhere so they probably never were any good".

I've absolutely no doubt that there are a good number of players trawling around the non-league that had/have as much ability as some in the Championship and perhaps a few in the Premier League. But sometimes it can boil down to whether a manager gives you a proper taste of first-team action at a young age from which to develop with all the benefits of a full-time professional environment. If not, even some extremely talented players can enter the non-league wilderness from which it is difficult to re-emerge, not to mention the mental demotivation aspect of feeling your big chance has passed you by.

Of course, that's why football clubs employ scouts who can perhaps spot the uncut diamond or overlooked talent and give them a second chance at pro level, like Stevenage appear to be doing with Luther Wildin, but for the few who get a second chance there must be many more lost to the game forever.

Not sure I agree with that. If a player has the necessary talent and the right commitment they will soon rise to whatever level they are capable of playing at. I find it hard to believe that someone like Colby Bishop (as an example) would be in the first team if he had been given better support, coaching and opportunities in his youth days at Notts.

[jackal2]

Not sure I agree with that. If a player has the necessary talent and the right commitment they will soon rise to whatever level they are capable of playing at. I find it hard to believe that someone like Colby Bishop (as an example) would be in the first team if he had been given better support, coaching and opportunities in his youth days at Notts.

Obviously I'm not saying that every player we've released was potentially the next Draper or Johnson. The point I'm making is that what happens to you in life can have an effect on your opportunity to progress, your self belief, and the way others see you.

One of the biggest myths is that the "cream always rises to the top", because sometimes it simply doesn't. Players develop at different rates and obviously you stand a better chance of developing if you stay in a full-time pro environment with all the top training and no distractions than you do in a semi-pro environment with limited expertise and time available. If a young player has the misfortune to be a bit of a slow burner, rather than a relative shooting star like Johnson, Draper or Yates, they might never get the chance to show what they could have been.

Every so often a missed talent does get salvaged, like a Stan Collymore or a Charlie Austin, or in our case maybe a Paul Harding, so sometimes their talent does come to the rescue in the end, but there will be many more who get overlooked first time around and never get spotted again.

[Elite_Pie]

Obviously I'm not saying that every player we've released was potentially the next Draper or Johnson. The point I'm making is that what happens to you in life can have an effect on your opportunity to progress, your self belief, and the way others see you.

One of the biggest myths is that the "cream always rises to the top", because sometimes it simply doesn't. Players develop at different rates and obviously you stand a better chance of developing if you stay in a full-time pro environment with all the top training and no distractions than you do in a semi-pro environment with limited expertise and time available. If a young player has the misfortune to be a bit of a slow burner, rather than a relative shooting star like Johnson, Draper or Yates, they might never get the chance to show what they could have been.

Every so often a missed talent does get salvaged, like a Stan Collymore or a Charlie Austin, or in our case maybe a Paul Harding, so sometimes their talent does come to the rescue in the end, but there will be many more who get overlooked first time around and never get spotted again.

It's just that we get repeated criticism of the youth set up, which is probably valid as it produces next to nothing. We are then told how talented a certain player is, but how many youngsters that we have released have bit us on the arse and gone on to play at a higher level?

[CmonUSexyStylishPies]

Can anyone remember who the young lad was who made 1 sub appearance last season? He was supposed to be promising so Hardy wanted him to be fielded at least once.

[Oldstripy]

Lets look at how training has been for years, all the teams trained at different places making it hard for managers to watch all the age groups. when AH gets his training ground that should change some U18s and U20s could be integrated into first team training to see how they shape up.

[Freeman25]

Can anyone remember who the young lad was who made 1 sub appearance last season? He was supposed to be promising so Hardy wanted him to be fielded at least once.

Osbourne? He started a game last season didnt he? Unless you mean someone else