Quote Originally Posted by Shadrack the Red View Post
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 .