Another Centre Back

[Harlzed]

With Bell saying it will be good for Booth to have Lawlor around suggests it will be Waller that is returned to his parent club. I imagine Mingi must surely be going back to Stockport because he?s not playing here. Unfortunately for him, his time in professional football may be up, nothing has worked out for him, and Stockport may release at the end of the season. Rankine is our player I thought but wasn?t even on the bench yesterday, was he injured or are we loaning him out in the coming week? On the basis that we won?t see much of Tezgel for the rest of the season, Thibaut I want to like but it never quite works, Moult is finished as a striker in professional football as far as I can tell, Bogle has injury issues - we really need a striker in. I think Lawlor was good business though, we need that older, experienced head, I?ve got high hopes there.

[ShropshireAlex]

I'm well past my sell by date but in the old days all clubs had reserve teams playing every week and it helped squad players to get in senior football. There were no loan players idea which imo is a bad thing for football as clubs can have players say from the PL that can assist in promotion and relegation. Is it 7 subs we have now?

Secondly, Its terrible players sitting on the benches either as subs or just on match days in the seats and to watch others on the pitch and all they are getting is some training stints etc...

If we have 7 subs, then lets use the lot of them as they must be fitter coming on later in the game.

My problem is having a lone striker and then 10 players behind and then we complain when no goals are scored or just one like yesterday! They all do it and we need managers with some brain to get us out of this malaize as most of these managers are uneducated, being ex players etc...I don't mind that but they do need to think more and the Chairmen and Directors of these clubs ought to tell em!!

7 (max) on bench, of which 5 (max) can come on, but only in 3 substitution occasions, i.e. 3 single subs made and you're done. One obviously is almost always a sub keeper, that you hope not to use. Most clubs' reserve teams are the U-21s, with permitted over age players included (often reserve keeper though not in Waller's case) - certainly that's our reserve team.

[MikeSB]

7 (max) on bench, of which 5 (max) can come on, but only in 3 substitution occasions, i.e. 3 single subs made and you're done. One obviously is almost always a sub keeper, that you hope not to use. Most clubs' reserve teams are the U-21s, with permitted over age players included (often reserve keeper though not in Waller's case) - certainly that's our reserve team.

Thanks SA for that reply.

Its just my biased opinion of the olden days LOL but I can go with say one sub and one GK sub but that's it. Its not fair on the playing staff to have seven named subs and then most are still sitting the game out and why some are having discussions with the manager about getting on the pitch and not sitting there like stuffed dummies..

IMO having a senior reserve team is far better than an under 21 squad as the reserve team players can use games to get fit, can be any age, have a reserve league and they will be generally playing again men and not boys but I doubt that things will change, like academies where tens of thousands of people ie non players need paying for nothing jobs as again they are nothing jobs, why we need THREE managers for the first team, I will never know?

If we cannot get players to get used to having corners with just half a dozen players in the 6 yard box, then who actually is running football? I notice the pushing and shoving going on the whole time and again has become part of the game.

[Timmy58]

Thanks SA for that reply.

Its just my biased opinion of the olden days LOL but I can go with say one sub and one GK sub but that's it. Its not fair on the playing staff to have seven named subs and then most are still sitting the game out and why some are having discussions with the manager about getting on the pitch and not sitting there like stuffed dummies..

IMO having a senior reserve team is far better than an under 21 squad as the reserve team players can use games to get fit, can be any age, have a reserve league and they will be generally playing again men and not boys but I doubt that things will change, like academies where tens of thousands of people ie non players need paying for nothing jobs as again they are nothing jobs, why we need THREE managers for the first team, I will never know?

If we cannot get players to get used to having corners with just half a dozen players in the 6 yard box, then who actually is running football? I notice the pushing and shoving going on the whole time and again has become part of the game.

The situation regarding increasing numbers of substitutes has been happening for a good few years now. It is something the authorities have gone for, it is not an individual clubs decision.

I am also curious as to what age you think a footballer becomes "old enough" to play mens football. And what do they do until that age. Because if they aren't playing at Academy ages they are never going to improve enough to make the grade at any level. Anyone participating in sport will have played, and wanted to play, as a kid. I am a member of a badminton club, in fact I select the team and we are all knocking on a bit but if I had youngsters available to me I would want to play them. Obviously with someone with experience. But that is how you learn. I am afraid your logic often doesn't stack up. If you have not been exposed to adult sport as a kid, and by kid I mean 16 plus then how are you meant to get to a decent level?

[MikeSB]

The situation regarding increasing numbers of substitutes has been happening for a good few years now. It is something the authorities have gone for, it is not an individual clubs decision.

I am also curious as to what age you think a footballer becomes "old enough" to play mens football. And what do they do until that age. Because if they aren't playing at Academy ages they are never going to improve enough to make the grade at any level. Anyone participating in sport will have played, and wanted to play, as a kid. I am a member of a badminton club, in fact I select the team and we are all knocking on a bit but if I had youngsters available to me I would want to play them. Obviously with someone with experience. But that is how you learn. I am afraid your logic often doesn't stack up. If you have not been exposed to adult sport as a kid, and by kid I mean 16 plus then how are you meant to get to a decent level?

The answer is in two parts Timmy..

First I played football as a kid and then joined a local team in my mid ***** and played with about three amateur teams until I was around age 26 when I went to play golf at weekends and joined a golf club in the process. I managed to get to play in a single figure handicap. I was OK at playing football as loved the game and travelled all over watching CAFC.

But my best years playing football was when I was in my twenties as I got physically stronger and became a lot more experienced playing the game. I really did not need any coaching as I knew how the play the game and all the elements that go into winning matches. Talented players do not need a coach Timmy...LOL..

Players in our academy are far too young both physically and emotionally to play professional football as there are wiley characters on a football pitch that most have been around a while and know how to get around things. The young lad we had on loan from Stoke got severely injured via a tackle with the opposition GK as he probably did not know how to deal with such things at his age. You really need to keep away from GK as they are as hard as nails mainly and us playing young keepers is tantamount to stupidity as that is something you do not do and why these managers are not up to the mark IMV..

Its no use us playing young academy lads as they are not strong enough or knowledgeable enough and as we see, they get severely injured on occasions. They spend two or three years as spares on the pitch until they get old enough if that makes sense and anyway what do we need academies for when you can loan loans of players from other clubs when you can see them in action beforehand. We spend ten or more years in these academies and most are not suitable when they get to 18 anyway.

Secondly, Lee Bell has said he wants these players to go out on loan to play 'Mens Football' his words and not mine. He is wise enough to know that academy graduates are too young and why I am against the under 21 sides as that is not mens football but kids football. Today, we do not need an academy as most of the non footballers have no idea about playing football that results in us playing ten defenders and one striker. That is nuts imho. Clubs should go back to having four or five strikers like the old days when chances of scoring are numerous. Now we see matches with no direct shots on goal and yet 450 passes between the players. This is a lost plot just like having all your players back for corners. We need people with vision to run and manage football teams and they are in short supply in my view.