Luke Offord

[Timmy58]

Not sure you will realise it but what is being suggested is to move back to how football should be played, ie to get players up the pitch to start threatening the goal and spending most of the time in midfield or further back cannot do that. ie why the game was invented so to speak with 5 forwards..

People may not like to hear or read the reason but it has to do with academies and coaching by numbers. ie individual skills are constrained because coaching is telling players to pass pass pass the ball as coaches cannot teach natural ability and so they exist solely on the basis of incompetence really and why our method of promoting kids coaches as managers will always fail. PL clubs are paying vast sumes of money out eg 70m for individual players which will always reduce the academy kids from coming through unless they actually stop doing what the coaches are telling them. Nobody could teach George Best, Greaves, Charlton, even our late Frank Lord how to play this game. Rodney Jack had superb individual skills as did Nick Powell and coaching by instruction to pass the ball has led to the game being non exciting for the fans that used to love seeing players taking on defences etc.

Academies and coaching hisses people off on this board but the reality is, its the whole reason why we are a failing team as we spend more on the academy than any other club at our level and the BoD should act and think what football is supposed to be about...

Mike, I think you should start your own thread on the merits of coaching which will save hijacking every other thread and trying to divert the discussion from the relevant point.

[MikeSB]

Mike, I think you should start your own thread on the merits of coaching which will save hijacking every other thread and trying to divert the discussion from the relevant point.

That sounds fine but you among others on here REFUSE to see how our 'failing' club is set up. ie it is as according to Dario Gradi, and the current BoD a club wholly based on its academy and therefore every single football thread has to include that philosophy. This thread is speaking about playing footballers who really have no idea of how to play football other than what is taught by non footballers who had very limited football ability anyway. I mention old footballers who had real talent BEFORE academies to PROVE my point over and over again. If people don't want to read it then they really don't have to. In any case, I will continue to post my views as its a public forum about football and that is all I need.

I don't believe in coaching in any sport as its down to natural ability. I could never ever be a scratch golfer no matter how much coaching I had. Football ditto. How on earth did all the late footballers develop and increase their skills? Not one bloody coach in sight...and we pay millions in a failing process..Any spare money should go on buying in talent, not waiting 10 years just in case and most useless anyway! James Greaves was one of the best footballers ever and he said exactly the same thing as me. Believe the genius if not me!

Fans need to come up with radical ideas instead of playing around with one or two names imo at least. A club captain should demonstrate responsibility if nothing else and show the others HOW to behave on a football pitch.

Dario was a great manager here but he spoiled his heritage with the academy idea being the centre of our 100 plus years club..

[MeForCrewe]

Hello Mike, I regard myself as a fairly normal and well mannered person and will not respond to you with insults, but I will ask you do you get off on trying to wind the vast majority of posters on here, quite sad really? It really is getting a bit tiresome and tedious going off on the same tangent every time. As suggested why don't you start a separate thread on the virtues or otherwise of academies and take it from there.
On your comments about Luke Offord, which the thread is about, I am certain that the club have punished him for his stupidly. He certainly isn't alone in his actions and going back to the good old days I remember Ron Yeats getting sent off for his recklessness on more than one occasion when captain of Liverpool. Just one example of many and I certainly don't remember him getting dropped for his actions. Yes it certainly was happening way back then.

[MikeSB]

Hello Mike, I regard myself as a fairly normal and well mannered person and will not respond to you with insults, but I will ask you do you get off on trying to wind the vast majority of posters on here, quite sad really? It really is getting a bit tiresome and tedious going off on the same tangent every time. As suggested why don't you start a separate thread on the virtues or otherwise of academies and take it from there.
On your comments about Luke Offord, which the thread is about, I am certain that the club have punished him for his stupidly. He certainly isn't alone in his actions and going back to the good old days I remember Ron Yeats getting sent off for his recklessness on more than one occasion when captain of Liverpool. Just one example of many and I certainly don't remember him getting dropped for his actions. Yes it certainly was happening way back then.

Hello, I am a long life Crewe Fan and the club has gone down the drain with an academy despite some temporary success and every match we play is the result of that failure. There are half a dozen fans at most posting on here and if they get tired reading my posts, then my advice is DON'T READ them..

Its no use me starting any thread on academies as I don't believe in them or rate them and they all employ thousands of non footballers and low grade ex Pro's too. Football does not need them and they are starving my club of money and to be honest. I would NOT pay 5 quid to watch a match where no goal chances are produced. I have yet to receive an answer to my email asking how much money does the academy cost the club AND the fans? This is not a fans club any more and just the plaything of the FA and BoD...

[MikeSB]

Hello, I am a long life Crewe Fan and the club has gone down the drain with an academy despite some temporary success and every match we play is the result of that failure. There are half a dozen fans at most posting on here and if they get tired reading my posts, then my advice is DON'T READ them..

Its no use me starting any thread on academies as I don't believe in them or rate them and they all employ thousands of non footballers and low grade ex Pro's too. Football does not need them and they are starving my club of money and to be honest. I would NOT pay 5 quid to watch a match where no goal chances are produced. I have yet to receive an answer to my email asking how much money does the academy cost the club AND the fans? This is not a fans club any more and just the plaything of the FA and BoD...

BTW in the past I have stopped posting when 'some' fans have reacted to my posts...But not now. I am entitled to post here and if I am the only one posting then hard luck boys, start another fans forum..Its a free country...

[ShropshireAlex]

SA why not say openly that it is Lukcour who strongly disagrees. Offord our best player of the season, wow what games have you been watching. He is a dreadful CB. Statistics will show you that any times Offord has partnered McDonald we have very rarely won. In recent games when McDonald has been partnered with Thomas or O`Riordian defensively we have been a far better team. During the period that Offord was banned we have not lost a game. No he should not return. Why break up a winning team. Personally I would give him a short break from the 1st team. I would suggest to the end of May.

Have to agree with Mike, for a captain his temperament is so weak

Every one we've played here. Wasn't you I was thinking of in fact, but a more regular poster than you. We'll have to agree to disagree on how he plays, whatever the stats.

[MeForCrewe]

Start a thread on why we shouldn't have an academy then but I think that all 6 of us have got your message by now.

[MikeSB]

Start a thread on why we shouldn't have an academy then but I think that all 6 of us have got your message by now.

OK, I will start a thread like that and for each point that has probably been made before, I would appreciate an answer to each one to see if I can be persuaded to change my mind. Its no use some rubbishing it with one liners and then refuse to discuss them.

Of course many/most fans won't want to and its still a mystery to me why most threads have hundreds of views and thousands of fans watch our team to see how few the views are? Being bored to death is not one of them. You go to matches and so come on, say something!

[whosbrianwilson]

Of course many/most fans won't want to and its still a mystery to me why most threads have hundreds of views and thousands of fans watch our team to see how few the views are? Being bored to death is not one of them. You go to matches and so come on, say something!

Please dont think I'm being rude, because I'm not, but when will the penny finally drop that it is your continual hijacking of every thread with your anti academy drone, that is putting posters off.

[MikeSB]

Please dont think I'm being rude, because I'm not, but when will the penny finally drop that it is your continual hijacking of every thread with your anti academy drone, that is putting posters off.

No, that is not correct. The evidence is that there are so few posters here that anyone that disagrees with four or five of you are accused of what you said and when I posted a thread about the chairman appointing the new manager, over 500 fans if that is what they were, viewed that post without contributing to it. Now that is common with almost every thread and don't think that I am being rude but nobody is going to read your posts WBW as one liners don't add to any discussion such as above.

Of course some fans are hissed off with repeated posts but our clubs philosopy and policy is the academy and so every single decision of the board and the manager including signings and loans are based on that single philosophy. I will make a prediction. Our club will downgrade the academy and its just the timing that is unknown. If we stay in the bottom half of the table as don't think we will get relegated then that will be sooner rather than later. I'm not sure what world some of you live in but with so few posters on here, you should be glad I have the time to post here... It really is a dead board and would be even more so if I stopped posting.