Smirking_Saint

I will always maintain that AOC gave me a better impression then Walcott did on their comparative debuts. It may be however that once watching AOC's it was because it was a level down from that which i saw Walcott compete at. But i don't know 100%. For me AOC always seemed a better footballer. I always quite liked Thomson though TBF, but comparing him to Walcott and AOC is madness. Bale was always the stand out of the three for me.

We managed to nurture a lot more than many premier league clubs however, and if we hadn't fallen into such a decline who is to say we would not have been able to produce more ? Georges Prost left and i would hazard a guess the funding bottomed out when we were beginning to scrimp and save, i would imagine we would have had one or two more success stories aswell had we have stayed afloat rather then being swept down the river to league one.

Exactly

I am not saying it is a quick thing, and i am not saying that there is going to be some sort of massive upturn in the amount of first 11 ready kids coming through the ranks. what i am saying is the academy is obviously doing something right and not only that but the whole ethos of the club seems to be correct now that Cortese has said what he has said. I completely agree with you by the way, a youth focused team will very rarely if ever be a winning one, especially not in some sort of promotion push sort of way. You will need to have young players mixed in with older experienced heads and whats more the new blood so to speak will not be able to compete week in week out, probably not even to the extent that AOC has managed. It is not often that a 17 year old cements a first 11 spot so quickly. What i am saying is that I don't think it is so far fetched to say get atleast 50% of the team comprised of players that have excelled in the academy but i agree it will never be an overnight thing, it will be a process of 1 a year if that, sometimes more slowly being integrated. Yes of course this isn't going to happen before we (if we) make it into the prem again but once there i think it is perfectly realistic IMO.

Was thomson that highly thought of back in the day ?

No which is why i asked, will it happen ?

Consistent player for gronigen in the dutch leagues.

Lol they have taken it down now

Just goes to show that Cortese's plan of having at least 80% of the team brought up from the academy is not as far fetched as many seem to believe. Can you imagine if we hadn't fallen down the leagues with such acceleration ? A few well thought out signings and we would have been well up there IMO. Hopefully we will be able to keep a hold of the next bunch of youngsters.

I think it will be a if you want him come back in the summer situation. We are much more likely to talk to other teams when we know where we are going to be playing our football and when our promotion push isn't going to be prematurely dented. All IMO anyways.

http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/saints/news/8810279.Wiki_leak__Peterborough_ace_listed_as_Saints_player/?ref=rss

Ow i missed some of the action. Mainly the fact that Hypo isn't clever enough to come out with any form of comeback. Are we voteing now then ?

I have always said we need a youth training facility and programme used by the majority of european clubs, look how many of the older players have been culled from the international squads of the likes of Italy, France and Holland and then look at us, still plodding along with the failures from before. However, banning any youth movement below the age of 21 may very well stifle development. At the end of the day top clubs have top training facilities. No matter how you look at it we are in a position to demand top money for AOC and we will do to an extent. We don't have as much to worry about as say crewe or luton or something if AOC came through their ranks they would be fleeced. FIFA/FA or whatever need to make sure that if a player moves under the age of 21 then the compensation rule must still apply within which the training club recieves add ons or sell on fees IMO this will then help those clubs improve.

Theo was no better at 17 IMO then chamberlain was. Theo was picked for a world cup as a wild card and IMO just to aid his progression and open his eyes. It was one of the strangest inclusions in a WC squad i have ever seen. I would hazard a guess that Sven had no intention whatsoever of picking him in any of his squads. AOC is a better footballer than Walcott was at this age, of course, it is hard to make a proper judgement as we are playing essentially a level below that of which we watched Walcott play but nevertheless i think footballing and technically speaking AOC is a better player. Walcott is primarily a sprinter, but has developed into a very very good player indeed in fact it is puzzling just why Wenger uses him so sparingly as he would probably be a starter for every other premiership side.

Every stadium these days is a lot further back. The dell used to be notorious in how close it was to the players on the pitch.

That would not signify who your worst poster is though ? Just who is your least worse ? So it would be a who is your favourite poster, which is not what was origninally wanted as that was 'who is your worst poster' But don't worry it wouldn't be you

I burn books

Nope not a librarian as you clearly can't read, so that writes that one off the list.... hmmm.... traffic warden ?? As for the quip about me being a teenager we have gone through this before, it was a silly little joke that Dune came up with long ago when i was berating him for pretending to be drunk, i have commented before that you really need to come up with your own banter, its probably a little too intelligent for you though. Personally i would imagine you have never conversed with anyone in real life for a good few years, or atleast since you realised that life doesn't have a report button.

Ahhh Its lovely knowing that someone like you finds me irksome, you really are one of the most boring and tedious people i have never ever met. I imagine you are a librarian in real life. In fact no i don't, i reckon you are a recluse that secretely wishes he was a librarian.

Does remaining the same mean good ?? TBF, i thought Hypo would have bottled it too, so yes, i agree he has slightly gone up in my estimation. Mainly because Dune has come across as some sort of spineless wimp. Possibly why he persisted in attempting to reduce Luiquidshokk to tears.

Chez is probably up there TBF, as far as his footballing knowledge is concerned he tends to be bang on the money.

Yeah i am still in, trust Dune to back out on D Day, Churchill would have thought your a c*nt.

Oh i hope you don't go, i would hate to miss any of your humour.

No multi votes i would say

Can we poll now ?? I want to get on with my life