"We don't have young players" Nick I

[NickG]

Nick Illingsworth is quoted on vital football as saying about Adkins -

 

 

'Another drawback is at S****horpe he is used to working with young players, whereas at Southampton, we don't have young players.'

 

'Our squad is full of seasoned professionals who we've spent a lot of money on to get the best players in the division.'

 

 

I reckon our first team is still pretty young - first choice 1o outfield players-

RB 27

CB 26

CB 20

LB 26 or 23

RM 24

CM 20

CM 27

LM 22

CF 28

CF 27

 

two most used suns 16 and 20.

 

Surely thats a young side?

 

not a personal issue with Nick just seeing his comment made me check ages as thought most players are hopefully not at their peak yet.

Edited 7 September, 2010 by NickG

[The Kraken]

You really think some random b0llo0cks spouted by someone so obsessed by the media is worth discussion? I don't. Take away his desire to be seen as an uber-fan, he is just a supporter like anyone else on this board. And while his opinion is as valid as the next man's, it hardly justifies a forum thread devoted to it.

[egg]

You really think some random b0llo0cks spouted by someone so obsessed by the media is worth discussion? I don't. Take away his desire to be seen as an uber-fan, he is just a supporter like anyone else on this board. And while his opinion is as valid as the next man's, it hardly justifies a forum thread devoted to it.

 

Nick has a point. Historically we have had a youth team ready to move up. Over the last few years that has tailed off and at the moment there are no players, save Chambo, knocking on the door.

 

Worrying thing is in the past our young players have been good enough to make an impact in the prem/championship. Now they are not ready for League 1.

[NickG]

I would say young for player is under 26/27. We can pretty much put a side out of that age.

 

I would be surprised if there are many with a midfield as young as ours??

[egg]

Our side is not old but I take "young" to be up and coming players to be nurtured. Those are the players we are lacking imo.

[Colinjb]

Our side is not old but I take "young" to be up and coming players to be nurtured. Those are the players we are lacking imo.

 

Surely Les Reed's raison d'etre.

[for_heaven's_Saint]

Yes we may be lacking young 'nurtured' players, but Illingsworth's point is that Adkins would be incapable of managing here because we don't have enough young players, which is moronic. If he wants to say we need more young nurtured players in the squad, fine, but there's no way he can use that against Adkins. If anything his appointment and previous experience with youngsters is likely to improve the amount of youngsters in the first team.

[buctootim]

Thats the whole reason for appointing Reed isnt it?, to try to get the pipeline going again.

[egg]

Yes we may be lacking young 'nurtured' players' date=' but Illingsworth's point is that Adkins would be incapable of managing here because we don't have enough young players, which is moronic. If he wants to say we need more young nurtured players in the squad, fine, but there's no way he can use that against Adkins. If anything his appointment and previous experience with youngsters is likely to improve the amount of youngsters in the first team.[/quote']

 

I am not sure that is what Nick meant tbh. I thought that he was saying (or implying) that Adkins forte is working with bright young players, getting the best out of them and making them better. Adkins has taken shed loads of quality kids on loan and worked wonders with them. Nick (I think) was merely saying that we do not have ready made supply of youngsters.

[Saint_clark]

I disagree with the assertion that we don't have good youngsters coming through anyway.

[SaintBobby]

On the Nick Illingsworth thing, I have never met the man and have only heard him on radio once or twice. The only axe I have to grind with him is over Silverspoons. I don't much care if he's a media tart. Nothing wrong with that.

 

If people on here don't think he expresses fan opinion well or accurately, I have a very genuine proposal.

 

Could there be some sort of SWF spokesman? Conceivably even elected by a poll on the site. Or else just appointed by the admin team?

 

What the media want is a "go to" person who is reasonably articulate, can lay some claim to being broadly representative of the fanbase and - crucially - is available for comment. (if someone starts to turn down interviews because they need to put the nipper to bed or are too busy at work etc., you would swiftly be dropped even if you're amazingly erudite).

 

If there are good reasons to believe that NI is giving a poor account of Saints fans, I wonder if this might be something worth considering.

 

Obviously if people start saying "let's have alpine, I'll pay for the satellite link to Austria" or "DBP would be a great laugh and should be manager too", then that's all very whimisical, but don't be surprised or complain when Nick Illingsworth is on the airwaves next time.

[Saint_clark]

Unfortunately the best candidates for me would be Dubai_phil or Ericofarabia...

[The Kraken]

Nick has a point. Historically we have had a youth team ready to move up. Over the last few years that has tailed off and at the moment there are no players, save Chambo, knocking on the door.

 

Worrying thing is in the past our young players have been good enough to make an impact in the prem/championship. Now they are not ready for League 1.

 

Over how many years are you talking? Andrew Surman; Theo Walcott; Gareth Bale; David McGoldrick; Dexter Blackstock; Chris Baird; Nathan Dyer. Players who (all but one) left our club in the last 3 or 4 years for over a million pounds. It's hardly tailed off for goodness sake. And despite that, we're simply not going to produce another Shearer every single year.

 

Our record for bringing kids through is amazing, and you will always have a year or two when you won't have a multi-million pound star sold on. Just because we "only" have Chamberlain knocking on the door, it doesn't mean our development system is in decline. Allied to the fact that Les Reed was brought in to oversee that side of affairs, I fail to see a problem.

Edited 7 September, 2010 by The Kraken

[ericofarabia]

Ironically poor old Dave Jones who came to us as one for the future lost his job whilst fighting a court case to prove that he hadn't handled any young players.

[Saint_clark]

Over how many years are you talking? Andrew Surman; Theo Walcott; Gareth Bale; David McGoldrick; Dexter Blackstock; Chris Baird; Nathan Dyer. Players who left our club in the last 3 or 4 years for over a million pounds. It's hardly tailed off for goodness sake. And despite that, we're simply not going to produce another Shearer every single year.

 

Our record for bringing kids through is amazing, and you will always have a year or two when you won't have a multi-million pound star sold on. Just because we "only" have Chamberlain knocking on the door, it doesn't mean our development system is in decline. Allied to the fact that Les Reed was brought in to oversee that side of affairs, I fail to see a problem.

 

Exactly.

Not only Chamberlain, but we have Ward-Prowse, Reeves, Hoskins and Jake Sinclair all to come through in the next few years. All have had absolutely outstanding reviews.

[egg]

On the Nick Illingsworth thing, I have never met the man and have only heard him on radio once or twice. The only axe I have to grind with him is over Silverspoons. I don't much care if he's a media tart. Nothing wrong with that.

 

If people on here don't think he expresses fan opinion well or accurately, I have a very genuine proposal.

 

Could there be some sort of SWF spokesman? Conceivably even elected by a poll on the site. Or else just appointed by the admin team?

 

What the media want is a "go to" person who is reasonably articulate, can lay some claim to being broadly representative of the fanbase and - crucially - is available for comment. (if someone starts to turn down interviews because they need to put the nipper to bed or are too busy at work etc., you would swiftly be dropped even if you're amazingly erudite).

 

If there are good reasons to believe that NI is giving a poor account of Saints fans, I wonder if this might be something worth considering.

 

Obviously if people start saying "let's have alpine, I'll pay for the satellite link to Austria" or "DBP would be a great laugh and should be manager too", then that's all very whimisical, but don't be surprised or complain when Nick Illingsworth is on the airwaves next time.

 

That is a good point. The fans need an appropriate face - preferably one that can string a coherent sentence together.

[The Kraken]

That is a good point. The fans need an appropriate face - preferably one that can string a coherent sentence together.

 

If he wanted to do it, I'd happily see Steve Grant occupy that space. I've never met him, but he always seems to talk a balanced sense about Saints and I more than often find it difficult to disagree with him when offering an overview opinion.

 

Sadly, I think he wouldn't want the role. So we get the much less rational but much more vocal idiots.

[ericofarabia]

That is a good point. The fans need an appropriate face - preferably one that can string a coherent sentence together.

 

Feck ... that rules me out then .... however I have been told that I have the perfect face for radio.

[egg]

Over how many years are you talking? Andrew Surman; Theo Walcott; Gareth Bale; David McGoldrick; Dexter Blackstock; Chris Baird; Nathan Dyer. Players who (all but one) left our club in the last 3 or 4 years for over a million pounds. It's hardly tailed off for goodness sake. And despite that, we're simply not going to produce another Shearer every single year.

 

Our record for bringing kids through is amazing, and you will always have a year or two when you won't have a multi-million pound star sold on. Just because we "only" have Chamberlain knocking on the door, it doesn't mean our development system is in decline. Allied to the fact that Les Reed was brought in to oversee that side of affairs, I fail to see a problem.

 

You have listed about 7 players over about 7 years! Theo and Gareth were exceptional - the others no one has missed and are doing little in the game, save perhaps Dyer who most people would have driven to Swansea.

 

Some of us remember the likes of MLT, the Wallace's, Shearer, and others suppling our first team with a steady flow of players.

 

We are well below that level.

[egg]

If he wanted to do it, I'd happily see Steve Grant occupy that space. I've never met him, but he always seems to talk a balanced sense about Saints and I more than often find it difficult to disagree with him when offering an overview opinion.

 

Sadly, I think he wouldn't want the role. So we get the much less rational but much more vocal idiots.

 

Strangely enough I typed his name in my post below before deleting. The bloke always takes an objective view and would give a much better representation of us than NI.

[The Kraken]

You have listed about 7 players over about 7 years! Theo and Gareth were exceptional - the others no one has missed and are doing little in the game, save perhaps Dyer who most people would have driven to Swansea.

 

Some of us remember the likes of MLT, the Wallace's, Shearer, and others suppling our first team with a steady flow of players.

 

We are well below that level.

 

Walcott and Bale are simply doing what those before them did, they are as exceptional as the Wallaces, Shearer, MLT in that they are performing at the highest English league level.

 

You accuse me of glossing over it. Tell me which other massive luminaries I missed since the last of your's and the first of mine? We had a massive dearth of talent between Wayne Bridge and Theo. It doesn't mean our youth system is now defunct. Other clubs have caught up, rules meaning we can't recruit from all over England have come into force too. But we still have a very good youth academy, so it's unfair to suggest otherwise.

[egg]

Exactly.

Not only Chamberlain, but we have Ward-Prowse, Reeves, Hoskins and Jake Sinclair all to come through in the next few years. All have had absolutely outstanding reviews.

 

Ward- Prowse and Sinclair are still at school! No manager would come here to nurture them into the first team any time soon. The simple point is that we do not have youngsters ready to join the first team that are not already there.

[Saint_clark]

Ward- Prowse and Sinclair are still at school! No manager would come here to nurture them into the first team any time soon. The simple point is that we do not have youngsters ready to join the first team that are not already there.

 

No manager would come to a team based on their youth prospects anyway...

[Matthew Le God]

Saints Academy products

 

Premiership

 

Theo Walcott - Arsenal - England International

Wayne Bridge - Man City - England International

Gareth Bale - Tottenham - Wales International

Chris Baird - Fulham - N. Ireland International

Leon Best - Newcastle - Rep. Ireland International

Nile Ranger - Newcastle

Mike Williamson - Newcastle

 

Championship

 

Scott McDonald - Middlesbrough - Australian International

Nathan Dyer - Swansea

Andrew Surman - Norwich - England Under 21 International

Matthew Mills - Reading - England Under 21 International

David McGoldrick - Nottm Forest

Lukas Jutkiewicz - Coventry

Simon Gillett - Doncaster

Martin Cranie - Coventry - England Under 21 International

Matthew Oakley - Leicester - England Under 21 International

Brian Howard - Reading

Dexter Blackstock - Nottm Forest England Under 21 International

 

League One

 

Lloyd James - Colchester - Welsh Under 21 International

 

Foreign Clubs

 

Cédric Baseya - Lille

Tim Sparv - Grongingen - Finnish International

 

Currently at Saints and come/coming through the academy

 

Adam Lallana - England Under 21 International

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - 2nd youngest ever Saints player behind Theo Walcott, still only 17

Joseph Mills

Ryan Doble - Welsh Under 21 International

James Ward-Prowse - 15 years old and in England under 17 squad

Luke Shaw - England Under 16's

Jack Dovey - England Under 16's

Jake Sinclair - 15 year old brother of Chelsea's Scott Sinclair

Oscar Gobern

Callum McNish

 

etc etc

 

and to them young players brought by Saints...

 

Morgan Schneiderlin - French Under 21

Aaron Martin - 20 years old

Jason Puncheon - just turned 24 years old

Danny Seaborne - 23 years old

Bartosz Bialkowski - 23 years old

Ryan Dickson - 23 years old

 

Nick Illingsworth hasn't a clue...

[St Marco]

Personally i think we have been good with giving the youngsters a go. A few of them have turned out to be pretty decent. We normally have around 1 a season that breaks through into the main team and goes on to become a first team player the following year. I think of players like Wallcott, Dyer, Lallana, Surman etc.. We had a few players come through last year in Gobern, Mills, Mcnish. And this year already we have given Chamberlain a go and he has really impressed. Plus we have bought in youngsters. Nothing wrong with buying youngsters, Arsenal,Chelsea and Man Utd seem to do ok doing it. We bought in players like Martin, Seaborne, Dickson, and recently Harley Dean. All under the age of 23. Puncheon is only 24. Add to that we bought players in couple of seasons ago like Morgan, Bart, Forecast, all under 23 (morgan is only 20).

 

Think it is safe to say Nick doesn't know what he is talking about as usual.

[egg]

Walcott and Bale are simply doing what those before them did, they are as exceptional as the Wallaces, Shearer, MLT in that they are performing at the highest English league level.

 

You accuse me of glossing over it. Tell me which othem assive luminaries I missed since the last of your's and the first of mine? We had a massive dearth of talent between Wayne Bridge and Theo. It doesn't mean our youth system is now defunct. Other clubs have caught up, rules meaning we can't recruit from all over England have come into force too. But we still have a very good youth academy, so it's unfair to suggest otherwise.

 

There is a world of difference between an academy that can produce players that can kick a ball in a straight line and produce footballers. Most of our bright young thing in the 80's and 90's graced the top flight. Many now grace the Conference South or the Wessex League after we give up on them. Harsh, but a reality.

[Saint_clark]

There is a world of difference between an academy that can produce players that can kick a ball in a straight line and produce footballers. Most of our bright young thing in the 80's and 90's graced the top flight. Many now grace the Conference South or the Wessex League after we give up on them. Harsh, but a reality.

 

And there were as many if not more who did nothing, I guarantee it.

Check MLGs post, we have sh*t loads of graduates making a name for themselves in professional football.

[The Kraken]

There is a world of difference between an academy that can produce players that can kick a ball in a straight line and produce footballers. Most of our bright young thing in the 80's and 90's graced the top flight. Many now grace the Conference South or the Wessex League after we give up on them. Harsh, but a reality.

 

A sincere exaggeration, and I just don't agree wih your appraisal of the differences.

[egg]

And there were as many if not more who did nothing, I guarantee it.

Check MLGs post, we have sh*t loads of graduates making a name for themselves in professional football.

 

WTF does this have to do with the thread? The point is our production line is in decline and there are very few genuine candidates for the first team.

[Saint_clark]

WTF does this have to do with the thread? The point is our production line is in decline and there are very few genuine candidates for the first team.

 

And my point is you have no evidence for stating that as fact. What we DO have is a number of youngsters playing at international level getting rave reviews from people who watch them and (when he was here) Pardew.

[buctootim]

Saints have had reasonable success buying in 16 and 17 year olds and selling them on, but with the exception of Walcott, the academy hasnt produced a premiership player in the past 10 years despite around 60 players passing through.

[BadgerBadger]

Our production line is not in decline, the fundamental factor is that there is a focus on scouting young talent

[The Kraken]

Saints have had reasonable success buying in 16 and 17 year olds and selling them on, but with the exception of Walcott, the academy hasnt produced a premiership player in the past 10 years despite around 60 players passing through.

 

You're absolutely right. Well, not really.

 

Gareth Bale...........his outstanding talent was evident from very early on, in particular his poise and left foot. It was while at this school he first came to the attention of Southampton at nine years old, when he was playing in a 5 a side tournament with his first club, Cardiff Civil Service Football Club.

[egg]

And my point is you have no evidence for stating that as fact. What we DO have is a number of youngsters playing at international level getting rave reviews from people who watch them and (when he was here) Pardew.

 

Some people would argue night is day.

 

I have watched Saints for over 30 years and regularly watch our youth, and when we had one, reserve teams. We have no players save Chamberlain knocking on the door. Reeves is a prospect but will be held back by others.

 

Don't get me wrong I want our kids to do well and be the future of the club. Over the years we have developed some very good players (Lallana is fantastic) but over recent years, imo, the standard on the whole has fallen.

[SaintBobby]

Our academy production line is pretty good, I think. Even in Div 3.

 

At the start of last season I went to Newport IOW v Saints XI (was the youth team...it was the night before the Ajax game at SMS).

 

Some excellent prospects - especially Ben Reeves and the tall bloke with the strange name who plays at CB but takes a mean penalty (he came on against Reading in pre-season I think).

[SaintBobby]

That is a good point. The fans need an appropriate face - preferably one that can string a coherent sentence together.

 

Maybe we should nominate hypo....or would that be like having Clark Kent and Superman as the media spokespeople?

[buctootim]

You're absolutely right. Well, not really.

 

Gareth Bale...........his outstanding talent was evident from very early on, in particular his poise and left foot. It was while at this school he first came to the attention of Southampton at nine years old, when he was playing in a 5 a side tournament with his first club, Cardiff Civil Service Football Club.

 

Fair point, missed out Bale. So thats two in 10 years.

[Matthew Le God]

The conveyor belt at Saints is very much on the move again after a big recruitment drive in the summer. The list of players in my previous post shows some of the current youth players, with an ever increasing number of them representing their countries at international level.

 

How many clubs have anything comparable to this in terms of support staff in place for youth players? I predict with the structures in place and improvements in youth coaching and recruitment, along with (hopefully) the upgrade at Staplewood to the buildings, that Saints will be churning good players out even more so than previously.

 

FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT & SUPPORT CENTRE

 

Executive Director Les Reed

Administration Manager/PA Lucy Green

Elite Under 21 Coach Martin Hunter

Under 18 Youth Coach Jason Dodd

Development Goalkeeping Coach Vince Bartram

 

Scouting & Talent Identification

 

Scouting & Talent ID Manager David Burke

Scouting Administrator Vicki Cobb

Senior Squad Scout Bill Green

Youth Recruitment Scout Rod Ruddick

Academy Recruitment Scout Chris Welman

Analyst Stephen Corns

Analyst Andrew Stone

 

Academy

 

Academy Manager Matt Crocker

Academy Administrator Derek Old

Assistant Academy Manager Terry Moore

Under 14 Youth Coach Anthony Limbrick

Under 16 Youth Coach Steven Greaves

Education & Life Skills Manager Julie Batchelor

Academy Liaison Officer Kirsty Cavanagh

Bath Satellite Manager Anthony Fawthrop

Bath Satellite Academy Coach Jonathan Holt

 

Sports Medicine & Science

 

Sports Medicine & Science Manager Mo Gimpel

Medical Administrator Tressa Bryne

Senior Physiotherapist Matt Radcliffe

Academy Physio Mal Godschalik

Assistant Academy Physio Steven Sparks

Sports Therapist Chris Lovegrove

Pro. Players Physio Emma Gimpel

Senior Strength & Conditioning Coach Nick Harvey

Development S&C Coach James Bunce

Academy S&C Coach Louis Langdown

Academy S&C Coach 9-16 Jon Fortescue

[SuperMikey]

Our academy production line is pretty good, I think. Even in Div 3.

 

At the start of last season I went to Newport IOW v Saints XI (was the youth team...it was the night before the Ajax game at SMS).

 

Some excellent prospects - especially Ben Reeves and the tall bloke with the strange name who plays at CB but takes a mean penalty (he came on against Reading in pre-season I think).

 

Racine or Tafazoli? Both very good prospects.

[egg]

The conveyor belt at Saints is very much on the move again after a big recruitment drive in the summer. The list of players in my previous post shows some of the current youth players, with an ever increasing number of them representing their countries at international level.

 

How many clubs have anything comparable to this in terms of support staff in place for youth players? I predict with the structures in place and improvements in youth coaching and recruitment, along with (hopefully) the upgrade at Staplewood to the buildings, that Saints will be churning good players out even more so than previously.

 

FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT & SUPPORT CENTRE

 

Executive Director Les Reed

Administration Manager/PA Lucy Green

Elite Under 21 Coach Martin Hunter

Under 18 Youth Coach Jason Dodd

Development Goalkeeping Coach Vince Bartram

 

Scouting & Talent Identification

 

Scouting & Talent ID Manager David Burke

Scouting Administrator Vicki Cobb

Senior Squad Scout Bill Green

Youth Recruitment Scout Rod Ruddick

Academy Recruitment Scout Chris Welman

Analyst Stephen Corns

Analyst Andrew Stone

 

Academy

 

Academy Manager Matt Crocker

Academy Administrator Derek Old

Assistant Academy Manager Terry Moore

Under 14 Youth Coach Anthony Limbrick

Under 16 Youth Coach Steven Greaves

Education & Life Skills Manager Julie Batchelor

Academy Liaison Officer Kirsty Cavanagh

Bath Satellite Manager Anthony Fawthrop

Bath Satellite Academy Coach Jonathan Holt

 

Sports Medicine & Science

 

Sports Medicine & Science Manager Mo Gimpel

Medical Administrator Tressa Bryne

Senior Physiotherapist Matt Radcliffe

Academy Physio Mal Godschalik

Assistant Academy Physio Steven Sparks

Sports Therapist Chris Lovegrove

Pro. Players Physio Emma Gimpel

Senior Strength & Conditioning Coach Nick Harvey

Development S&C Coach James Bunce

Academy S&C Coach Louis Langdown

Academy S&C Coach 9-16 Jon Fortescue

 

That's all lovely BUT what players are (realistically) knocking on the first team door?

 

Infrastructure does not make a football team.

[SuperMikey]

That's all lovely BUT what players are (realistically) knocking on the first team door?

 

Infrastructure does not make a football team.

 

Oxlade-Chamberlain was possibly our best player on Saturday.

McNish played a few times last season.

Gobern is developing into a good player.

 

Are we going to see instant results? No. But we will benefit from the infrastructure in the future, when it matters to be producing our own talent at the highest level.

[The Kraken]

Fair point, missed out Bale. So thats two in 10 years.

 

Listen, for the identification of world class players only from our youth system, I'll agree with you. We have had a rich tapestry of youth players go on to better things in days gone by. But compare these lists of players:

 

Wallace R; Wallace R; Wallace D; Le Tissier; Shearer; Benali;

 

Neville G; Neville P; Scholes; Butt; Beckham;

 

Does our recent crop of Walcott, Bale, McGoldrick, Blackstock, Dyer, etc really stack up that badly againyst the country's, nay the world's, best youth system since then?

 

Who were the last 5 amazing youth players that Man U, the "greatest club in the world" brought through. Mitigated against the fact that we'renow in the 3rd division, I think we do ok.

[buctootim]

All Im saying is that up until around 10 years ago we had a fantastic production line, but in the last five years particularly that has slowed down - in part because the club hasnt had the money to spend on the academy, and in part because our relgation from the premiership makes Saints a less desirable place for the really best youngsters to come. Now the academy and development is a priority again with resources being put into it under Cortese. If we can at least get promoted to the championship it will help ensure we can attract the best prospects out there - and hopefully keep them for the team rather than selling on.

[The Kraken]

All Im saying is that up until around 10 years ago we had a fantastic production line, but in the last five years particularly that has slowed down - in part because the club hasnt had the money to spend on the academy, and in part because our relgation from the premiership makes Saints a less desirable place for the really best youngsters to come. Now the academy and development is a priority again with resources being put into it under Cortese. If we can at least get promoted to the championship it will help ensure we can attract the best prospects out there - and hopefully keep them for the team rather than selling on.

 

And all I'm saying is; don't go overboard in being critical. Man U supposeldy posess an incredible youth system yet we've kept up with it recently, despite having none of their history and certainly none of their worldwide power. Just be easy about what you criticiSe is alll I'm saying, because I think you do our youth development a discredit.

[SaintBobby]

And all I'm saying is; don't go overboard in being critical. Man U supposeldy posess an incredible youth system yet we've kept up with it recently, despite having none of their history and certainly none of their worldwide power. Just be easy about what you criticiSe is alll I'm saying, because I think you do our youth development a discredit.

 

So true.

 

Some of the pessimists on here aren't just barking up the wrong tree. They are in the wrong forest.

[John B]

I think the point that NI was making was that Adkins at S****horpe Adkins deals with young players while at Southampton Pardew has brought in more experienced players such as Fonte Richardson Puncheon Lambert Jaidi Barnard etc and Adkins may possibly have trouble motivating them.

 

With regard to young players in general we dont seem to have been very successful in bringing young players through in the last couple of seasons from the Academy

[alpine_saint]

Nick Illingsworth is quoted on vital football as saying about Adkins -

 

 

'Another drawback is at S****horpe he is used to working with young players, whereas at Southampton, we don't have young players.'

 

'Our squad is full of seasoned professionals who we've spent a lot of money on to get the best players in the division.'

 

 

I reckon our first team is still pretty young - first choice 1o outfield players-

RB 27

CB 26

CB 20

LB 26 or 23

RM 24

CM 20

CM 27

LM 22

CF 28

CF 27

 

two most used suns 16 and 20.

 

Surely thats a young side?

 

not a personal issue with Nick just seeing his comment made me check ages as thought most players are hopefully not at their peak yet.

 

I agree. More twonkyness from Mr. Illingsworth.

[shurlock]

Average age of the Scunny side that started their last game was 25 - hardly fresh out of nappies as NI implies.

[NickG]

and older than outs!

[Doctoroncall]

I think the point that NI was making was that Adkins at S****horpe Adkins deals with young players while at Southampton Pardew has brought in more experienced players such as Fonte Richardson Puncheon Lambert Jaidi Barnard etc and Adkins may possibly have trouble motivating them.

 

With regard to young players in general we dont seem to have been very successful in bringing young players through in the last couple of seasons from the Academy

 

But isn't that what is required to have someone that can help in the transition, besides I don't believe the scunny squad is that different to ours age-wise.