Worst saints signings XI

[Patrick Bateman]

32 minutes ago, franniesTache said:

A few of my friends went pro and they were just in a completely different league to us, control, fitness, positioning, reading of the game, if they wanted they could literally just keep the ball away from you as long as they wanted and make it look easy.

 

This is so true. I remember at school playing inter house football one year, I was left back for my house team and we came up against another house who on the right wing had a player in the Saints academy (not sure it was called that in 1998-2000 but whatever), he had speed and control and I was left looking like a statue every time. Remember being shouted at by our housemaster and thinking "you deal with him you old cunt" 🤣 

 

[OneMrsWallace]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

you see some many kids now who get written off at 12 or 13 because they’re small and weaker because they’re late developers, others who are the superstars at 12 because they’ve developed earlier are stronger and quicker than everyone else but when you get to 15 it’s all they’ve got when everyone else catches up. Then there’s the junior star who is brilliant at 9 but thinks they’re the dogs bollocks and gets caught up, all being clapped along by deluded parents who think their kid is a future star

 

100%. The kids that were big for their age used to get all the plaudits and the scouts looking at them because they could barge their way through and score easy goals. Yet there would be a couple of smaller players on the pitch with amazing technique and vision but we're largely ignored. Never understood it. 

[Turkish]

5 hours ago, OneMrsWallace said:

100%. The kids that were big for their age used to get all the plaudits and the scouts looking at them because they could barge their way through and score easy goals. Yet there would be a couple of smaller players on the pitch with amazing technique and vision but we're largely ignored. Never understood it. 

Because coaches egos want wins and it means rather than developing players they’ll pick the ones that get them that. Also parents don’t have a clue. We have three players in our U13 team who are big and strong, hit puberty early so physically miles ahead of some. One of them is a terrible player, completely clueless but I’ve heard parents describe him as “electric” and “unstoppable” he gets the ball and runs in a straight line to the corner flag, so yes he is unstoppable at that but when he has to do anything else he has no idea what to do, despite years of us trying to help him. Another other one is a better player but he’s the superstar at the moment in the parents eyes because he is bigger and stronger than everyone else and has parents ask why he’s not in an academy. It’s because he isn’t a good footballer, he is at best average technically but gets away with it because he’s faster and stronger then everyone else right now but in two years time he won’t be. Meanwhile we have 2 much better kids technically who get written off by some parents and even one other coach as too weak and slow because they’re playing u13s the size of 11 year olds so often against kids who are biologically 3-4 years older but are miles ahead of them in football ability. 
 

With the ego of some parents wanting their kids to play in teams that win every week and will switch clubs on a whim if they get what they think is a better offer plus coaches egos you often see smaller kids get written off and it drives me crazy.

[OneMrsWallace]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

Because coaches egos want wins and it means rather than developing players they’ll pick the ones that get them that. Also parents don’t have a clue. We have three players in our U13 team who are big and strong, hit puberty early so physically miles ahead of some. One of them is a terrible player, completely clueless but I’ve heard parents describe him as “electric” and “unstoppable” he gets the ball and runs in a straight line to the corner flag, so yes he is unstoppable at that but when he has to do anything else he has no idea what to do, despite years of us trying to help him. Another other one is a better player but he’s the superstar at the moment in the parents eyes because he is bigger and stronger than everyone else and has parents ask why he’s not in an academy. It’s because he isn’t a good footballer, he is at best average technically but gets away with it because he’s faster and stronger then everyone else right now but in two years time he won’t be. Meanwhile we have 2 much better kids technically who get written off by some parents and even one other coach as too weak and slow because they’re playing u13s the size of 11 year olds so often against kids who are biologically 3-4 years older but are miles ahead of them in football ability. 
 

With the ego of some parents wanting their kids to play in teams that win every week and will switch clubs on a whim if they get what they think is a better offer plus coaches egos you often see smaller kids get written off and it drives me crazy.

Yup, seen all of that when my lad was playing age group. I love the description of the kid running towards the corner flag 🤣

I coached for just one year and gave up because parents would complain if their kid got 2 less minutes on the pitch than everyone else. Wasn't worth the hassle. My son was ok but not stand out at football - ended up a very good cricket player because physical size has little to do with ability in that particular sport. 

[benali-shorts]

2 hours ago, Turkish said:

Because coaches egos want wins and it means rather than developing players they’ll pick the ones that get them that. Also parents don’t have a clue. We have three players in our U13 team who are big and strong, hit puberty early so physically miles ahead of some. One of them is a terrible player, completely clueless but I’ve heard parents describe him as “electric” and “unstoppable” he gets the ball and runs in a straight line to the corner flag, so yes he is unstoppable at that but when he has to do anything else he has no idea what to do, despite years of us trying to help him. Another other one is a better player but he’s the superstar at the moment in the parents eyes because he is bigger and stronger than everyone else and has parents ask why he’s not in an academy. It’s because he isn’t a good footballer, he is at best average technically but gets away with it because he’s faster and stronger then everyone else right now but in two years time he won’t be. Meanwhile we have 2 much better kids technically who get written off by some parents and even one other coach as too weak and slow because they’re playing u13s the size of 11 year olds so often against kids who are biologically 3-4 years older but are miles ahead of them in football ability. 
 

With the ego of some parents wanting their kids to play in teams that win every week and will switch clubs on a whim if they get what they think is a better offer plus coaches egos you often see smaller kids get written off and it drives me crazy.

Completely agree re size / puberty etc. We arranged a few inter-club games based on size rather than age - the best technical players naturally rose to the top (and the experience of the comparatively older players showed, in fairness), but it was a good lesson in showing boys/parents the truer order of things. Same applied in cricket too. I know NZ junior rugby is size rather than age-based, and from u12 onwards, that would make huge sense here too. 

[Turkish]

19 minutes ago, benali-shorts said:

Completely agree re size / puberty etc. We arranged a few inter-club games based on size rather than age - the best technical players naturally rose to the top (and the experience of the comparatively older players showed, in fairness), but it was a good lesson in showing boys/parents the truer order of things. Same applied in cricket too. I know NZ junior rugby is size rather than age-based, and from u12 onwards, that would make huge sense here too. 

Yep as I mentioned I coach U13s and we’ve just moved to 11 a side. Some of the kids now look 14/15 and are literally twice the size of the smaller ones, what chance do they have when a kid twice as big, strong and fast can just knock it past them and barge them out of the way?

I know two of my son’s friends have quit football all together because the coach told them they weren’t going to play much as they’re too small, how sad is that. The advantage the bigger kids have is ridiculous. Parents don’t help though, most of our are sound to be fair but two or three have very loud voices and are the first to complain or tell us how much better others clubs do it. One of them was even texting another coach during a game telling him what subs we should make, he knows better than to do that to me. Funnily enough none of them put their hand up when we ask for support or parents reps!

[benali-shorts]

Some sort of correlation between the loudest opinions and the slowest to volunteer….

You should try an inter-club sized-based game, ours worked well in both football and cricket for their development. 
you won’t yet have reached the stage when the bigger lads get caught up, and then it’s the coaches’ fault that they didn’t develop into world beaters. You’ll enjoy that criticism😉

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

Has anyone mentioned Lee Molyneux? 

Signed from Everton on a two and a half year contract on Jan 2nd. Made his debut on Jan 10th and got sent off for two bookings against Swansea City on Jan 31st. Only made 4 appearances.