- Jun 10, 2004
- 5,049
- 7,227
Cheerio then Adel. I for one will miss your mindless step-overs and your Merson-like mazy dribbly randomness. And goodbye Gio. You arrived with so much promise on the back of your Barcelona hat-trick and your fancy sounding name.
Ok, those initial words are somewhat presumptuous and intentionally harsh, but the question stll stands - where did it all go wrong?
Over the last few seasons we have invested heavily in youth. Kaboul, Reid, KPB, Gio, Taarabt, Gunter, to name but a few. And whilst a seemingly sound business tactic the actual reward on the pitch has been far from a resounding success. And why is that? Why did all that glowing potential seemingly evaporate into nothing? Where is our team of world-beaters that have matured and developed together into the attractive and dominant unit we so desire?
Many place the blame on the manager - "Harry/Martin/Juande never gave so-and-so a chance". Others like to blame the coaches - "they got useless training and weren't moulded into the players they could be". In the forums it has even been suggested that the lack of development is solely down to the arrogant attitude and lifestyle of the modern-day over-paid footballer.
However, are we the fans partially to blame? We roundly castigate every manager for not "giving youth a chance" whilst damning them for any loss of points thanks to not playing our strongest (and under-21 absent) first eleven. What chance do they have?
Personally, given our lofty ambitions and European hopes, I don't think we as a club are in a position to be able to truly blood and develop our youngsters. We are stuck in the limbo between the gifted squads such as Man Utd - who not only have the financial clout to hoover up all the most promising talent on offer but have the strength to regularly introduce them into a comfortably winning side - and the lesser clubs who have to resort to giving youth a chance because they quite simply can't afford a better option. And we aren't alone in this. Try listing the players that have broken through the ranks at clubs of similar stature in recent years.
So what do we do? Well, I actually think Harry has the right idea. We have a relatively young average age for our first eleven which would benefit from one or two experienced, established additions in key positions. Instead of throwing money at several young "maybes" we should be investing in known quality at this time. And, as fans I think we should lower our expectations (and reduce management related criticism) concerning the youth in which we invest. For every Wayne Rooney there are a multitude of Frazier Campbells.
Ok, those initial words are somewhat presumptuous and intentionally harsh, but the question stll stands - where did it all go wrong?
Over the last few seasons we have invested heavily in youth. Kaboul, Reid, KPB, Gio, Taarabt, Gunter, to name but a few. And whilst a seemingly sound business tactic the actual reward on the pitch has been far from a resounding success. And why is that? Why did all that glowing potential seemingly evaporate into nothing? Where is our team of world-beaters that have matured and developed together into the attractive and dominant unit we so desire?
Many place the blame on the manager - "Harry/Martin/Juande never gave so-and-so a chance". Others like to blame the coaches - "they got useless training and weren't moulded into the players they could be". In the forums it has even been suggested that the lack of development is solely down to the arrogant attitude and lifestyle of the modern-day over-paid footballer.
However, are we the fans partially to blame? We roundly castigate every manager for not "giving youth a chance" whilst damning them for any loss of points thanks to not playing our strongest (and under-21 absent) first eleven. What chance do they have?
Personally, given our lofty ambitions and European hopes, I don't think we as a club are in a position to be able to truly blood and develop our youngsters. We are stuck in the limbo between the gifted squads such as Man Utd - who not only have the financial clout to hoover up all the most promising talent on offer but have the strength to regularly introduce them into a comfortably winning side - and the lesser clubs who have to resort to giving youth a chance because they quite simply can't afford a better option. And we aren't alone in this. Try listing the players that have broken through the ranks at clubs of similar stature in recent years.
So what do we do? Well, I actually think Harry has the right idea. We have a relatively young average age for our first eleven which would benefit from one or two experienced, established additions in key positions. Instead of throwing money at several young "maybes" we should be investing in known quality at this time. And, as fans I think we should lower our expectations (and reduce management related criticism) concerning the youth in which we invest. For every Wayne Rooney there are a multitude of Frazier Campbells.