Rovers youth and reserve teams.

[RoverthePennines]

It would be the making of Rovers if we could get some of these lads playing in the first team together. If you're good enough you are old enough. This is why we have the academy. A hope that we can produce one or two or even half a team of promising young players to make the grade. Look at Man United. For all their money and support the best teams they have produced were the ill fated busby babes and the class of 92. Both made up of home grown talent. The biggest problem at Rovers is hanging on to our stars when we do produce them though. Last time we got promoted from this league we had Dunn and Duff starting out their careers. Maybe this is the way forward for us to eventually be successful in the championship. Next couple of years could be promising ones for us hopefully.

So the way forward would be to stick with the manager that likes his youth players and has seen a good number of his young players come through the academy and start pushing for a first team place.....

....oh.

Normally I'd agree Dan, except in our latest injury/suspension hit spell, Bowyer stated in the press that he wasn't going to include younger players in March day squads, with O'Sullivan being overlooked for Williamson and Mahoney overlooked for Delfouneso just to name a few. Williamson at least has experience on his side, but to me Delfouneso hasn't offered nearly enough to warrant not gambling on youth.

[SheepShagginRover]

It would be the making of Rovers if we could get some of these lads playing in the first team together. If you're good enough you are old enough. This is why we have the academy. A hope that we can produce one or two or even half a team of promising young players to make the grade. Look at Man United. For all their money and support the best teams they have produced were the ill fated busby babes and the class of 92. Both made up of home grown talent. The biggest problem at Rovers is hanging on to our stars when we do produce them though. Last time we got promoted from this league we had Dunn and Duff starting out their careers. Maybe this is the way forward for us to eventually be successful in the championship. Next couple of years could be promising ones for us hopefully.

So the way forward would be to stick with the manager that likes his youth players and has seen a good number of his young players come through the academy and start pushing for a first team place.....

....oh.

Normally I'd agree Dan, except in our latest injury/suspension hit spell, Bowyer stated in the press that he wasn't going to include younger players in March day squads, with O'Sullivan being overlooked for Williamson and Mahoney overlooked for Delfouneso just to name a few. Williamson at least has experience on his side, but to me Delfouneso hasn't offered nearly enough to warrant not gambling on youth.

Why retain senior players on senior wages then seclude them when fit from the first team? With our scant resources, that'd have drawn plenty of questioning. He was damned if he did, damned if he didn't. Leaving approximately 14k p/w of wages out of the squad when fit on a match day in a side under FFP?

He'd be castigated.

[RoverthePennines]

That's a fair point. However, you play to win not settle the accounts.

[Hudson]

It will be interesting to see if the new manager is more inclined to give some of the youngsters a go

[Rover the Top]

It will be interesting to see if the new manager is more inclined to give some of the youngsters a go

Less inclined, I'd have thought. Raya, Mahoney, O'Sullivan, Lenihan, O'Connell and Nyambe have been given debuts over the past couple of years, and Henley, Hanley and Lowe have been retained as home grown players in our first team. Would it be a good idea to put more untried and under-cooked teenagers into our side?

[Hudson]

They couldn't do much worse than the likes of Williamson or Brown

[Rover the Top]

They couldn't do much worse than the likes of Williamson or Brown

But in all seriousness, yes they could and you could also damage their development by throwing them into first team football too soon. When was the last time a club's youth team got them promoted?

[Hudson]

[quote="Rover the Top}But in all seriousness, yes they could and you could also damage their development by throwing them into first team football too soon.[/quote]

True, but you could find that they fit right in and become important first team players, like Hughes at Derby or Gray at Birmingham last season.

[Ethiaa]

If they aren't performing consistently at U21 level then why would you put them into the first team?

[Hudson]

From reading the match reports, there are several players who do sound like they perform consistently - Tomlinson, Mansell, Cham and Nyambe for example. On the flip side, why would you also keep players in the first team who aren't performing consistently?

[Ethiaa]

Not according to the management team. Consistency was the key issue stopping players moving into the first team - they said we wouldn't thank them for throwing in players who are as likely to have a shocker as play at the level required. I'd tend to agree. As always, you have to consider who you trust to make these decisions - the professional team that works with the players week in week out or an assessment based on some match reports

[Rover the Top]

It's a funny argument considering the heavy criticism Hanley and Lowe get. The ones who do make it through never seem to meet the high standards of the fans, yet there's this belief that our youth teams are filled with starlets who are being denied the chance to shine by an incompetent management team.

[Gibbon]

Lewis Hardcastle signs first pro contract.

Salford City fans seem to think he's a very good prospect indeed.

[Gibbon]

U18's beat Villa to progress to the quarter finals of the FA youth cup.

Interesting that Billy Barr is coaching them - and from wikipedia he seems to have a fair bit of experience. Even so far as to having been appointed as Wrexham's caretaker manager for a short period at one point.

Everytime I see a U18 result at the moment they seem to be winning, so obviously something is going very right at that level somewhere.

*edit - here it says coach Ian Jones, but earlier I read a report saying Billy Barr. Not sure who was in charge now.

It says here:
Billy Barr - Professional Development Phase Coach
Ian Jones - Assistant Professional Development Phase Coach

Whatever that means.

[RoverthePennines]

From personal experience, Ian Jones is a very good coach, especially when it comes to the man management of youth players. He used to coach the Academy teams at Newman College in Preston (alongside Sean Haslegrove who I believe used to play for Stoke and North End). At any rate, they cleaned up at college level every season and a had handful of players in the England college teams every year. I was gutted when he left to concentrate on Rovers.