People need to come to terms with the idea...

[Parky]

...that it is just as important for the club to sign 4/5 upcoming 20-23 yr olds as it is to get 2/3 first team players. It is a strategy in widespread use and a sensible one. It is not just about re-sale value or players holding their value, we are on average quite an old side ie Geremi, Viduka, Duff, Butt, Beye, Cacapa even Owen in football years. Good young talent that might play/start half a dozen games is correctly part of our new strategy.

 

I personally will be as excited to see us trying to unearth fresh talent as signing a big name player.

[Dave]

Absolutely.

[Colos Short and Curlies]

And how great would it be just for once to have an unknown player sign and take the league by storm

[James]

Yes. These players are always the best squad players to have.

[TRon]

We had this strategy under SBR before he was deemed too senile to continue. It was quite successful as well for the most part but then we brought Souness into our club and the devastation begun.

[Parky]

We had this strategy under SBR before he was deemed too senile to continue. It was quite successful as well for the most part but then we brought Souness into our club and the devastation begun.

 

Even if 1 in 4 of the £2m-£4m range move up a level it pays for the whole strategy.

[Shak]

Couldn't agree more, lets hope Keegan sees this thread. 

[TRon]

We had this strategy under SBR before he was deemed too senile to continue. It was quite successful as well for the most part but then we brought Souness into our club and the devastation begun.

 

Even if 1 in 4 of the £2m-£4m range move up a level it pays for the whole strategy.

 

Exactly. Also, even the less successful buys like Darren Ambrose were good value in that we got our money back.

[UV]

I'd argue with "just as important", but I've not seen anyone say getting in upcoming 20-23 yr olds would be a bad thing.

 

 

According to some though, N'Zogbia's development has been held back if not irrevocably damaged by us buying a player to compete for his position, yet you'd be happy for these lads to play/start only half a dozen games? Why are you so keen to make other young players suffer this horrendous fate?

[relámpago blanco]

I'd argue with "just as important", but I've not seen anyone say getting in upcoming 20-23 yr olds would be a bad thing.

 

 

According to some though, N'Zogbia's development has been held back if not irrevocably damaged by us buying a player to compete for his position, yet you'd be happy for these lads to play/start only half a dozen games? Why are you so keen to make other young players suffer this horrendous fate?

Yeah,  I mean really, in football you either have to have a squad of 30 year olds or one of youngsters so you don't hamper their development.

 

It was alot better for N'Zogbia to have someone to challenge his place and Duff's been injured 90% of the time anyway so you're talking bollocks mate.  Imagine we hadn't signed Duff and Charlie got injured.  Do you really want to see Ameobi playing left wing again?

 

The best clubs sign youngsters who at first may not even get in the side, maybe year 2 get 10 or so games, builidng up each year till he's first choice.  That way the lad knows his position like the back of his hand and builds up rapport's with the other youngsters and established first teamers so when they do come through the bedding in period is almost nil and we've got a 10M(random) player for next to nowt.

[Dokko]

Which people?

 

 

[Guest optimistic nit]

...that it is just as important for the club to sign 4/5 upcoming 20-23 yr olds as it is to get 2/3 first team players. It is a strategy in widespread use and a sensible one. It is not just about re-sale value or players holding their value, we are on average quite an old side ie Geremi, Viduka, Duff, Butt, Beye, Cacapa even Owen in football years. Good young talent that might play/start half a dozen games is correctly part of our new strategy.

 

I personally will be as excited to see us trying to unearth fresh talent as signing a big name player.

 

well if the 20-23 year olds that we're signing are good enough to still be here in 5 years then by that age they should really be first team starters or fringe players already.

 

btw i think everyone has come to terms with that, i'd fucking love it if we were signing 18-22 year olds and i can't think of a poster who wouldn't, but anyone with sense also sees that the manager has to make the signings, and if he doesn't want 18-22 year olds, then we either sack him, or let him sign who he wants (or try to convince him).

 

we have very little evidence that suggests the above though, and any evidence we do have is imo taken out of context, like most of keegan's (and the board's) quotes these days.

[UV]

I'd argue with "just as important", but I've not seen anyone say getting in upcoming 20-23 yr olds would be a bad thing.

 

 

According to some though, N'Zogbia's development has been held back if not irrevocably damaged by us buying a player to compete for his position, yet you'd be happy for these lads to play/start only half a dozen games? Why are you so keen to make other young players suffer this horrendous fate?

Yeah,  I mean really, in football you either have to have a squad of 30 year olds or one of youngsters so you don't hamper their development.

 

It was alot better for N'Zogbia to have someone to challenge his place and Duff's been injured 90% of the time anyway so you're talking bollocks mate.  Imagine we hadn't signed Duff and Charlie got injured.  Do you really want to see Ameobi playing left wing again?

 

The best clubs sign youngsters who at first may not even get in the side, maybe year 2 get 10 or so games, builidng up each year till he's first choice.  That way the lad knows his position like the back of his hand and builds up rapport's with the other youngsters and established first teamers so when they do come through the bedding in period is almost nil and we've got a 10M(random) player for next to nowt.

 

It wasn't me saying this. HTT was the main one I remember, but basically a lot of people who now say it was wrong to sign Duff, and N'Zogbia fanboys use this reasoning for N'Zogbia's poor form.

 

 

We had this strategy under SBR before he was deemed too senile to continue. It was quite successful as well for the most part but then we brought Souness into our club and the devastation begun.

 

Lies! This idea is copywrite Mort/Ashley.

 

 

I'd also add that it's not good enough just to pick up any old bunch of "upcoming 20-23 yr olds" and say job done. There are scouts from teams from all over the world looking for these players, and to think we're going to spot a young player's talent without a bunch of other teams also noticing is naive. So we're either going to have to pay a decent amount for a select few of these players, or adopt a scatter gun approach and get in a lot of cheapies. Either approach is going to cut into the transfer and wage budgets though, and poor choices here could end up being just as costly as poor choices in more developed players.

[The College Dropout]

Absolutely.

We had this strategy under SBR before he was deemed too senile to continue. It was quite successful as well for the most part but then we brought Souness into our club and the devastation begun.

 

Didn't he want the finished article?

 

 

Shit wanker.

[TRon]

 

We had this strategy under SBR before he was deemed too senile to continue. It was quite successful as well for the most part but then we brought Souness into our club and the devastation begun.

 

Lies! This idea is copywrite Mort/Ashley.

 

 

I'd also add that it's not good enough just to pick up any old bunch of "upcoming 20-23 yr olds" and say job done. There are scouts from teams from all over the world looking for these players, and to think we're going to spot a young player's talent without a bunch of other teams also noticing is naive. So we're either going to have to pay a decent amount for a select few of these players, or adopt a scatter gun approach and get in a lot of cheapies. Either approach is going to cut into the transfer and wage budgets though, and poor choices here could end up being just as costly as poor choices in more developed players.

 

So buying the wrong up and coming youngsters could be costly you say? No shit Sherlock.

[Guest nufc 4 life]

You just have to look at the man united squad of 1995-1996, with the likes of youngsters Scholes, Beckham and the Nevilles to know that the policy of buying young can indeed be a successful policy.

[Guest Heneage]

It's not Footie Man, building squads means players of all ages.

[Cronky]

It's not Footie Man, building squads means players of all ages.

 

I agree. There's only a limited number of young players that you can pitch in at any one time. Bringing on young players is important, if only because we can't outspend the opposition any more. But we need a balanced approach.

 

The key is the defence. The main examples of teams being built through a youth stategy are Arsenal and Man U, but those teams always had the foundation of a solid defence that made those kinds of risks possible.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

You don't win anything with kids.

[Parky]

You don't win anything with kids.

 

Shouldn't that be in quotation marks?

[AyeDubbleYoo]

You don't win anything with kids.

 

Shouldn't that be in quotation marks?

 

Did I not make it up?

[James]

I think a big problem is that modern day football has become awash with a few talented kids, probably only just as much as before, but improved scouting, coaching and television gives these young players far more exposure and brings them to the top teams at a much earlier age. Hence I think an expectation amongst some people that if a player isn't a world beater at 22/23, they aren't worth getting.

 

However, many players need longer to fully mature, especially in defence and central midfield, and don't look like top players until later in their careers. Examples would be Barry and Engelaar. Compare their 22 year old selves to their current selves. I'd say Wes Brown also.

 

The likes of Huddlestone, Glen Johnson and Seb Larsson are current players others will turn their noses up at, but I wonder if they'll be saying the same in five years time.

[geordieglory]

I think a big problem is that modern day football has become awash with a few talented kids, probably only just as much as before, but improved scouting, coaching and television gives these young players far more exposure and brings them to the top teams at a much earlier age. Hence I think an expectation amongst some people that if a player isn't a world beater at 22/23, they aren't worth getting.

 

However, many players need longer to fully mature, especially in defence and central midfield, and don't look like top players until later in their careers. Examples would be Barry and Engelaar. Compare their 22 year old selves to their current selves. I'd say Wes Brown also.

 

The likes of Huddlestone, Glen Johnson and Seb Larsson are current players others will turn their noses up at, but I wonder if they'll be saying the same in five years time.

 

 

Fantastic post, and a point I hadn't really considered before. 

[womblemaster]

"Did I not make it up?"

 

i didnt know  alan hanson was a toon fan.  i guess shearer has been evangelising at the beeb!

[Skirge]

iIS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY!!

 

The entire game now is all about money, and we are not stuck in the situation where everyone knows we have a billionaire owner so therefore they think we will pay much bigger fee's for players and of course Mike Ashley did not become a billionaire by splashing cash and begin a mug.

We will sign players and we still have plenty of time to do it in, but the waiting is a killer, you would think we would be more used to it by now though.