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Decision time for 2nd year apprentices (merged)
- Thread starter sidelines1
- Start date
davie nine":2pqh7861 said:
Firstly I would like to echo the sentiments towards Josh and Connor, I'm sure both will come back fighting, two great characters.
I must admit whilst thinking Battle probably would get a pro-development offer, it was still the one which when seeing it on screen really jumped out at me as thinking it looked disappointing I think that was compounded by the fact I always thought that one of Rose/Bentley would lose out to the other one so, whilst I was pleased to see we had taken on both Jordan and Callum, I did feel sorry for Alex to be the only one of that quartet to miss out as I doubt there was much in it. That's not to say I don't appreciate that difficult decisions do have to made.
I thought Dan had a pretty good outside chance of a pro so I could appreciate if he feels a bit disheartened but I think all three development lads are in a fairly strong position to still go on to achieve first team professional football if not here then somewhere else, they all have good people around them and all three are pretty bright lads so I'm sure they will make the right decisions for them.
I'm buzzing for Aaron Taylor. Being pretty confident in Rose and Fletcher getting full pros it was the Bentley and Taylor decisions which raised the biggest smiles from me. I don't think even Aaron, hand on heart would be thinking he had much chance of a pro, if for no other reason he has been in and out the team a bit with injuries. I have said it once or twice but I don't think he gets talked about enough and I'm culpable of that, he is: rock steady, reliable, versatile, bit of a utility player. You don't talk about it because a lot of it is donkey work but the team always looks stronger when he is in it, the unsung hero. If he can stay fit I think he could be a real serious contender for a full pro this time next year so delighted he has got another year to prove it.
Its the most positive I've felt about the youth setup for a very long time. The first time Adams has signed any academy player on full professional terms and we have got three, the most we have took on since 2014 when we had Allen/Bentley/Purrington. I think it shows real interest to take three if he wasn't serious about it their is no way he would take on that many. Perhaps one token pro a couple development and sack the rest off. They hope to retain over half the year. Whilst I still am disappointed none of last years lot got even as much as a single appearance between them, I'm prepared to give the club the benefit of the doubt going forward.
Would just like a few twigs to the Ts & Cs of the development contracts I've argued for previously, not making community coaching compulsory, give them a mileage allowance, written commitments for regular training with first team, register them with a squad number small things like that and full faith would be restored. As to Peles point I think now offers have been made a club would have to be willing to pay Argyle a fee for them to move away, unless they chose to sign for a club way down the pyramid and I'm of the belief this would be the case for 3 years. Don't quote me on that unless the club waived any right of course.
So as expected callum, alex and jordan got the pro contracts. Good luck to all of them.
I hope they stick with louis as well. Next season we must get all these boys out on loan more.
I have just checked the ECFC squad and all bar ampadu and pym, of their homegrown members
have been out on loan to the likes of dorchester, weston, bideford, hayes, torquay and truro.
Watkins had a spell at weston and reid has been at torquay all this season. Tisdale even loaned
a player to parkway recently. With louis not getting any gametime at hartlepool either, this
is an area we now need to see some improvement in imho.
I hope they stick with louis as well. Next season we must get all these boys out on loan more.
I have just checked the ECFC squad and all bar ampadu and pym, of their homegrown members
have been out on loan to the likes of dorchester, weston, bideford, hayes, torquay and truro.
Watkins had a spell at weston and reid has been at torquay all this season. Tisdale even loaned
a player to parkway recently. With louis not getting any gametime at hartlepool either, this
is an area we now need to see some improvement in imho.
Hopefully now being in League 1, League two clubs such as Newport (if they stay up,) Yeovil, or a newly promoted side will be more willing to come in for a loan move and Argyle being more willing to allow them out on loan. I would think it pretty important we try to get the development 3 out to at preferably conference if not conference South/North. Its hard to see what more they could do in a SWPL so hopefully they would get the chance to show they could do the biz at an higher level.
Correct MarkM, complete waste of time them playing in the SWPL, then expected to bridge the gap to League 1.
Surely a deal with Torquay and Truro is the way forward for all everyone.
Do think maturity wise, not many 19/20 year olds playing week in week out in many divisions, so need to retain them for longer.
Surely a deal with Torquay and Truro is the way forward for all everyone.
Do think maturity wise, not many 19/20 year olds playing week in week out in many divisions, so need to retain them for longer.
Third time in four seasons he's won it. Think he left us at 19. He wasn't rated that highly in his first season in League Two with Southend, but he developed with time and has become their star player.Pele10":1gy37ns9 said:
- Jul 28, 2010
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What were we supposed to do with Leonard for the seasons we were in the Championship?
Should we have held on to him knowing we would be relegated back to his level?
Perhaps we should have kept Harvey in case we're ever going to be playing non-league football?
At the time these players were released they weren't good enough.
We need players capable of taking us to the next level we don't need to be a creche for the south-West footballing wannabees. We should have far more ambition than that.
Should we have held on to him knowing we would be relegated back to his level?
Perhaps we should have kept Harvey in case we're ever going to be playing non-league football?
At the time these players were released they weren't good enough.
We need players capable of taking us to the next level we don't need to be a creche for the south-West footballing wannabees. We should have far more ambition than that.
Pele10":3w5jf1gp said:
YOU DON'T HALF POST A LOT OF RUBBISH :banghead:
By your reckoning we would have 20 or more players aged from about 18 to 20 bloating our squad , in the hope that one day they may prove good enough to play in an ambitious team that are trying to climb the leagues .
Unless of course you mean , we should retain those players that have gone on to prove they will be good enough .
Hindsight is a wonderful thing .
Different managers in different leagues have made decisions on our youngsters futures ( decisions they have been paid to make ) and not many of these lads are playing at a higher level than the one they were released from , which suggests that the decisions made at the time were the correct ones .
Also different boards and chairmen have been at the club , whilst young players have been released .
ABOUT THE ONLY COMMON DENOMINATORS HAVE BEEN THAT OUR YOUNG PLAYERS HAVE GENERALLY BEEN REGARDED BY EXPERIENCED FOOTBALL PEOPLE AS NOT QUITE UP TO THE STANDARD REQUIRED AT THE TIME OF THEIR RELEASE AND THE NUMPTIES WHO BANG ON ABOUT GIVING THEM ALL A CHANCE . :furious:
DartingtonPilgrim":40ll1kf8 said:
OK your right, lets go the Brentford way and scrap the Academy. Spend money on the travelling footballer
with the catchment area we have, why after roughly 8-10 years in the youth system aren't the players good enough, or at least have the attributes to be 12-18 months away from the 1st team?
In fact No, lets get more players bulging the young pro ranks, lets get more through, but that's naïve on my part as you quite rightly say, so many are not good enough and at 18-19 and have rightly been shown the door.
Ben Purrington luckily for him is a lucky lucky player catching the break he did, and now the club are 350k richer for it.
Them up the road are producing for fun, will probably bring get another 4 million in the Summer...why cant we DP?
DartingtonPilgrim":nbrlxzeh said:
The only reason why "Numbties" like me "bang on" about them not getting a chance is because recently they haven't been. Whilst personally I was sorry to see Luke Young get released and questioned whether it was the right or wrong decision at the time, as most of us do with any player regardless of background. Even the most ardent of us in the pro Young camp, wouldn't argue he wasn't given a chance.
Similarly that was never the real argument we had about Harvey, that argument was always about the quality and fairness of chances he did undeniably get and if they allowed him to showcase to his strengths, it was clear he couldn't change a game with 10 minuets to go but was very effective whilst a starter or given at least 40mins. But when you look at the amount of appearances he has you can see why many people argue he did have chances.
Purrington did get a chance eventually but there were bumps on his road under both the managers he had and as Pele rightly points out was a very lucky boy to catch a break when it came and I think he would be the first to admit that and that by the same slight degree of bad luck his career could have gone the same way as many of his peers.
However the reason why it appears we are banging on about it all the time is because many have had either no where near the chances of those three or even absolutely no chance what so ever(the later includes an entire year group who won: the Merit League, Won the qualifying league for the Merit League the next season, won back to back Devon bowls and had a SWPL Division One promotion campaign. From that I do find it bitterly disappointing all we got from that year was Cory Harvey and Bill Palfrey getting a couple of games sat on the bench! I maintain that was a scandalous wasted opportunity.)
There is no reasonable argument I don't think, to say despite getting appearances : Aaron Bentley, River Allen, Jamie Richards, or those who didn't: Callum Hall, Ben Steer, Jack Calver and Bill Palfrey were given a chance. I've left out Matt Lecointe and Ryan Lane because their situations were slightly different. As I have Rooney as we still don't what will happen with him yet.
I'm not sure if its a fairly unique thing to Argyle or if it happens across the board but I don't like how the fans don't give them much of a chance either. Look at the results of that David Munday/Herald survey, something like 67% of people who answered that wanted Jordan Bentley released. My heart sank when I saw that, I really did despair. What are these clowns judging that on exactly?! Before he has even signed his first professional contract he sees a poll with a sizeable majority not wanting him at his hometown club. Days earlier he had posted on social media how he was "delighted" and "...could not be happier to have signed for the club I've grown up supporting." I hope if Jordan has seen this poll, then it will really spur him on next season and motivate him to go and stick two fingers up to all those boo-boys (and if I wasn't on a "family" site I would be using a much stronger phrase.) Jordan has got the talent as Derek Adams issuing his first professional contract to an apprentice goes to show, so go and sock it to them mate! Its certainly strengthened my resolve in willing him on to bigger and better things that is for sure.
After only one 10 minuet substitute appearance, just under half of people polled want Alex Fletcher released. Lets not pretend that Callum Rose would have faired any better than being just about on the 50:50 line at best either, so I hope that gives them all the added motivation to kick on and position themselves to eventually get out of this: small-minded, short sighted, backwater because when I see polls like that and then see the love-ins for the likes of: Goodwillie, Osborne, Bulvitis ,people saying they didn't get chances here or Argyle should have stuck with them and when I see Paul Garita voted over Purrington for YPOTY. I just think we don't deserve people like Jordan and Alex representing this club and they deserve better.
All that said I'm hopeful they will get more chances than many of the names I listed as I'm also pretty hopeful the Development lads will have more chances and a fairer crack of the whip this season as well. I also do have hope that the majority of fans don't vote in online polls and will start with a neutral opinion towards them and judge them fairly, hopefully they can go on to enjoy a long career with the club and become firm fan favourites.
I don't think that you,Pele10 or sidelines1 'post a load of rubbish', Mark.
I am always interested to read your opinions and reports of youth and SWPL games. You are talking from a position of knowing and taking a genuine interest in the performances of the lads who have come through our Academy and it is understandable that your opinions are slightly biased towards these lads. I am sure that they appreciate the encouragement that you give them.
Based on your opinions over the current season, I would say that you have been accurate in your assessments. Like you, I have been impressed with Rose and Fletcher, in particular, and was disappointed that Battle was only offered a pro development deal. I would add that, if Mike Cooper, the goalkeeper, was in his second year, I would have hoped that he would also have been offered a professional contract. Next year, perhaps.
The change in the loan system should, hopefully, over the next few seasons, give opportunities to those who have been offered/accepted professional contracts and pro development ones.
I must admit that, when I first read Dartington Pilgrim's severe criticisms, I thought that he was going 'over the top'. However, after reading the whole thread, he has made polite suggestions on other posts about the fact that you are, in effect, criticising our management team, who, from reports that I have read, have all, regularly, whenever practicable, watched our Academy lads in action and have formed their opinion based on their own observations as well as those of the Academy management team.
I am always interested to read your opinions and reports of youth and SWPL games. You are talking from a position of knowing and taking a genuine interest in the performances of the lads who have come through our Academy and it is understandable that your opinions are slightly biased towards these lads. I am sure that they appreciate the encouragement that you give them.
Based on your opinions over the current season, I would say that you have been accurate in your assessments. Like you, I have been impressed with Rose and Fletcher, in particular, and was disappointed that Battle was only offered a pro development deal. I would add that, if Mike Cooper, the goalkeeper, was in his second year, I would have hoped that he would also have been offered a professional contract. Next year, perhaps.
The change in the loan system should, hopefully, over the next few seasons, give opportunities to those who have been offered/accepted professional contracts and pro development ones.
I must admit that, when I first read Dartington Pilgrim's severe criticisms, I thought that he was going 'over the top'. However, after reading the whole thread, he has made polite suggestions on other posts about the fact that you are, in effect, criticising our management team, who, from reports that I have read, have all, regularly, whenever practicable, watched our Academy lads in action and have formed their opinion based on their own observations as well as those of the Academy management team.