Academy Development Thread - sponsored by BryanRoy!

Statto

Statto

Free Kick Specialist
Templeton said:
There used to be stories/rumours/jokes about the age and lack birth certificates for many African players, and this lad certainly looks older than academy age.
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Yes, plenty of rumours, but not just in football and not just African players have the odd example where someone looks older than the age they (say they) are.

I guess what sets African players apart which doesn't happen with players from like the UK or Spain or somewhere is that the birth certificate evidence doesn't exist, even though I guess despite that there would be the potential that it could be faked.

Remember when Wayne Rooney came onto the scene and started pushing adults out the way and scoring when he was only what 16/17 years old? Likely that he was. But he looked older than that.

Rafa Nadal won the French Open for the first time in 2005 at the age of 18. Teenagers don't often win slams especially these days (unless you're Carlos Alcaraz). Nadal at 18 was certainly a different kettle of fish to Murray or Djokovic... especially on clay
 
M

Mr H

Viv Anderson
Templeton said:
There used to be stories/rumours/jokes about the age and lack birth certificates for many African players, and this lad certainly looks older than academy age.
Click to expand...
They weren’t rumours: cheating was rife in youth tournaments in Africa and the football authorities had to bring in MRI age testing, as the problem was so bad.

21 members of the Cameroon U17 squad failed age tests in 2024!

www.bbc.co.uk

Why the problem of age fraud is 'rampant' in African football

Why are players lying about their ages in world football - especially in Africa - and what can be done about it?
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk

www.bbc.com

Wilfried Nathan Doualla: Cameroonian midfielder accused of age cheating - BBC Sport

A Cameroonian club defends Wilfried Nathan Doualla after the midfielder was accused of age cheating.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
Canadian_red

Canadian_red

Jack Burkitt
Rather wildy, I heard on one of the ads on my podcast yesterday that the U21s are playing a mini tournament over a few days in Kamloops, BC. They actually have a game against the Calgary Cavalry U21s (I would think the full team might offer a better game).

Also rather wildly, despite being in the neighboring province, the drive would take me 7 hours one way, which isn't too far off traveling home to watch the big club. I wish they were doing an exhibition in town, but hope they all have a good time.
 
GreeksBearingGifts

GreeksBearingGifts

Stuart Pearce
It's about time an academy graduate makes it into your first team. Not so much in order to maintain your impressive record of fielding academy graduates for decades, not even because you'll be losing places in the European list without academy graduates, but even more so because the success of a home-grown lad creates such a positive vibe around the team.

Last year we had two academy kids making their way to the first team (and actually having a major role in the team throughout the year). One, as you know, was sold for 40m euros. Yesterday was our first pre-season friendly, and there were two more academy kids, who were really excellent, especially winger Stavros Pnevmonidis (he turns 19 in a few days), who in 45΄ managed to have one goal, two assists, two near assists, one big chance at goal, and, in general, to create havoc in the opponent's defense. All fans talks of nothing else. We're supposed to bring in two wingers before the end of the transfer window, and now every fan insists that we only need one, because of Pnevmonidis. Football is about stories and academy kids making it to the first team create stories.

Yes, I know, the Premier is a much more difficult league than any other, but football has changed, and even the big clubs trust 18- and 19-year-olds now. So, I don't know if it's Jimmy Sinclair (why doesn't he have his own topic yet?), Zach Abbott or someone else, but you'll need to give some young academy graduate a chance, sooner rather than later.
 
Strummer

Strummer

I love the smell of Napalm in the morning
LTLF Minion
GreeksBearingGifts said:
It's about time an academy graduate makes it into your first team. Not so much in order to maintain your impressive record of fielding academy graduates for decades, not even because you'll be losing places in the European list without academy graduates, but even more so because the success of a home-grown lad creates such a positive vibe around the team.

Last year we had two academy kids making their way to the first team (and actually having a major role in the team throughout the year). One, as you know, was sold for 40m euros. Yesterday was our first pre-season friendly, and there were two more academy kids, who were really excellent, especially winger Stavros Pnevmonidis (he turns 19 in a few days), who in 45΄ managed to have one goal, two assists, two near assists, one big chance at goal, and, in general, to create havoc in the opponent's defense. All fans talks of nothing else. We're supposed to bring in two wingers before the end of the transfer window, and now every fan insists that we only need one, because of Pnevmonidis. Football is about stories and academy kids making it to the first team create stories.

Yes, I know, the Premier is a much more difficult league than any other, but football has changed, and even the big clubs trust 18- and 19-year-olds now. So, I don't know if it's Jimmy Sinclair (why doesn't he have his own topic yet?), Zach Abbott or someone else, but you'll need to give some young academy graduate a chance, sooner rather than later.
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I reckon young Abbott might surprise one or two.
 
Timothy Pope

Timothy Pope

Just another roll of the Dyche
I expect Abbot to go on loan and Sinclair to be the bench filler
 
Bog roll

Bog roll

Viv Anderson
Did anyone watch the Fulham friendly and give any opinions on the youngsters ?
 
Steve Stone’s Brylcreem

Steve Stone’s Brylcreem

First Team Squad
The issue at the moment with our academy players is that the ones who are reaching the age of playing (18, barring the Rooney-like “freaks”) are lads who joined when we were a (struggling) championship team.

We need to be attracting and signing young players now with our premier league status who will come through in >5 years. We can’t expect teenagers who joined us as a championship club to become premier league players (bar the odd exception).
Even established Premier League clubs who’ve been scooping up the best young talent don’t have that many homegrown players coming through and making a success of it.

We need to stay in the Premier League, get consistent European football and start scooping up the best youngsters from the country not just local area. Forest as a go-to destination if you want to make it as a pro.
note: I have no idea the percentage of “local” players at the academy vs “national” but I bet we haven’t pulled many in from far away.

All of which is a long-winded way of saying that we don’t look to have a lot coming through that will be making an impact in the near future on the first team but that’s understandable.
 
D

Deleted User 5857

Viv Anderson
Souvik said:
An article around what we have been saying about building a partnership with the Stags

www.bbc.com

Mansfield Town: Why Nottingham Forest's academy offers rich pickings for Stags

Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough says it is no coincidence he has raided Nottingham Forest's academy in search of League One-ready recruits.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
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Good to see that relationship continue. League One is a good level to get experience at and Nigel is a good manager. Our youngsters are in good hands there.
 
Tricky Tourist

Tricky Tourist

Geoff Thomas
Abbott and Sinclair haven't impressed, unfortunately. On the basis of this game we don't seem to have any PL level prospects in the academy.
 
It's Baggio

It's Baggio

John Robertson
Always hard to judge these games but it was a disappointing effort.

Was hoping to see a bit more of Sillah but aside from the shot in the first minute he barely touched the ball near their goal.
 
donny

donny

Jack Armstrong
Be interesting to see how bad Clarke and Blake were injured.
 
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