What’s all this ‘development team’ spiel?

Past potential?
Past potential?
After our humiliating FA Cup defeat to Brighton, Alan Pardew said he was forced to put out youngsters that should really be in the ‘development team’. I don’t follow though…

Now Pardew has actually mentioned these players belonging to the ‘development squad’ a few times this season. One of the main pledges made by Derek Llambias and Mike Ashley since they joined the club was to build a youth set up that will carry the club moving forward – however I’m not seeing it.

Our line up on Saturday looked like this; Rob Elliot, Davide Santon, Mike Williamson, James Perch, James Tavernier, Vurnon Anita, Gael Bigirimana, Gabriel Obertan, Sammy Ameobi, Mehdi Abeid and Shola Ameobi. Subs used were; Sylvain Marveaux, Paul Dummett and Nile Ranger.

Santon, Williamson, Perch, Anita, Obertan, Marveaux and Shola – even Elliot – are all part of our first team squad. That leaves Sammy, Ranger, Dummett, Abeid, Bigi and Tavernier.

Sammy Ameobi is supposed to be one of our brightest young talents. He’s 21 in May. He has played 14 times for the senior side this term, averaging 45 minutes per game. He’s only played twice for the U-21’S. Compare that to our 1st team squad player Gabriel Obertan, who has played 18 times averaging 54 minutes per game. Not a lot of difference really. So is Sammy in fact a First Team squad player?

I know what you may be thinking – ‘You’re missing the point Shamrock. Pardew said these players should be in the development squad. Meaning his hands are tied. Fine, but Sammy is no spring chicken anymore! He should be making inroads into our first team squad by now. Aston Villa’s Christian Benteke and Andreas Weimann are 22 and 21 respectively for example. They are well on their way. Davide Santon – our 1st choice left back has only just turned 22. Should he be in the ‘development squad?’

Look harder at these ‘youngsters’. Nile Ranger, Bradden Inman, James Tavernier, Shane Ferguson, Paul Dummett – all 22 this year. Dan Gosling is 23 this year. Romain Amalfitano is 24 this year! Is he a ‘development player?’ If that’s the case, lets throw Vernon Anita and Gabriel Obertan in there too. They are still 23.

Why oh why did we sign Amalfitano?! A complete waste of a place in our squad. If he’s not good enough for us at 23 years old, he never will be. Mehdi Abeid was awful the other day. No fight, no passion, no effort. Did nothing of note. He’s 20 years old. If he is not hungry for a cup match and chance to impress at this stage of his career, when will he ever be? I thought our scouts were meticulous when shopping abroad? What happened here then?!

The youngest of all of these is Gael Bigirimana, who is 19. He has 10 Premier League appearances to his name already this season, averaging about 36 minutes per game. He has 10 other appearances in our cup competitions, averaging 75 minutes per game. He has played for the U-21’S just once this season. Bearing all this mind, you would have to say he is actually part of the first team set up. In fact, take away Adam Campbell (18), Curtis Good (20 in March) and Remi Streete (18) and he is amongst the youngest genuine ‘talents’ on our books.

Look around the Premiership and you will find young examples of according to Pardew at least, development age players making huge strides all over the shop:

Age 22; Benteke, Ramsay, Gueye, Allen, Henderson, Ramirez, Rose, Kyle Walker, McCarthy, Miyaichi, Hazard, Moses, De Gea, Rafael, Welbeck, Balotelli.

Age 21; Wilshere, Weimann, Clyne, Caulker, Romeu, Oscar, Macheda.

20 or under; Oxlade-Chamberlaine, Barkley, Shelvey, Sterling, Lukaku, Phil Jones, Powell, Nastasic.

By the time you get to Dan Gosling’s age you should be a nailed on first time regular. The likes of Gibbs, Walcott, Bannan, Sturridge, Gunter, Rodriguez, McClean, Colback, Meyler, Neil Taylor, Sandro, Bale, Sigurdsson and Tomkins have pretty much all been around their respective first teams for a long time. Gosling was supposed to be a huge talent, but he has stagnated with us. I know he’s been unlucky with injuries – but he just does not look like he is capable of bringing an ‘A’ game to a match anymore.

I know the above list is not exactly massive, but almost every club in the league has better genuine squad depth than us – so they can afford to bring on the odd youth and it actually benefits them because they are good enough. We are playing a bunch of youngish pro’s that would likely struggle in League 1 because we have not invested in our squad – using catchphrases like ‘development squad’ and ‘youth strategy’ as a distraction technique.

Clearly if you are good enough, you play. Santon and Bigi demonstrate this, as do countless other players strutting their stuff in this league. The time for developing is in their teens. If they get to 21, 22 and 23 and have not made a serious impression, they are not good enough!

My perception of what a ‘development team’ should be is a bunch of under 20’s. Players like Streete and Campbell, who we should send off for a couple of years on loan at GOOD clubs before being eased into the first team – or shipped out. We’ll let Good off, who has only just joined from the other side of the world. Don’t waste them on loans to League 1 and 2, or pack them off to poor Scottish sides. If these are supposed to be future Premier League stars then put them in the Championship for a year, somewhere they get relevant experience playing alongside hungry, talented pro’s chomping at the bit to make the next step up and hit the big time. So Curtis Good aside, what excuse does anybody else from this group have? Where does Pardew get off calling them ‘development squad’ players?!

This club’s bigwigs have been working on our fantastic youth set up for five years now. Pardew has had two years overseeing it. What are the results? A bunch of ‘kids’ you can’t really call kids, who will never make it in the Premiership with the exception of Bigirimana and maybe Ferguson and Vuckic.

Whatever our club have been doing with our ‘youths’, it’s not working. They need to change their ways before they ruin the careers of of our actual development players such as Adam Campbell and Remi Streete. Stop pretending these are ‘development players’ and just admit they are squad players that are not good enough. Our youth strategy is still as poor as it ever was. What is the reason? Are they all lazy? I doubt it. Were they never good enough? A few of them, probably yes… Is it bad coaching? That might explain the general lethargy, lack of organisation and work ethic displayed by our entire squad this season. If our coaches are not getting the basics right in training with our senior pro’s, then how can the understudies possibly be learning anything?

Unfortunately these players are taking up spaces in our squad that should be given to players with real ability. They have had whatever raw talent they ever possessed ripped out of them and wasted by a board unwilling to invest properly in the squad and a manager that does not seem to know what player development actually means. Keeping them at the club playing in pointless reserve games well into their 20’s and dragging them out in high pressure top of the range games for the odd 30 minutes every few weeks is not how you nurture a young pro. They should be wheeled out a couple at a time on a regular basis if not on loan – playing alongside a near full strength side so that they actually learn something. They need continuity via regular competitive match practice at a high level.

The board and Pardew took a gamble on this lot to see us through this term instead of making signings and it backfired. In the meantime they have pretty much destroyed the careers of your Sammy Ameobi’s and James Taverniers. Pardew said at the beginning of the season he was happy with his squad and would be pushing for the top four. Was he lying? Did he actually believe the words coming out of his mouth? Now he is bleating on about how they are not ready and how we ‘undercooked’ it in the summer. Either he was happy with his squad in August or he wasn’t. If he was, like he said he was – then I worry for us. If he wasn’t, then he has willingly destroyed the careers of these young pro’s just to toe the line with the Board. Spineless if that’s the case.

Lets stop making excuses now Pardew and start producing results. Have a nice big clear out in the summer of all these players who have not ‘made it’ and give us a proper squad – then take more care developing the next batch of youngsters. Fair enough, you had no other options – but don’t dress them up as youngsters. Say it how it is – our squad is woefully short of genuine competition thanks to the results of a poor and wasted youth strategy combined with a board using it as an excuse to not invest in first team playing staff properly.

About Shamrock

Like everyone here, support Newcastle United. Not the easiest side to feel good about at times, but it's our side!

341 thoughts on “What’s all this ‘development team’ spiel?

  1. Ye Shamrock,

    And generally those late bloomers come from lower league clubs and have always been good just not well known until the side makes it to the Premier League.

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  2. Does anyone know what stage we are at with new recruits coming in?
    Thought we might have heard something back from the France trip at the weekend by now like 🙄 🙁

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  3. Sharpy Remy quotes as saying he favours a move to Germany despite knowing about our interest.

    So don’t see that one happening.

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  4. @Sharpy

    same goes. we seem to make an effort at dragging these things out. The last I heard was we were going to make a bid in the next few days for Remy, probably around 6mill, then we’ll haggle until they tell us hes gone somewhere else lol

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  5. Wonder what ever happened to Andre Ayew at OM. He was an incredible talent in 2010. He’s only 23. If we had a coach that could get the best out of him he is supremely talented.

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  6. Bradford 1 Villa 0

    Curtis Good is by far our most sucessful player this season when it comes down to cup runs … 😆 😆 😆

    Let’s be honest, if he has a good game against Villa maybe we should consider him perhaps good enough for the first team squad ? While we are at it we can take his centre defense partner from Bradford as well .. 😆

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  7. Shay Given, N’Zogbia and Steven Ireland all part of the Villa side this evening facing Bradford.. …. thank god they are all nowhere near the toon…and costing Villa a canny packet too.

    Funny old game football….

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  8. JJ – typical, similar to the Dutch trip in the summer then?!. Can hardly blame the kid like, far more chance of winning things with either German club than the toon.
    Aye all I heard today was that Pard had ruled out Danny Graham as he wasn’t the type of player he was looking for, a goal evey 3 games – yip defo not for us Al. Far better chase players who are highly unlikely to ever sign for us.
    I haven’t even heard any CB rumours yet, which is also quite worrying.
    I know it’s still very early in the window but the summers failings has left me very nervy and paranoid

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  9. MM – don’t speak too soon mate, if Remy doesn’t come off Zog is a Frenchie who can play wide left – just the type of player Pards is after 😯

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  10. FC Bayern just battered FC Schalke 04 5-0 in Dubai, I reckon Schalke are crazy enough to pay the money for Remy, they have the Champions League next round to look forward to as well.

    Remember we played the game of “chasing” Luc De Jong for ages before he made the big money move to Borussia… Dodged a bullet there like 😉

    I’m totally despondent with our lot when it comes to making things move in the transfer market.

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  11. Why do we look only to the SPL and lower leagues to loan our young players out too ? Would it not be an idea to loan the young lads out to teams in the top divisions of France , Belgium ,Holland or even Germany ?these leagues are better than the SPL or lower divisions in England and they would learn European Football that is far more technical than English and Scottish football .Other teams do it so why not us ?

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  12. Axel – fair point mate, would probably suit players like Amalfitano and Abied to go abroad.

    MM – I said it tongue in cheek but thinking about it, I wouldn’t put it past this shower of *****

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  13. Talking of Defensive Targets i saw today that Eric Pieters played a full game today for PSV for the first time in 8 months against a team in Thailand , Wonder if Tim Krul has already phoned him to ask when he is coming . 😀 could be one that happens.

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  14. Axel@95, no jokes, I’m sure that that one will come off. We have been waiting in the wings for ages for Pieters. 🙄

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  15. Axel – I agree with Munich, if Pieters can keep himself fit for 3 weeks – firstly it’ll be a miracle, then I reckon Pard will look to get him in, especially if we can get him £2-3m which I think is pretty likely.

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  16. SHARPY 17 i think your spot on mate , it would be a miracle .and i think both PSV and Pieters would take about 2 minutes too say done deal .

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  17. BIG DAVE this is beyond a effing joke ,how the hell can Bedlington Terriers be doing our reserve team 3-1 . 🙁

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  18. Big D @ 104, what do you expect mate, we are playing our kids and Bedlington are no minnows after all… 😳

    It doesn’t rain but it pours. Absolutely bizarre that ALL of our teams are gash… 👿 👿

    Axel, no messing about, I reckon Pieters is an absolutely nailed on for the summer. Just watch, you heard it here first. I’m sure he’s out of contract in the summer, if not we’ll splash 2 – 3 mill for a cloggy international. Hope he doesn’t mind playing in the Championship though. 👿 👿

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  19. Some of of our young players shouldn’t be in the first team squad they should be with the kids playing against …er…. Bedlington….

    Seriously, someone needs a serious rocket somewhere. It seems as if a malaise of lethargy has settled itself into the whole club this season. I really cannot believe it is all a coincidence. Performance wise there hasn’t been one ray of light so far this season. Even the great white hope young Campbell has suddenly disappeared from the face of the earth.

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  20. MUNICH MAG i think he could well be in before this transfer window slams shut , seriously . He can play LB & CB and wil cost less than Debuchy cost .

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  21. I do think if Pieters comes in and can stay fit, with a run of games he’d be a good buy for that kinda money. But if Pieters is the only other defensive addition this window then he and the rest will be playing Championship football next season.

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  22. Axel, I’m also being serious mate, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he arrived, though this tranny window would be a bit to pronto… In the summer though.

    What do you reckon, do you rate him at all ?

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  23. AArgh, is Fergie playing and we’re still getting cuffed by Bedlington.

    No wonder Fergie isn’t developing … 😯

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  24. Curtis Goode looks a million miles better than Williamson. Why is he on loan and not in the team instead of Williamson?

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  25. Stuart79, for the betterment of his development we should leave Good where he is. Whatever it is he is doing right will be coached out of him if he returned to Newcastle 👿

    In all seriousness, dare we think that Good may turn out to be a good aquisition ?

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  26. MUNICH MAG he is a solid defender that , Defends .He is no Santon or Debuchy but he would do a good job for us in the centre of defence imo . Its not for nothing that he is a dutch international . Today **** Advocaat was quoted before the game as saying he wanted too pick his strongest side and he picked Pieters and that for a friendly against the champions of Thailand after the lad has been injured for 8 months.

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  27. @116- exactly right. they’d bring him back from loan and tell him to shadow Williamson….

    Axel- was Pieters pretty much ours a few windows back before he started getting hurt all the time?

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  28. MDS he even took in a game of ours at SJP with his mate Krul ,they are best mates .It looked a done deal then , i think Krul was injured at the time but i could be wrong on that .

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  29. Only saw the second half of the brad v villa game, but what a game :mrgreen: , that young Irish CB needs to be signed up, can actually score from a set-piece and defended pretty well. Good played well, especially considering he’s a CB that was thrown out at LB.

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  30. Some important games this coming weekend for us. Villa v Southampton and Fulham v Wigan. We could easily be in 17th place by the end of next Saturday’s games. Villa were poor in the Bradford game but we didn’t exactly do ourselves proud against Brighton. Very difficult times we’re in lads and lasses. I’m not feeling the love from Ash/Llam either.

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  31. Well we are all pissed off at the minute ,but we lost too a championship side . What must Villa fans be thinking now ? the same as me probably , that Villa are even more ***** than we are 😀 👿 i will enjoy waving bye bye too them when they are relegated 😈 😈 😈

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  32. Ah finally I’ve caught up.
    Great article Shamrock. Thanks for the effort mate.
    How long have I been saying our coaching set up is flawed. Not just the first team, but the ressies and the youth set up too.
    There is something rotten running thru the whole establishment. and has been for a good few yrs now.
    We are rapidly becoming a laughing stock at every level. No longer feared or respected, but looked down upon as the whipping boys.
    And rightly so, because that is what we are becoming.
    People say we need a clearout of the dead wood, but I say the clearout needs to be in the clubs coaching infrastructure.
    We need a head coach that can SEE what is happening and take the necessary action. But he is clueless and has his hands tied anyway.
    Next up the chain is the MD who doesn’t understand that its all going pearshaped and why, because he knows nowt about football. Period.
    Finally we have an owner who is more bothered about balancing the books or infact making a profit, and cant see the wood for the trees.
    Well if he’s not careful, the whole lot will go to rat ****, and then it will be too late.
    We need a coach with footballing pedigree, who understands the modern game and can deliver the coaching necessary to progress the club.
    We need a MD who has a clue about running a football club, buying and selling of players, wages, contracts etc etc
    Finally we need an owner who understands, there is no money to be made in football. Never has and never will. Ask abramovich how much he has made at chelsea.
    Its about the love of the club passion, and the inevitable dream of one day winning something, anything. Basically its a toy, a plaything, an indulgence if you will. Not a marketing tool for your other trampy business.
    Rant over 😆

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  33. Axel ,I really hope it’s them and not us this time ,I’m desperate for some karma for that particular set of fans. 😈

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  34. So the reserves lost to Bedlington Terriers 3-2. This is the same reserve side that was going to be much improved this season with the cleanout of players last summer? So this is an example of much improved I guess. Hmmm.

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  35. First things first people – we get a point or better at Carrow Rd and I’m happy. Norwich are a real threat, but a win there could really change the mood. Player and formation selection for Norwich is going to be massively important.

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  36. Spot on Axel and Kimtoon. We have a tough away game but surely Villa are deep in the brown stuff as well. But both Southampton and Wigan can go ahead of us. Luckily (I suppose) Fulham are fairly decent at home. This is pathetic. We have to take our future into our own hands with an away win. Two goals for Cisse and a 1-2 win to us. There I go predicting again which I’m hopeless at. 😳

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  37. As for Remy. He’s aware of our interest but is interested in German football. Fine no problem. But a good MD would have had a few irons in the fire all at the same time. No problem 2nd target sorted anyway.
    Not Limpbastad tho. Effing clueless.
    Its quite simple, there is no excuse NOT to have a replacement striker in at the club already. Should have happened the day after Ba was gone.
    Jokers the lot of them 👿 👿 👿 👿 👿

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  38. Just a thought, how about this for a team
    ——————————-Krul—————————
    ———–S.Taylor—–Colocinni—–Pieters———-
    -Debuchy—————–Anita—————–Santon-
    ————Ben Arfa—–Cabaye—–Marveaux——-
    ——————————Cissé—————————

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  39. At some point our luck must change and are players will hit form surely . I refuse to believe we will be ***** for an entire season 🙄

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  40. Sharpy – I think we will be lucky to get even a point away to Norwich.
    They are at home. There manager has a massive point to prove to Fatty and Limpbastad. Plus he will have his team fired up in the proper manner.
    I fully expect us to come out plodding along, trying to slow the game down and punting the ball long in hope that Cisse will score a wonder goal.
    Its pathetic really it is.

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  41. Norwich away will be very tough. I’d be very happy with a point.

    Man City conceded 3 there the other week but scored 4 and chelsea just beat them 1-0.

    I’d go for a 2-1 loss.

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  42. Kim lass, divnt ye gan howlding ya breath mind hinny. 😆
    We’ve been pish poor all season, why should you be so confident it will change so suddenly. Dont be getting deluded now.
    Remind me please how many away wins we have this season, I’ve lost count. Or even better, how many away points we have come home with.

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  43. Andymag – I like that team mate. I honestly think we could do no worse with only 3 at the back, but with two wing backs aswell, sorted
    It also sorts the midfield, and allows the attackers to move further up the field of play.
    Far to intelligent a sugestion for Pardew to figure out tho.
    No I guarrantee we line up 4-4-2. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. 👿

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  44. Andy – Colo will spend most of the season on his tod in that back 3 buddy. On paper it looks spot on though.

    BB – yip, that’s my concern mate. I just don’t know what team he’s likely to select either. It’s crazy to think this was as good as a bank last season, now I can’t even see luck getting us a win 🙁

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  45. It’s a nice lineup Andymag if we get Pieters and all the others are healthy. Until then we are much weaker than that sad to say. Unlikely now that either Cabaye or Saylor will play against Norwich. I see no sign that Ben Arfa is ready either. I realize your lineup is for the future but we need points asap. What about a lineup for Nowich mate?

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  46. Anyhoo I think that Aubameyang fella looks a better option than Remy.
    He’s younger, fitter and seems more motivated than Remy. Cant understand why we haven’t gone in for him already.
    To me it seems we are Remy’s last choice. So eff him. He will only bring a bad attitude with him anyway.
    No doubt we will hang on til the 30th and sign him then.
    Utter madness

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  47. G2 – for the line up v Norwich, have a look at the line up v Brighton. Wont be many changes from that

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  48. BB@134 ,I’m just trying to hold on to my new years resolution to be a glass half full person instead of the miserable ratbag I normally am 😉

    Andy ,that looks good ,I said months ago we should try 3 at the back ,we can’t be any worse and our midfield wouldn’t get over run .

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  49. Have to hope that villa are our saving grace this season.
    villa
    reading
    qpr
    as the bottom 3 will do nicely
    I dont see us finishing much higer than 15th at best

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  50. BB – I reckon he’ll go something similar to this for Norwich:

    ————— Krul ————-
    Debuchy-Willo-Colo-Santon
    — Perch – Anita – Bigi —
    —– Oba – Cisse – Marv —–

    Or similar. I do think if Saylor, Cabaye or Jonas are 80% plus fit then they will be in.

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  51. Sharpy I wouldn’t want anyone back who isn’t 100% ,we got some tough teams in feb and can’t afford anyone breaking down cause they was rushed back. Hey here’s a novel thought, why don’t we get some reinforcments in so we don’t have to rush em back 😉

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  52. Good ‘blog Shamrock. I agree mostly with this. There are players that are making a big impression at the age of 16-17 even if you look at the likes of Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen. Other players in other positions (like CB and GK) can take until their mid-twenties before they show anything more than just potential. In the case of our team, and I agree with you on this point, I don’t know how any of these players from Sat can be called ‘development squad’ players. They are the likes of Street and Satka and Campbell, but even he should maybe be getting a few minutes of a cup game now. Most of our younger players are just not at a high enough level and will never make the first team here. The only players in our first team who have come through the ranks are Tim Krul, Steven Taylor and Shola. (I won’t include players like Ferguson who have never started regularly). All the rest have been bought in the transfer market. The current exception is Bigirimana who looks at this stage like he can make it. Is he a development player that has made it at our club even? He had played quite a number of first team games at a good level at Coventry city, so he is more like a very young player that we have poached really. Going back to what seem to be the point of this ‘blog, I would say that although you have mentioned quite a few young players in the premier league, all of the clubs will have many more players that are not regulars and are unheard of to us at the age of 20-22. Don’t forget a lot of these players will move around and find their level elsewhere, like Simpson came to us 🙁 , and there will be player like the Grant Holt’s that play in the lower leagues and work their way out to the top in their late twenties. There are many problems with the club at the moment but this was an interesting one to bring up.

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  53. BB @ 124, cheers mate. It’s been a while since my last one!

    Re; your post – I agree 85%. You lose 15% for saying period. 😯 period. 😆

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  54. Fair points DJG, I have no doubt there are plenty of lads that will step ip from the lower leagues in their mid 20’s – you might notice them passing our lads going the other way :mrgreen:

    It’s our coaching and development strategy combined with not enough signings that is destroying these poor lads’ careers. Our board should be ashamed of themselves and so should Pardew for being so complicit in it & not having half a backbone. 😈

    BB – You make a really good point about owning football clubs. There is a difference between being enthusiastic and losing a bit of money every now & then as opposed to putting yourself in huge debt. You dont have to plunge a club into financial meltdown to be positive & try to win things…

    Ashley dont give a flying f@@k about our club over and beyond being a worthwhile advertising opportunity for his own business interests. He has totally missed the point and now we are all suffering for it. Ah well…/ give jt another 3 or 4 years and he’d have sold up to someone who actually gives a **** with a bit of luck – well we can dream can’t we?!

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  55. Sharpy- I think not having Steven Taylor and Cabaye has made a hell of a difference. If they come back and can get anywhere near their best it would help enormously. Taylor adds real determination at the back and for corners and this rubs off on the others. Cabaye oozes class with his passing and that helps breed more confidence in midfield. Debuchy will help as well. Just getting some top players in improves the whole team as football is a team game.

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