Retained List

[Egg]

The same time, money and patience was invested in MJ and look where he is now. It's only really the last two and a half seasons that he has broken through. These are never black and white decisions.

Agree wholeheartedly with this. The fact that Ben Seymour didn’t make the breakthrough doesn’t mean that the club was wrong to offer him the [prolonged] opportunity - for every Ben there’s an MJ!

 

[Pete Martin (CTID)]

Agree wholeheartedly with this. The fact that Ben Seymour didn’t make the breakthrough doesn’t mean that the club was wrong to offer him the [prolonged] opportunity - for every Ben there’s an MJ!

And I seem to remember a number of comments on Exeweb a few years ago......"he'll never make it"....."he's too small to make it in the professional game", etc. etc.

 

[Martin Lawrence]

It's also worth noting that developing young players is not an exact science. Much of it is down to luck, in terms of the player developing at the right pace at the right time and an opportunity becoming available. Another point to make is that developing young players requires an holistic approach. It is not solely down to our academy and it doesn't happen unless you have a coaching structure in place to identify the talent and nurture it within a first team environment. It certainly doesn't happen if you have a manager that isn't invested in developing pathways for these youngsters.

We are good at this and have been for a while. Not because we have a great academy (I actually see no evidence that ours is any better than many others out there) but because of the whole club approach we adopt in this area. I think we are unique in this regard.

 

[SEA Grecian]

It's also worth noting that developing young players is not an exact science. Much of it is down to luck, in terms of the player developing at the right pace at the right time and an opportunity becoming available. Another point to make is that developing young players requires an holistic approach. It is not solely down to our academy and it doesn't happen unless you have a coaching structure in place to identify the talent and nurture it within a first team environment. It certainly doesn't happen if you have a manager that isn't invested in developing pathways for these youngsters.

We are good at this and have been for a while. Not because we have a great academy (I actually see no evidence that ours is any better than many others out there) but because of the whole club approach we adopt in this area. I think we are unique in this regard.

I've heard Matt Taylor say something similar - that up to the age of 16 our academy is no better or worse than any other but it's what we do after that age that makes us stand out.

 

[Rosencrantz]

It's also worth noting that developing young players is not an exact science. Much of it is down to luck, in terms of the player developing at the right pace at the right time and an opportunity becoming available. Another point to make is that developing young players requires an holistic approach. It is not solely down to our academy and it doesn't happen unless you have a coaching structure in place to identify the talent and nurture it within a first team environment. It certainly doesn't happen if you have a manager that isn't invested in developing pathways for these youngsters.

We are good at this and have been for a while. Not because we have a great academy (I actually see no evidence that ours is any better than many others out there) but because of the whole club approach we adopt in this area. I think we are unique in this regard.

One of the biggest problems nationally in the past has always been the transition from youth football to first team. This is the argument the big clubs use for their "B" Team aspirations as PL2 is just not the ideal transition. But the loan system will do the same. Then again all clubs including ourselves loan young players out to get "Men's" football experience so that is not really a difference.

It just goes back to the Derek Adams quote but he is only half right. We are prepared to push our young players through and give them a pathway but we do have ambitions to improve our league status. They go hand in hand and we balance those ambitions. Other clubs weight that balance towards their league placings, see all the sackings (waves to Derek!). It is no wonder then that managers are very cautious about bringing in young players that could hamper the team to begin with. Their job is at risk.

Every club can choose what balance they have and there is obviously trade offs. As you say though Martin, the whole club have to buy in and that is down to those right at the top to set the culture and make sure the manager has their backing and understanding that there will be trade offs in instant success. Most of them do not have the nerve to do this. That is where we are different, we have been following this course for 20 odd years now. Whilst there has been bumps in the road and frustration at times for supporters, we have in the main kept our nerve and kept that pathway open.

 

[Cowshed Grecian]

The same time, money and patience was invested in MJ and look where he is now. It's only really the last two and a half seasons that he has broken through. These are never black and white decisions.

Yeah however MJ has always been super talented , it was a bit different with him.