All Time Academy, Youth 11

[Red Devon]

That is correct. I've seen him play for Singapore on a few occasions. Decent left back but nithing special imo.

Was a tricky winger with decent delivery when he broke into the side.

He was was probably born twenty years before his time as far as his development was concerned.

 

[Rosencrantz]

Was a tricky winger with decent delivery when he broke into the side.

He was was probably born twenty years before his time as far as his development was concerned.

He had a bad injury that disrupted his progress as well. We had a few good prospects come through around that time that certainly had the talent but maybe not the backing and upbringing in the academy our boys have now. Chris Holloway, Geoff Breslin, Rob Speakman, Jamie Mudge...all could have had a decent pro career but drifted into non league for one reason or another.

 

[edwin_price]

He had a bad injury that disrupted his progress as well. We had a few good prospects come through around that time that certainly had the talent but maybe not the backing and upbringing in the academy our boys have now. Chris Holloway, Geoff Breslin, Rob Speakman, Jamie Mudge...all could have had a decent pro career but drifted into non league for one reason or another.

Heard a rumour that Jamie Mudge might be coming back in the summer to fix our striker problem.

 

[Red Devon]

He had a bad injury that disrupted his progress as well. We had a few good prospects come through around that time that certainly had the talent but maybe not the backing and upbringing in the academy our boys have now. Chris Holloway, Geoff Breslin, Rob Speakman, Jamie Mudge...all could have had a decent pro career but drifted into non league for one reason or another.

In my time there always has been promising youngsters emerging nearly every season when we first saw the likes of Holloway and Breslin they made very favourable impressions on supporters to give hope for the future even though it didn’t workout that way, even Richard Pears made a few of us think we could have a striker on our hands at first sight. Going back further there was Nicky Marker, Frankie Howarth, Graeme Kirkup, Matty Hare all who featured in the team for a while.

 

[edwin_price]

Barry McConnell, Nicky Medlin, Reiner Moor. There's always 'promising youngsters'... Feel like it's a psycholigical thing though... Young players are pure potential... The great unknown. When they turn out to be mediocre, its impossible to tell if things went wrong or they were just more limited than the fantasies all along.

IMO, the past few years is a lot better. Players who would have filled the role of the big new hope in the late 90s are now far down the list of talents coming through.

 

[Red Devon]

Barry McConnell, Nicky Medlin, Reiner Moor. There's always 'promising youngsters'... Feel like it's a psycholigical thing though... Young players are pure potential... The great unknown. When they turn out to be mediocre, its impossible to tell if things went wrong or they were just more limited than the fantasies all along.

IMO, the past few years is a lot better. Players who would have filled the role of the big new hope in the late 90s are now far down the list of talents coming through.

Can’t really agree with that..during the 80s 90s Hiley, Vinicombe, Marker and Phillips all went on to play at the highest level of the game...taking nothing away from the recent stars we have sold on none have a yet to make it at the top level hopefully Watkins and Ampadu will do so.

 

[Hants_red]

Heard a rumour that Jamie Mudge might be coming back in the summer to fix our striker problem.

Happy 37th birthday to Jamie.

 

[edwin_price]

Can’t really agree with that..during the 80s 90s Hiley, Vinicombe, Marker and Phillips all went on to play at the highest level of the game...taking nothing away from the recent stars we have sold on none have a yet to make it at the top level hopefully Watkins and Ampadu will do so.

Sure... That was a vintage. Wasn't late 90s though.

 

[Rosencrantz]

Barry McConnell, Nicky Medlin, Reiner Moor. There's always 'promising youngsters'... Feel like it's a psycholigical thing though... Young players are pure potential... The great unknown. When they turn out to be mediocre, its impossible to tell if things went wrong or they were just more limited than the fantasies all along.

IMO, the past few years is a lot better. Players who would have filled the role of the big new hope in the late 90s are now far down the list of talents coming through.

Kind of the point I was trying to make. Those around the time of the mid to late 90's had the talent but maybe not the same opportunity or environment the youngsters have now, either through the academy system or at senior level. Players like McConnell, Phillips and Richardson managed to stay in the pro game from around that time. Holloway, Breslin and Speakman seemed to come up against a wall under Blakey's era although he did play them. For Mudge it was the change from youth to first team dressing rooms. It was a shame Mudge couldn't hold on a few months until Eamo took over and changed the ethos of the dressing room.

Given the backing and care the boys get now, it could have been different for those players long term careers. We'll never know.

 

[STURTZ]

Maurice Setters is probably the most successful post war player we have produced.