Youngsters?

Anything yellow and blue
Post Reply
Mally
Grumpy old git
Posts: 2564
Joined: Mon May 15, 2006 9:32 am
Location: Thame

Youngsters?

Post by Mally »

From todays Oxford Mail:

&quot...it is likely that the U's will have a first-team squad of between 22-24 players for next season - and that includes the seven youngsters who have been handed professional contracts&quot

Did I miss something or is the OM talking through it's arse as usual?

7 players have been brought into the youth team but they certainly aren't professionals or in the first team squad as I understand the set up.
Baboo
Grumpy old git
Posts: 3539
Joined: Thu May 11, 2006 5:31 pm

Re: Youngsters?

Post by Baboo »

&quotMally&quot wrote:From todays Oxford Mail:
Did I miss something or is the OM talking through it's arse as usual?
Wouldn't be a surprise if they were would it.
As the local paper we can't really expect them to understand the set up now can we.
Snake
Grumpy old git
Posts: 4376
Joined: Thu May 11, 2006 9:56 pm
Location: Oxfordshire

Post by Snake »

That links into this article - http://www.oxfordmail.net/search/displa ... _youth.php

Though why the article headlines as “UNITED PIN THEIR FAITH IN YOUTH
Mooro
Grumpy old git
Posts: 3010
Joined: Fri May 12, 2006 5:32 pm
Location: Hellenic/Spartan border

Post by Mooro »

Mally's quote from the OM is indeed drivel...


To clarify, Oxford have offered two year youth scholarships to seven players for the forthcoming season - three to players currrently within the OUFC YD setup and four others. They join five second years and a couple of other 16 year olds that have been retained on schoolboy terms. As it stands 6 of those graduating this summer have been released, while three others who were injured for most of last season, have been given short-term deals to try to impress the management. The scholarship rules also state that the club had to tell the players by a certain date whether they were being release or offered a pro contract, so club had to annnounce a decision now rather than wait to see how the senior squad building was going.

The three new scholars are Declan Benjamin (Centre Midfield) who was a regular for the youths and made a number of sub appearances in the reserves James Foster (goalkeeper) and Alex fisher (forward). Alex is a year older having decided to stay at school when first offered a scholarship last year, but has now accepted.
The four newcomers I know less about at the moment, but one is Sam Deering who is a winger and was one of about half a dozen wihch came up on trial through a link with Kelvin Thomas. The other three are from Plymouth and Wiltshire and were picked up by the dedicated youth scout we now have at the club.

As for those released, I finally got to speak to Les Taylor (&amp Simon L for that matter) in the week and feel far more comfortable about things than I did when I first read the annoucement the week before (did I mention I wasnt very happy?).

The way he explained it was very much as Patto has now said in the OM that, in simple terms, what they had was a good team, but one in which no-one really stood out as over and above the others, particularly at reserve level, which gives a better indication of their individual potential to progress than against other youth sides. On reflection, I might have been guilty of a bit of the rose-tinted specs syndrome when it comes to some of these guys, as in truth what Les said was not much different to what others (Boris, chris W) have been saying to me at reserve games for a while.

Their decision was basically how long they would have to carry them before they might be challenging for the first team. A year is fine, but while it might be possible to wait for two or more years if we were higher up the leagues, but it is not so at our current level.

It is perhaps telling that the U18s won the league with 9 second years, yet it was a first year (James Clarke) that won Young Player of the Year.

The positives are that firstly with Patto stepping up and Mickey Lewis coming in then with Les still there, there is a solid foundation to bring on those kids that are up to it.
Secondly the club IS maintaining it's funding for YD at the same level as last season (including covering the amount by which the central grant was cut when we dropped out of the league).
Thirdly, we've taken on another decent crop this year, some of whcih have been picked up from other clubs by the dedicated youth scout now in place.
Fourthly, of the 9 graduates, two of those that Patto thought most hghly are among the trio who are to get a chance in pre-season, so all may not be lost, but we'll see.

Saying all that, I still might have been inclined to offer one less senior centre-back a new contract and keep on 4 or 5 of the kids for a year just to see, but at least I know more about how the decision was made and that it is not symptomatic of the end of youth dev at OUFC...
Resurrection Ox
Puberty
Posts: 445
Joined: Tue May 16, 2006 9:45 pm

Re:

Post by Resurrection Ox »

&quotMooro&quot wrote:Mally's quote from the OM is indeed drivel...


To clarify, Oxford have offered two year youth scholarships to seven players for the forthcoming season - three to players currrently within the OUFC YD setup and four others. They join five second years and a couple of other 16 year olds that have been retained on schoolboy terms. As it stands 6 of those graduating this summer have been released, while three others who were injured for most of last season, have been given short-term deals to try to impress the management. The scholarship rules also state that the club had to tell the players by a certain date whether they were being release or offered a pro contract, so club had to annnounce a decision now rather than wait to see how the senior squad building was going.

The three new scholars are Declan Benjamin (Centre Midfield) who was a regular for the youths and made a number of sub appearances in the reserves James Foster (goalkeeper) and Alex fisher (forward). Alex is a year older having decided to stay at school when first offered a scholarship last year, but has now accepted.
The four newcomers I know less about at the moment, but one is Sam Deering who is a winger and was one of about half a dozen wihch came up on trial through a link with Kelvin Thomas. The other three are from Plymouth and Wiltshire and were picked up by the dedicated youth scout we now have at the club.

As for those released, I finally got to speak to Les Taylor (&amp Simon L for that matter) in the week and feel far more comfortable about things than I did when I first read the annoucement the week before (did I mention I wasnt very happy?).

The way he explained it was very much as Patto has now said in the OM that, in simple terms, what they had was a good team, but one in which no-one really stood out as over and above the others, particularly at reserve level, which gives a better indication of their individual potential to progress than against other youth sides. On reflection, I might have been guilty of a bit of the rose-tinted specs syndrome when it comes to some of these guys, as in truth what Les said was not much different to what others (Boris, chris W) have been saying to me at reserve games for a while.

Their decision was basically how long they would have to carry them before they might be challenging for the first team. A year is fine, but while it might be possible to wait for two or more years if we were higher up the leagues, but it is not so at our current level.

It is perhaps telling that the U18s won the league with 9 second years, yet it was a first year (James Clarke) that won Young Player of the Year.

The positives are that firstly with Patto stepping up and Mickey Lewis coming in then with Les still there, there is a solid foundation to bring on those kids that are up to it.
Secondly the club IS maintaining it's funding for YD at the same level as last season (including covering the amount by which the central grant was cut when we dropped out of the league).
Thirdly, we've taken on another decent crop this year, some of whcih have been picked up from other clubs by the dedicated youth scout now in place.
Fourthly, of the 9 graduates, two of those that Patto thought most hghly are among the trio who are to get a chance in pre-season, so all may not be lost, but we'll see.

Saying all that, I still might have been inclined to offer one less senior centre-back a new contract and keep on 4 or 5 of the kids for a year just to see, but at least I know more about how the decision was made and that it is not symptomatic of the end of youth dev at OUFC...
Very informative stuff.

Be careful Mooro. Else you'll be accuse by others on this forum of being beguiled by club 'spin'. I am pleased to hear that YD funidng is being maintained for the time being.
Snake
Grumpy old git
Posts: 4376
Joined: Thu May 11, 2006 9:56 pm
Location: Oxfordshire

Post by Snake »

&quotOthers&quot? I think you should name names and not be so coy!
Jimski
Mid-life Crisis
Posts: 734
Joined: Fri May 12, 2006 6:50 pm
Location: Oxford

Post by Jimski »

Out of interest, what has happened to Gareth Tucker? Is he still on a youth deal or has he been released?
Mooro
Grumpy old git
Posts: 3010
Joined: Fri May 12, 2006 5:32 pm
Location: Hellenic/Spartan border

Re:

Post by Mooro »

&quotJimski&quot wrote:Out of interest, what has happened to Gareth Tucker? Is he still on a youth deal or has he been released?
Released.

He'll most likely end up at kidlington or Abingdon, at both of which he spent loan spells this season.

##
At least some of those released are to go to what are called &quotexit trials&quot in the next few days along with those released by other clubs. This gives them all a final chance to impress other clubs that have room in their squads to give them a chance...

It will be interesting to see whether any of them are picked up...
SmileyMan
Middle-Aged Spread
Posts: 1637
Joined: Wed Sep 06, 2006 5:39 am

Re:

Post by SmileyMan »

&quotMooro&quot wrote:It will be interesting to see whether any of them are picked up...
Knowing our luck they'll be spotted by Wenger, and with a years further development will be the wunderkind sensation of the Euro 2008 finals.
Mooro
Grumpy old git
Posts: 3010
Joined: Fri May 12, 2006 5:32 pm
Location: Hellenic/Spartan border

Re:

Post by Mooro »

&quotMooro&quot wrote: The three new scholars are Declan Benjamin (Centre Midfield) who was a regular for the youths and made a number of sub appearances in the reserves James Foster (goalkeeper) and Alex fisher (forward). Alex is a year older having decided to stay at school when first offered a scholarship last year, but has now accepted.
The four newcomers I know less about at the moment, but one is Sam Deering who is a winger and was one of about half a dozen wihch came up on trial through a link with Kelvin Thomas. The other three are from Plymouth and Wiltshire and were picked up by the dedicated youth scout we now have at the club....
An update for those that are interested:

In addition to these four, I’ve now got a little more detail on the three other 16yr olds that we have brought in to join us as scholars:

Two were among a very good crop of U16s at Plymouth but just failed to make the cut when U18 scholarships were handed out. Richard Groves is a midfielder who showed well when introduced into our U18s late last season, while Ian Sampson is a ‘tenacious’ right-back who again played well on trial.

Chris Fower is a striker from Wilstshire who was spotted playing against our U18s.

In addition to these three, we have also added another local face in 6ft 2in midfielder John Rixon to the list of scholars. We had released him a couple of years ago, but Les kept tabs on him playing for Kidlington U18s and felt sufficiently impressed to bring him back on board.


Hopefully there will be a bit more on-line visibility for the youths and their exploits from next season, but more details on that nearer the time.
Post Reply