Tekel Towers » Development League 2016/2017 Season

Beardy23 · 06/9/2016 10:00 pm

Arabnophobia wrote:
Mugs

They sure are.

Arabnophobia · 06/9/2016 10:07 pm

Beardy23 wrote:
Arabnophobia wrote:
Mugs
They sure are.

In a nutshell wisdom chin! 😉

Tangerine_Ultra · 07/9/2016 8:08 am

Absolutely brutal viewing last night. Left after the 3rd goal. Ref ruined the game with the sending off though, no wonder Bowman was going mental.

07/9/2016 9:12 am

It would have been just as easy NOT to send Allardyce off, it was one of those tangle of legs situations. Is it too much to ask the ref (Creegan by name) to take into account that it is a DEVELOPMENT game, use the phukn discretion he clearly doesn't possess. But no, no chance, his authoritarian, jobsworth action effectively killed the game. Also Murrell got injured about 65 mins but we'd used our three subbies. In such a game would it not be wise to allow another substitution. Murrell limped about for 25 mins. Phukn referees, phukn rules!!!!! Rant over.

HeggyHandshake · 07/9/2016 6:17 pm

5 different Scotland squad age groups last week only 1 United player in them and he never kicked a ball.

'Be careful what you wish for'

Fukin sickening.

Tek · 07/9/2016 6:44 pm

Bowman is a poor replacement for Stevie Campbell imo.He emits no confidence in me when I hear him in post-match interviews.

If the first team Manager isn't producing then he loses his job. The Development side should be no different.

arabugsy · 08/9/2016 7:15 pm

Bowman isn't working with the same number, or class, of players now. Watch them as often as I can and, that game, apart from one other, only recognised our players that are now on loan. It's more of a fresh start for the dev team than the first, and that's saying something.

Back to absolute basics.

HeggyHandshake · 09/9/2016 6:38 am

It's almost like we have completely stopped bringing bringing through non stop excellent looking kids. How could this have happened?? Heard from one of the Dads that the younger age groups recently had one coach for 25 kids taking shots at the keeper. Kids who are United daft leaving to go to Dundee. Used to be the other way 100% the other at about.

PatReilly · 09/9/2016 7:50 am

Although the topic is 'Development League', which appears to be a poor system, HH is bringing up, quite fairly, overall player development, which seems to be stalling at the club.

Do we take too many players on in the hope that a few make it, overstretching the net? It can't just be down to the loss of Stevie Campbell just over a year ago, whatever is and has happened must have been down to a flaw in our system a few more years ago.

Whatever the issues are, a settled period of management could bring about better productivity again.

SlatefordArab · 09/9/2016 8:35 am

Do we still have that link up with St Johns or is that long gone now?

Beharder · 09/9/2016 8:50 am

The whole youth development set up in Scotland is ridiculous, not just United. Most senior clubs have around 100 signed kids between the ages of 10-16 of this number very very few will make it as professionals maybe 1 or 2 a year from a pool of 16. Kids travel all over the country and get a maximum of 90 mins football a week, they are banned from playing for there school and Sunday boys league, its madness Get back to clubs having about a maximum of 20 s signings

Tek · 09/9/2016 2:47 pm

Beharder wrote:
The whole youth development set up in Scotland is ridiculous, not just United. Most senior clubs have around 100 signed kids between the ages of 10-16 of this number very very few will make it as professionals maybe 1 or 2 a year from a pool of 16. Kids travel all over the country and get a maximum of 90 mins football a week, they are banned from playing for there school and Sunday boys league, its madness Get back to clubs having about a maximum of 20 s signings

Bang-on.

Bring back the Reserve League and mix about your best 7-8 kids with 3 or 4 fringe players who will not only get match sharpness but can also help the young one's on the field (the way Walter Smith and Archie Knox did for Utd in the 70's).

arabugsy · 09/9/2016 7:42 pm

SlatefordArab wrote:
Do we still have that link up with St Johns or is that long gone now?

The direct link went when SFA took it over but we still had about 95% of the players involved following that. Don't know the proportion now.

arabugsy · 09/9/2016 7:46 pm

Beharder wrote:
The whole youth development set up in Scotland is ridiculous, not just United. Most senior clubs have around 100 signed kids between the ages of 10-16 of this number very very few will make it as professionals maybe 1 or 2 a year from a pool of 16. Kids travel all over the country and get a maximum of 90 mins football a week, they are banned from playing for there school and Sunday boys league, its madness Get back to clubs having about a maximum of 20 s signings

Absolutely, it used to be like fly fishing from senior clubs who only signed the cream of the crop but now they're trawling and actually stifling the player's development by not allowing precious game time elsewhere.

TheShed · 09/9/2016 8:20 pm

arabugsy wrote:
Beharder wrote:
The whole youth development set up in Scotland is ridiculous, not just United. Most senior clubs have around 100 signed kids between the ages of 10-16 of this number very very few will make it as professionals maybe 1 or 2 a year from a pool of 16. Kids travel all over the country and get a maximum of 90 mins football a week, they are banned from playing for there school and Sunday boys league, its madness Get back to clubs having about a maximum of 20 s signings
Absolutely, it used to be like fly fishing from senior clubs who only signed the cream of the crop but now they're trawling and actually stifling the player's development by not allowing precious game time elsewhere.

There was a time when we produced a dozen or so top quality players every year as a nation. Now we produce 1 every 3/4 years if that and No one in the game with any influence can see that, or surely they would say "right lets go back to how we used to do it".

Every 'improvement' that has been brought in to youth development football in Scotland in the last 20 years has made it progressively worse and they just keep going further down that path.

"We let kids play too much football" Wrong
"It shouldn't be competitive" Wrong
"Kids can't play against older kids" Wrong
"Kids should only play for their senior club" Wrong
"We need to go down the European route" Wrong

Sitting 11 year old kids down in academies showing them Presentations on growth mindset, overcoming challenges and sports science classes - Wrong.

Then you get the argument that it's all down to poor facilities - what were the facilities like in the 70s when we were bringing through loads of quality players. Yes it'd be great if the facilities improved, but ultimately you need a ball and a bit of space to play football.

If Scottish clubs get back to basics and let kids play the game while helping their development along with the finer details then there is no reason Scotland can't start producing real quality again, but until that happens I can't see things getting better.

Tangy · 09/9/2016 9:08 pm

Mr TheShed,

Technique and mindset are massive parts of the modern game.

Having been involved in juvenile football, all too often I saw bad managers teaching kids the completely wrong thing.

Kick him first and think later, hoof it to lad up front etc etc - this is miles behind most developed footballing nations. The grass roots are largely wrong. Parents can have an equally bad attitude and destructive to a kids development and I mean that from the earliest organised football.

There are exceptions, of course but there's an undercurrent of 70s/80 thinking in kids football. If i were an spfl team, would I want my star in the making mixing it with management who you don't know?? Do you want him getting kicked off the park because he's a bit better than the rest?

Kids need in my opinion, to work massively on technique and tactics...leading to more games (as you suggested) in which they can put it into practice.

Scottish kids will always have desire and dig - i just don't think we need to focus on just that.

Don't think we disagree too much...maybe just a little

TheShed · 09/9/2016 9:20 pm

Tangy,

Totally agree that technique and mindset are important, but they shoul be learned on the pitch (training and games) not in a classroom at that age.

Also agree that there are some bad coaches out there and parents can be bad influence, but the good kids who will make it learn from this too ( learn the bad habits to get out of).

Tactics is the one thing I feel is massively lacking in coaching kids, partly why I'm not a huge fan of younger kids playing 7s or 9s. What's wrong with 11 a side on appropriate sized pitches?

Also would say there's a lot of Utd fans who would question that Scottish kids will always have desire and dig.

Despite all that your right, we don't actually disagree on much, cos I can see some upsides to things now, but their far outweighed by the negatives for me.

Ultimately let kids play football, the cream will always rise.

Arabnophobia · 09/9/2016 9:58 pm

Limiting match practice with players craving and needing it seems mental. 1st thing to change somehow. Some players adopt a deeper thought of the game as a result of bad management but others are stunted.

How clubs collect what they can gather is an unchangeable desperate effort now but a changeable technique or plan is possible.
Every club is scurrying about frantically throwing in big numbers of potential hoping some turn out to be good and we get lucky.

How they are managed is crucial as is the timing of binning them.
Some are binned before they grow for being small and others for lack of football brains afore their brains develope.

How they are coached is controllable but how we recruit must be more radical.

We would do well or mibbies better if we spread the net over a bigger catchment area than the UK.

Use the stepping stone theory to the max whilst it still holds credibility and proof of youth success. I know it's different this season to get back up.

Maybe offer a type of football scholarship for top talent from other parts of the world.

When other Scottish clubs copy our techniques and try to catch up we need to take off and use our advantage.

Even the weegie 2 could loose young talent to us so we need a plan for doing the same with other parts of the planet no matter who the big clubs are.

Tek · 09/9/2016 10:33 pm

Some great posts made above with some very pertinent points made.

For me one of the big problems Scotland faces (and always has) even over and above our small population is quite simply our inclement weather!

To this end the country we should be looking to for inspiration is one that is right on our doorstep practically... ICELAND.

Population of only just over 300,000 (significantly smaller than Edinburgh for instance).

How did this cold Island where it's dark for upto 20 hours a day in the depths of winter not just qualify for a major tournament,but also beat England and give every other side a real game?

The answer is simple really.They made playing football far more accessible for children in their country.

They built 3G 'Football Domes'. Fantastic indoor facilities for their children (and adults ) to play in all year round. Seven of these in total.

Their football association also invested in 30 all weather full size football pitches and 150 smaller artificial arenas.

That wasn't all they did though.

In Iceland you have to be a UEFA accredited football coach if you wish to coach players from as young as 4 onwards.

These seemingly simple steps have seen them come from nowhere to now being seen as a genuine force for years to come in European Internationalist football.

We could do well to take heed.

Arabnophobia · 09/9/2016 10:46 pm

And they played a style reminiscent of Scottish teams of old before we tryed to be technical after they banned the tackle from behind.

They charged down and played a whole team attack on the charge. Using the wings too.

PatReilly · 09/9/2016 11:02 pm

The system letting daft cunts who never really played football become coaches to masses of children is a big part of the problem.

Tangy · 10/9/2016 8:48 am

Mourinho never played football.....

But agree that wannabe Alex ferguson are a big issue - but there's not a queue of volunteers.

Tek · 13/9/2016 7:59 am

The Devs play Motherwell tonight in Airdrie at 6pm.

bowers · 13/9/2016 8:13 am

Hearing a few first team boys playing

Tek · 13/9/2016 6:33 pm

Losing 2-0 to Motherwell.

Dillon,Donaldson,Durnan,Spittal and Fraser all starting.

Speaks volumes IMO.