When we were relegated into the conference we released several young players some of whom made sub appearances for the first team. Among those released was Pat Keary who I only saw play in preseason friendlies. When I enquired why they had been released as I thought he looked as if he might develop into a good player I was told that finances dictated the decision because DC had not seen him play or received reports of him playing at a decent standard because a loan signing for him had not been sanctioned. I do hope that if we have young players who stand a chance of making the grade that the new owners will support the academy financially to give the players a realistic chance of making the grade. I am not suggesting that we throw money away wily nily but maybe a season contract to try and prove they have it in them to succeed might just unearth a gem who is a late developer.
We need to invest in the youth setup along with better coaches that's a must along with the stadium I think we stand a better chance of keeping promising players now we have a bit of cash at our disposal
Wael has said that the acedamy is 1 of his main priorities. He is hot on youth developements if you listen to his interviews on friday and if you see what he is involved in back in Jordan, im expecting big things for our youth acedamy in the coming seasons.
Wael holds a position in the Asian Football Development Project being heavily involved in little leagues and kids football academies in Jordan. Go to 5 mins 30 secs in this interview from Friday, this should make you happy
I heard part of that interview at some point on Friday and I hope that we really go forward with this idea, but sometimes some players need the extra time which Pat Keary and others weren't afforded because of the financial impact of relegation
Big teams can afford that extra time for their youngsters to develope. They have the best coaches and enough money to take that extra time. They can see potential and they can afford to hang on a while to give that player a chance to come good. Look at Walcott for example. I think most Arsenal fans are still waiting for him to come the player that was promised! Clubs in the lower leagues cant afford to give younsters that same extra time. They cant afford to hang on to players who need more time to develope. They may see the potential but need them to come good now as cant afford to hang on to them. Restrictions in the FFP effects the lower league clubs because the lower league clubs have a lack of revenue because attendances are low. A lack of turnover means a lower wage budget available to use. So when you are trying to build your squad of 18-20 players, there is not enough room in the wage budget to hold on to youngsters who are not good enough YET. As a owner or manager of a club, I would rather use the wage budget available to get players in to improve us and seek promotion than miss out on 1 or 2 good players because im holding out on a couple of youngsters who are not yet good enough and need more time to develope, if that makes sense. It will be interest to see how Wael tackles this. Better facilities will attract better standard of players. Better coaches will improve the players. Will he be improving facilities? Will he be changing the coaching staff at acedamy level? Is there anything wrong with our system? Lockyer, Ollie Clarke and Preston all seem to be doing well breaking into the squad. We have lost youngster to Prem/Championship teams. Greenslade, Broom & Kilgour plus a few others are knocking on DC's door. Are we not doing something right? I will be very interesting to see how this all developes
I appreciate that FFP has to be obeyed but I thought that the directors were allowed to put in a little extra legally plus the fact that if he can sell the club to more investors via advertising better sponsorship deals this all went against the FFP figure. Whether this is right or wrong the end of this and the close season is going to be a very interesting time
