[Albion] Senior professionals returning to play in the Youth Academy

Thunder Bolt · Oct 7, 2021

This is an interesting article about Dicker and Crofts, and how Brighton led the way, followed by Man Utd and Southampton.
We got the idea from Bayern Munich.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/58820061

Nobby Cybergoat · Oct 7, 2021

I wonder if Munich's one got sent off for scything down one of the opposition kiddies recently. did we copy that as well?

Swansman · Oct 7, 2021

Bayern have done this forever and often have 3 or 4 overage players in their reserve squad (they are participating in the normal league system so it might be needed to match up physically).

Best example might be Christian Saba - he played almost 300 games with Bayern 2 over fifteen years without ever playing with the first team. A strange career.

Thunder Bolt · Oct 7, 2021

Nobby Cybergoat said:
I wonder if Munich's one got sent off for scything down one of the opposition kiddies recently. did we copy that as well?

In two years, Crofts has taken over as manager of the U23s, and sit 4th in the PL2 table.

Brighton have had eight academy players make their first-team debuts so far this season, but all you can deduce from that article is one bad tackle.

:facepalm:

beorhthelm · Oct 7, 2021

i was interesting read. hadnt realised it was by design, thought Croft's involvement was a one off.

Nobby Cybergoat · Oct 7, 2021

Thunder Bolt said:
In two years, Crofts has taken over as manager of the U23s, and sit 4th in the PL2 table.

Brighton have had eight academy players make their first-team debuts so far this season, but all you can deduce from that article is one bad tackle.

A little serious

Thunder Bolt · Oct 7, 2021

Nobby Cybergoat said:
A little serious

Yes, that's me. I thought we needed some good news today.

Seaber · Oct 7, 2021

I like the way in the Amex era many recent former players have been kept close. Watson, Rodger, Mayo, Roberts, Ankergren, Jones, Bruno, Crofts, Dicker, Oatway and possibly Murray have all been involved with the club in a professional capacity after retiring. Probably some I've forgotten.

Thunder Bolt · Oct 7, 2021

Seaber said:
I like the way in the Amex era many recent former players have been kept close. Watson, Rodger, Mayo, Roberts, Ankergren, Jones, Bruno, Crofts, Dicker, Oatway and possibly Murray have all been involved with the club in a professional capacity after retiring. Probably some I've forgotten.

Guy Butters and Danny Cullip work for AITC.

Seaber · Oct 7, 2021

Thunder Bolt said:
Guy Butters and Danny Cullip work for AITC.

Ahh, I forgot about Cullip, didn't know about Butters though. I think Dean Blackwell may have been involved at some point too.

Of course Liam Rosenior and Steve Sidwell need to be added to that list too

BNthree · Oct 7, 2021

Seaber said:
I like the way in the Amex era many recent former players have been kept close. Watson, Rodger, Mayo, Roberts, Ankergren, Jones, Bruno, Crofts, Dicker, Oatway and possibly Murray have all been involved with the club in a professional capacity after retiring. Probably some I've forgotten.

Gordon Greer does scouting for the academy.

thedonkeycentrehalf · Oct 7, 2021

Swansman said:
Best example might be Christian Saba - he played almost 300 games with Bayern 2 over fifteen years without ever playing with the first team. A strange career.

Is he the guy who played against our u23s a few years ago in the cup competition? Remember going to watch that game and seeing someone who was considerably older then everyone else on the pitch and trying to work out why he was playing.

Swansman · Oct 7, 2021

thedonkeycentrehalf said:
Is he the guy who played against our u23s a few years ago in the cup competition? Remember going to watch that game and seeing someone who was considerably older then everyone else on the pitch and trying to work out why he was playing.

Depends on when it was but probably not as he quit quite a few years ago. Now for instance they have three 30+ players in their squad. It appears that central defender Nicolas Feldhahn, 35, has been playing with them since 2015 so might be him maybe?

Braggfan · Oct 7, 2021

Seaber said:
I like the way in the Amex era many recent former players have been kept close. Watson, Rodger, Mayo, Roberts, Ankergren, Jones, Bruno, Crofts, Dicker, Oatway and possibly Murray have all been involved with the club in a professional capacity after retiring. Probably some I've forgotten.

Oatway? I'm not sure how keen the club are to have him around after he got sacked.

Cowfold Seagull · Oct 7, 2021

Braggfan said:
Oatway? I'm not sure how keen the club are to have him around after he got sacked.

According to Charlie, a couple of years ago anyway, the feud was still ongoing. He was however very close to the club for sometime after his playing career ended, being employed, loosely speaking as a coach, by Gus.

Thunder Bolt · Oct 7, 2021

Braggfan said:
Oatway? I'm not sure how keen the club are to have him around after he got sacked.

Seaber's post is correct. Charlie Oatway retired from playing in 2009 with Havant & Waterlooville. He became a coach at BHA until 2013 when he left by mutual agreement. He was suspended but then came to the agreement a few weeks later.

Pavilionaire · Oct 7, 2021

On-field the policy makes a lot of sense, but having the older guy around doesn't seem to have helped some players with their off-field activities.

Braggfan · Oct 7, 2021

Thunder Bolt said:
Seaber's post is correct. Charlie Oatway retired from playing in 2009 with Havant & Waterlooville. He became a coach at BHA until 2013 when he left by mutual agreement. He was suspended but then came to the agreement a few weeks later.

Oh yeah I wasn't disputing he came back as a coach, and I agree it is nice to see ex players involved at the club. I was just pointing out that it doesnt always work. Paul Rogers being another one.

timbha · Oct 7, 2021

Pavilionaire said:
On-field the policy makes a lot of sense, but having the older guy around doesn't seem to have helped some players with their off-field activities.

You can lead a horse to water…….

Maybe having the likes of Bruno, Lallana, Welbeck, Roberts, Crofts, Dicker and a few others around has helped prevent more issues.

Cowfold Seagull · Oct 7, 2021

timbha said:
You can lead a horse to water…….

Maybe having the likes of Bruno, Lallana, Welbeck, Roberts, Crofts, Dicker and a few others around has helped prevent more issues.

Indeed, generally speaking l'm sure that having a few senior, and even a few experienced ex professionals around the club, helps to motivate the younger ones, and keep theikr feet on the ground, both on and off the pitch.

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[Albion] Senior professionals returning to play in the Youth Academy

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