Barber on Radio 5 at the moment

[Kinky Gerbil]

Did anyone see that a 12 year old boy that was released by Real Madrid a few months a go?

Nothing odd about that, till you find out they signed him at 10 and he is swiss - how much pressure is that on a 12 year old?

There is no way as a 10 year old he would have chosen to move to Spain away from his home.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I do miss your Amex meal threads

Noted!

 

[Hamilton]

Why the animosity towards Barber? He is working under instruction from Tony Bloom. Nothing he does is without Tony's blessing.

I don't think that is strictly true. He is CEO and Tony is Chairman. As CEO, he's shaping the strategy we are following. He's responsible for recruitment, for pricing, for marketing, for operations, for overall management and motivation etc. Tony chairs the Board that monitors overall performance, but he's not as involved in the detail as the CEO would be.

 

[Hamilton]

You can listen to it here...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b071g63t

Good programme.

 

[Rogero]

Why the animosity towards Barber? He is working under instruction from Tony Bloom. Nothing he does is without Tony's blessing.

Fully agree. \we are lucky to have him. We really are going in the right direction.

 

[El Presidente]

Why the animosity towards Barber? He is working under instruction from Tony Bloom. Nothing he does is without Tony's blessing.

I've have some differences of opinions with PB, but at the same time I think he does an excellent job, and gives his all 24/7 to the club. Just because he has a different view to me or anyone else doesn't mean that he's wrong, his priorities are far different to ours at times.

 

[KingstonSeagull]

Barabara out!

 

[LlcoolJ]

In my experience youth cricket is FAR more civilised than football for both the parents and the kids. Very pleased that my son has chosen cricket as his favourite sport. Even when he was 5 there were some awful displays of pushy parents at football plus kids being poached by other teams etc.

 

[Gwylan]

In my experience youth cricket is FAR more civilised than football for both the parents and the kids. Very pleased that my son has chosen cricket as his favourite sport. Even when he was 5 there were some awful displays of pushy parents at football plus kids being poached by other teams etc.

I totally agree. I've been coaching for a while and am taking my Level 2 certificate right now. There's a LOT of emphasis on the emotional needs of kids and an awareness that they shouldn't be pushed too far. The parents are really understanding too: there's a real sense that they know it's a technically complex sport - much more than football - and that the coaches are doing their best.

Rugby's somewhere in between. There are some very good junior set-ups in Sussex and some very bad ones. I'm happy that my kids learned the game in Lewes as there are some clubs I wouldn't dream of sending my kids too. But the parents that I've met from all clubs are pretty clued-up and not at all pushy

 

[biddles911]

I saw that, did you notice the kids name?

I often wonder if these type of kids know how to pass a ball so a teammate can score, or it's all about them banging in the goals.

Wonder if Ronaldo's dad bigged him up on social media? Might explain a lot about his attitude.......?!

 

[AZ Gull]

Funny this should come up. I saw a Twitter account the other day which purports to be in the name of some kid, think he was about eight or nine. He trains with the Albion's age group sides, as well as playing for a local team. His Dad is a massive supporter of a certain Premier League side, and obviously does the tweets from his son's account.

Every one is either bigging up the boy, posting videos of his football skills, or trying to attract the action of said Premier League club & their fans. Sometimes it's "The other kids all tried to kick me today because they know I'm just too good", other times, it's "Hey, xxxx FC fans, check out my skills, I'm going to play for xxxx one day", or relentless videos of him training (or scoring 15 goals in a game against demoralised weaker sides).

Absolutely no harm in a child having dreams of course, but history is littered with kids who've been goal machines at nine years old, and who've completely fallen out of love with the game. I found the whole Twitter account thing in this child's name deeply uncomfortable. I hope Dad's not trying too hard to live his own dreams out through his son.

I saw that, did you notice the kids name?

I often wonder if these type of kids know how to pass a ball so a teammate can score, or it's all about them banging in the goals.

Wonder if Ronaldo's dad bigged him up on social media? Might explain a lot about his attitude.......?!

You'll be pleased to know that there is an article about this kid in the Argus today. It includes a photo of the kid doing that bloody ridiculous Ronaldo goal celebration (probably because, wouldn't you know it, Ronaldo is his idol).

But this is what gets me:-

The buzz aroused by the Albion youngster has also led to his junior club taking a new security measure. Woodingdean FC, which is also Tommy Elphick's old club, have removed all mobile phone numbers from their website after Blaze's haul of 97 goals in his debut season at under-seven level - and coverage in the Argus - alerted other sections of the media last summer. They keep him protected now.

So, the way that this child's own parents help to "keep him protected" is by having a twitter account in his full name, with his photo, with lots of "biographical" info, tweeting every movement the child makes, using a multitude of hashtags and twitter handles to get as much exposure as possible, and getting an article published in the local newspaper?