Gary Elphick has been sold

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

And this is a club that's pinning it's future, nay it's very SURVIVAL! - on the Youth Team? First time somebody - a non-League team! - offers us two pound fifty and a couple of scaffolding poles for a player and we offload them? Jeez! we're well and truly f***ed

 

[Silent Bob]

And this is a club that's pinning it's future on the Youth Team? First time somebody - a non-League team! - offers us two pound fifty and a couple of scaffolding poles for a player and we offload them? Jeez! we're well and truly f***ed

Either that or he's not good enough, at the age of 20 he has made one appearance in his natural position and looked out of his depth (albeit against great team), went on loan to Aldershot and again looke out of his depth?

 

[Basil Fawlty]

And this is a club that's pinning it's future, nay it's very SURVIVAL! - on the Youth Team? First time somebody - a non-League team! - offers us two pound fifty and a couple of scaffolding poles for a player and we offload them? Jeez! we're well and truly f***ed

Agreed.

 

[Yorkie]

And this is a club that's pinning it's future, nay it's very SURVIVAL! - on the Youth Team? First time somebody - a non-League team! - offers us two pound fifty and a couple of scaffolding poles for a player and we offload them? Jeez! we're well and truly f***ed

This because his brother plays in the same position and is better.
Tom you seem very down this evening. Go and open a bottle of wine and I'll buy you a pint tomorrow lunchtime.

 

[LANGDON SEAGULL]

IMHO Elphick will not make it at League 1/ Championship level, he cant even get into Aldershot's side. Best to take a few quid now then give away on a free in the summer.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

This because his brother plays in the same position and is better.
Tom you seem very down this evening. Go and open a bottle of wine and I'll buy you a pint tomorrow lunchtime.

Dunno, Yorkie, just fed up with the whole thing tonight. Falmer's going backwards and the team's going down. Never mind the pint, just buy me a pair of those rose-tinted spectacles...

 

[Yorkie]

Dunno, Yorkie, just fed up with the whole thing tonight. Falmer's going backwards and the team's going down. Never mind the pint, just buy me a pair of those rose-tinted spectacles...

The more pints you have the rosier the specs get.
I fully expected Falmer to get delayed and we're not down yet.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

And this is a club that's pinning it's future, nay it's very SURVIVAL! - on the Youth Team? First time somebody - a non-League team! - offers us two pound fifty and a couple of scaffolding poles for a player and we offload them? Jeez! we're well and truly f***ed

Tom

Show me a club that has taken TEN of it's scholars on pro terms this year. That is forward thinking [and possibly a little desperate].
If the club is prepared to make that level of investment, then there is no way at all that the decent players are going to slip through.

Wilkins and the rest have spent three years working with these kids - they are best placed to judge which ones will cut it. For the others of course you are sad, but better that they go now and find a new club than end up dumped in the summer when they will be competing with 100's of other out-of-work footballers.

This club always does a good job of trying to find new clubs for them.

 

[Yorkie]

The ones that are going are well looked after by the PFA. They can take coaching exams and end up teaching sport as well as playing for non league sides.
Ben Watson's Mum was explaining all that the PFA do for these kids.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Tom

Show me a club that has taken TEN of it's scholars on pro terms this year. That is forward thinking [and possibly a little desperate].
If the club is prepared to make that level of investment, then there is no way at all that the decent players are going to slip through.

Wilkins and the rest have spent three years working with these kids - they are best placed to judge which ones will cut it. For the others of course you are sad, but better that they go now and find a new club than end up dumped in the summer when they will be competing with 100's of other out-of-work footballers.

This club always does a good job of trying to find new clubs for them.

Fair enough points. I'm just worried the club will go for the cheap option and just chuck 'em all straight into the first team, like Joe Gatting. He's good, but he's not ready, and he's not being allowed to develop at the pace a young player should. There's already twats in the South Stand on his back. Would be all too easy to wreck the confidence of the young players who will one day get us out of this hole.

 

[227 BHA]

The most worrying thing about this is that it just highlights how random some of McGhee's team selections are.

If this lad obviously isn't good enough for us how on earth does he get on the pitch when we're playing away at the top club in our league in arguably our toughest fixture of the season?

 

[Yorkie]

The most worrying thing about this is that it just highlights how random some of McGhee's team selections are.

If this lad obviously isn't good enough for us how on earth does he get on the pitch when we're playing away at the top club in our league in arguably our toughest fixture of the season?

Suspensions and injuries forced the issue. McShane was back at Old Trafford with an injured ankle etc

 

[Silent Bob]

Suspensions and injuries forced the issue. McShane was back at Old Trafford with an injured ankle etc

We didn't have to play 5-4-1 though.

 

[London Irish]

Fair enough points. I'm just worried the club will go for the cheap option and just chuck 'em all straight into the first team, like Joe Gatting. He's good, but he's not ready, and he's not being allowed to develop at the pace a young player should. There's already twats in the South Stand on his back. Would be all too easy to wreck the confidence of the young players who will one day get us out of this hole.

There always going to have some twats moaning at them. Part of their character building process is learning that even as a young player and then ignoring the whingers

 

[London Irish]

We didn't have to play 5-4-1 though.

Part of the reason for that formation was to give him as much defensive cover as possible though.

 

[London Irish]

Apologies if this is "fixtures" but I undertand that Gary Elphick has been sold to St Albans City for an undisclosed fee.

It's a logical move. It was clear from our pre-season game that Gary was something of a hero at St Albans after his previous stint of work experience there.

He was only taken on by us last year as a one-year pro when Breach was given two, which perhaps suggests that there was always some caution about whether he could make the big step up to playing at this level with the Albion. In the event that caution has been proved right, the guy clearly has a fantastic attitude but tier 2 or 3 is too steep a learning curve for him. At St Albans, I imagine he will do well and from that he will probably have a big chance like Ben Watson at being offered a way back into league football. Good luck to him

 

[227 BHA]

We didn't have to play 5-4-1 though.

Exactly.

All season up to then MM had been saying we would play the same way and not be intimidated y the bigger teams and that day he put together a totally random selection that went against everything he had previously tried

Up to when we conceded it didn't actually look too bad but this sale of one of the players from that match to a conference club side shows his judgement up somewhat

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Good luck to him, bit of a odd one really as i would have thought he would have been given to the end of the season at least.

 

[Ccider]

Fair enough points. I'm just worried the club will go for the cheap option and just chuck 'em all straight into the first team, like Joe Gatting. He's good, but he's not ready, and he's not being allowed to develop at the pace a young player should. There's already twats in the South Stand on his back. Would be all too easy to wreck the confidence of the young players who will one day get us out of this hole.

So how old was Rooney when he started playing regularly for Everton?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

So how old was Rooney when he started playing regularly for Everton?

Difference is that boy's a footballing mutant monster, probably the best young player in the world and would have been able to do a job for us at about age twelve.