Jump to content

The youth team


Marko
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • 7 years later...

I would like to think that Rafa would sort this out if given enough time. From what I've seen and read about him it's certainly an area in which he takes an interest and you would think he would have the contacts both in terms of coaching and being able to scout good youngsters in order to turn things around. You'd think it would be an easy sell to Ashley too, given the potential rewards and savings.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, Alex said:

I would like to think that Rafa would sort this out if given enough time. From what I've seen and read about him it's certainly an area in which he takes an interest and you would think he would have the contacts both in terms of coaching and being able to scout good youngsters in order to turn things around. You'd think it would be an easy sell to Ashley too, given the potential rewards and savings.

Agreed, the disinterest Ashley shows in the youth set up has always been odd especially considering the amount we made on Carroll. 

 

Fwiw I think it’s good to finally see a coaching staff that are actually planning and looking ahead to next season rather than trot out some bollocks about how we have to wait until our fate is certain as we’ve seen in the past. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ashley is probably all about instant (or close enough) returns, I'd reckon. Getting lucky with an import and flogging him in a year or so is probably a better idea than waiting 3/4 seasons for a kid to mature and develop in his head, even though it benefits the first team and would be beneficial to performances. Because he's a fucking idiot.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Ayatollah Hermione said:

Ashley is probably all about instant (or close enough) returns, I'd reckon. Getting lucky with an import and flogging him in a year or so is probably a better idea than waiting 3/4 seasons for a kid to mature and develop in his head, even though it benefits the first team and would be beneficial to performances. Because he's a fucking idiot.

Aye, there is that like :lol:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Ayatollah Hermione said:

Ashley is probably all about instant (or close enough) returns, I'd reckon. Getting lucky with an import and flogging him in a year or so is probably a better idea than waiting 3/4 seasons for a kid to mature and develop in his head, even though it benefits the first team and would be beneficial to performances. Because he's a fucking idiot.

I think that hits the nail on the head tbh. The club has definitely been plagued by short term thinking during his ownership, the “gambling” of going into seasons under strength and then panic buying in January if need be goes along with that imo. 

It is just something that always seemed like a no brainer, for a relatively small investment there’s so much potential for profit and first team improvement. It doesn’t have to be to the extent of Man City or Chelsea to pay off, I don’t imagine Southampton’s youth set up cost loads when compared to transfer fees. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aye, you'd think Southampton's policy would be like music to his ears since they've made a fortune. Having said that, I imagine it's the result of heavy investment from the owners combined with effort and hard work by switched on people who know what they're doing. Even if Ashley was willing to do the former, we sorely lack the latter. Well, other than Rafa but it's a bit much asking him to do literally everything himself.

Edited by Ayatollah Hermione
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Ayatollah Hermione said:

Aye, you'd think Southampton's policy would be like music to his ears since they've made a fortune. Having said that, I imagine it's the result of heavy investment from the owners combined with effort and hard work by switched on people who know what they're doing. Even if Ashley was willing to do the former, we sorely lack the latter. Well, other than Rafa but it's a bit much asking him to do literally everything himself.

Aye that’s it like, it’ll have been steady investment over a long period to get them to where they are, without instant pay outs so he’d have likely abandoned it (pretty sure there was at least a planned investment at some point which was either not followed through or wasn’t continued to be built upon). I also agree the personnel is an issue, our youth staff have basically been Steve Stone and Peter Beardsley for a good period of our recent history. I know we have a scouting system in place for youth throughout Europe (brother in laws father is a scout) but I’ve no idea to what extent they were listened to in the past or how much has changed since Rafa took over (they do seem to look on the continent more mind). 

As you’ve mentioned though you’d think it’d be something that would really interest him especially with his reluctance to pay transfer fees. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.