The Ex Swindon Town Player Where Are They Now Thread

[suttonred]

Danny Hollands joins Portsmouth on loan.

Not sure it will help them. You would think with the squad they have they should be at the other end of the table, but they would be my banker to drop as the rot is well and truly ingrained.

[bigbobjoylove]

David Prutton to Coventry until the end of the season. Play against us soon?

[bigbobjoylove]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26715651

Interview with John Bostock.

[Bob's Orange]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26775727

Jacob Murphy to Southend on loan.

Good signing for them. Thought he was underused here but the decision to let him go and get Stephens in instead seems a good one.

[Bob's Orange]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26715651

Interview with John Bostock.

'Of his time so far in Belgium, Bostock said: "One thing I've noticed which has really surprised me is how many young players are playing every week here. I think so many players are just thrown in and even if they have one or two bad games, there's less pressure. I think that's one of the main differences from England.'

And look at the Belgian national team now, probably on a par if not better than the English one.

[herthab]

Good signing for them. Thought he was underused here but the decision to let him go and get Stephens in instead seems a good one.

Would've been better, imho, to let Reckord go and still bring in Stephens.

[pauld]

'Of his time so far in Belgium, Bostock said: "One thing I've noticed which has really surprised me is how many young players are playing every week here. I think so many players are just thrown in and even if they have one or two bad games, there's less pressure. I think that's one of the main differences from England.'

And look at the Belgian national team now, probably on a par if not better than the English one.

It goes much much deeper than that. The Belgians, like the Germans, have completely overhauled their entire youth development system, and have grassroots clubs, professional club academies and the Belgian FA, all working together to develop young players and bringing them through the system. As opposed to the pro clubs simply pushing their own interests, the FA more interested in building a massive white elephant national stadium and grassroots left to rot. There's no simple fix to the problems of English football, it will take a decade or more of completely overhauling a badly broken system. More than that, and the reason it won't happen, is it will take a complete change of attitude from the professional clubs, particularly those at the top.

[Bob's Orange]

Would've been better, imho, to let Reckord go and still bring in Stephens.

I had forgotten about Reckord actually, that's a good point and one I agree completely with. I would have liked to have kept Murphy until the end of the season as we only really have Storey who adds pace to our side.

[Bob's Orange]

It goes much much deeper than that. The Belgians, like the Germans, have completely overhauled their entire youth development system, and have grassroots clubs, professional club academies and the Belgian FA, all working together to develop young players and bringing them through the system. As opposed to the pro clubs simply pushing their own interests, the FA more interested in building a massive white elephant national stadium and grassroots left to rot. There's no simple fix to the problems of English football, it will take a decade or more of completely overhauling a badly broken system. More than that, and the reason it won't happen, is it will take a complete change of attitude from the professional clubs, particularly those at the top.

Jed (I know!!) put something on Twitter yesterday about Grassroots spending being cut by 20%. I'm sure its not as straightforward as that but it is frustrating to see the barmy amounts of money being spent by Premiership clubs chasing the dream and this money not being spent heavily on our youngsters.

My interest in the Premiership has long waned and I am now at the stage where I hope the English clubs fail in Europe. The recent story that QPR's wage spend is more than Borussia Dortmund's is startling and my love of the beautiful game is really starting to fade badly.

Thank goodness for Darren Ward and his band of legendary footballers to keep my interest!

[pauld]

Jed (I know!!) put something on Twitter yesterday about Grassroots spending being cut by 20%. I'm sure its not as straightforward as that

It's not - Sport England have cut the money they pay the FA to go into adult Grassroots football. The idea (theoretically at least) is that the FA will be forced to replace that money from their own funds and still maintain/increase the spend on Grassroots so that this will act as a punishment/wake-up call to the FA that they are failing Grassroots badly. Whether it works like that is another matter, but the grant in question was for adult Grassroots, not the youth game. Although much of the same arguments around neglect applies

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/mar/27/sport-england-funding-cut-fa-warning-grassroots-golf-netball-hockey-rowing

and

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/mar/27/football-grassroots-weather-facilities-fa-sport-england

[kerry red]

It goes much much deeper than that. The Belgians, like the Germans, have completely overhauled their entire youth development system, and have grassroots clubs, professional club academies and the Belgian FA, all working together to develop young players and bringing them through the system. As opposed to the pro clubs simply pushing their own interests, the FA more interested in building a massive white elephant national stadium and grassroots left to rot. There's no simple fix to the problems of English football, it will take a decade or more of completely overhauling a badly broken system. More than that, and the reason it won't happen, is it will take a complete change of attitude from the professional clubs, particularly those at the top.

And add to that the number of foreign owners of clubs who, obviously, have no interest in the national team.

Plus, of course, the number of foreign players in the PL.

Some of the players now playing for, or touted to, would have not got near the England team years ago.

Balancing that, though, is there is now a large minority of fans who don't give a shit about England.

[pauld]

And add to that the number of foreign owners of clubs who, obviously, have no interest in the national team.

Plus, of course, the number of foreign players in the PL.

Some of the players now playing for, or touted to, would have not got near the England team years ago.

Balancing that, though, is there is now a large minority of fans who don't give a shit about England.

But that's a vicious circle - the clubs care less about England, the players take less pride in playing for England, so in turn it matters less to fans. And as it matters less to fans, so the top clubs and players see that and can get away with prioritising European club competitions more. And so on.

[ronnie21]

There does not appear to be a lot of pride in wearing an international jersey these days, seems to be a hindrance to clubs.  How many friendlies did Ryan Giggs ever play for Wales, always injured and unavailable - yet when it was a World cup or Euro qualifier he was there.  Same went for a lot of players from Old Trafford for various countries - Fergie hated losing his players for international duty.

[kerry red]

So how is this European League going to pan out.

Another Platini white elephant I reckon

[nigel grays a postie]

Wow. Hadn't realised that a pretty much entirely forgettable loan signing by Lou Macari from Man U in his first season here was now a Premier League assistant manager.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/26789547
The Old Trafford connection worked pretty well with Alan Mac Peter Coyne and Fraser Digby. Mark Dempsey? Not so much.....