Thetownend.com

just wandering if any of you share my optimism about these youngsters ,i must admit the one who has stood out for me is ashan holgate i know he hasnt played first team much but he just seems to play the same level whether its youth,reserve and now first team

I like the look of Pook, looks reliable and willing to do the donkey work, has not seemed phased at all.

Lapham was very good up at Huddersfield, not quite so good at the CG - which bodes well as he still looked good enough.

Caton is in desperate need of more experience, but the kid is doing 2 'A' Levels too, so will have exams on his mind recently I'd have thought.

Holgate looked like he had no concept of where the goal was whatsoever up at Huddersfield, where he played as a lone striker, but at the CG on the last day he looked more comfortable playing deeper, and wider - caused them a couple of problems too.  He will benefit greatly if Igoe leaves, as I'd like to see him play wide right.

like i said in another post, holgate is destined to become the swindon ronaldinho!

The Ruud Gullitt of Swindon more like.

i,ve seen him a few times he is a tricky player but think he is more of striker than winger,your point about huddersfield is true but i must say hardly great circumstances to come on as were they ,pook get him in the gym and will be a good league 1 player same for caton and lapham looks like he just enjoys football which allways helps

I think Holgate could become a decent player and will hopefully feature more in the first team over the next two years.

Although there is nothing I'd rather see I'm not over optimistic for any of these lads...there are a lot of players of a similar standard out there, so you want to see some stand out qualities...be it pace, skill, work ethic, size etc.

 Its fairly obvious that  King is going to have to use a lot of young players this season, the last time this was tried by Trollope we were top after 10 games, but relegated out of this league for the only time by season's end.......the grind of playing lots of hard physical matches over a full season is draining on young players, they need to be properly nurtured......we are just going to do it as a cost cutting measure.

i see what your saying reg but surely its refreshing to see a group of them coming through for a change rather than the one every now and again ie hulbert,mchugh,collins herring,every two or 3 years one comes through and nothing comes of it with a bunch of them if 1 or 2 make it then good

Fair enough, but my point is essentially that for proper youth development you've got to have a belief throughout the club that this is the path to be persued no matter what..rather than we're a bit skint so these kids will play for peanuts......part of this belief needs to stretch as far as the fans and a willingness to stick with that group come what may.

i do agree that king doesnt fill the kids with confidence but sooner or later due to finances i feel kings hand will be forced by the board even more so when u have iffy and ian woan going on and on about them i think the board might start listening.....well i hope so just something i hope i suppose

Oh I'm sure the board are listening....in the preamble that has arrived on my doormat with the accounts it says and I quote......

    This season by Andy King's standards may have been less than some would have expected, but your Board takes fortitude in the fact that we currently enjoy the benefit of a wealth of talent in the Youth Squad. This alone, with careful nurturing and development,heralds an exciting future for the club for the coming seasons.

 Its signed by Carson but the curious linguistics are  pure Holtese. In other words a load of kids playingnext season.

:soapy tit wank:  :soapy tit wank: does sound like him doesnt it i got a bollocking on the open day last year when they showed me the chairmans chair in the boardroom i said i thought the short ass would of prefered a saddle no sense of humour at all

ashan holgate is a quality player. he goes to my college as well u cant miss him with that hair! legend!

Lapham sounds promising.  I hope we get to keep that 13 year old who Chelsea are supposedly tracking.  I would like to see the youth teamers more involved next year.

personally if we had the kids and finished 12th next season i would be happy rather than buy nobodys and struggle,although i got a sneaky feeling king may suprise us again like two yrs ago

At least with the current set of youngsters (Caton, Lapham, Holgate, Pook) I dont bump into them in nightclubs every weekend getting drunk and using the 'Im a footballer line' on every woman they see or any bloke who has the nerve to walk in front of them. Unlike such recent youth teamers as Alan Young & Luke Garrard just to name two...

Give it time.

I use the same line.

YR-"Hello Im a footballer"

Lovely lady-"fuck off fatty"
 8)

We can't afford to buy anyone.

you should play the ronnie o'sullivan line surely?  :wink:  :D

we can all hope he pulls something out of the hat!

thats what we thought 2 yrs ago mooney,igoe,evans,smith,o,hanlon,howard were all free werent they

Too slow to get going at the moment but could work on that.

Only saw home games so might not have as good a view as others but for me:
Lapham: looked very accomplished & might turn into a good player.
Holgate: Again I'd like to see him given more of a chance
Caton: Disapointed after all the hype - many on forums saying play him rather than get someone on loan.  A bit out of his depth - but no surprise at his age.  Needs to be brought in for experience in well chosen games i.e. not against highly experienced centre halves.  Could be great in the future.
Pook: Struck me as very average.  OK.  Tried hard.  Good as Herring but not as good as someone like Robbo.  I'd be surprised if he really makes it.

Bottom line is Reg has it spot on.  These kids are not going to change our world & certainly not if they're thrown into the action week after week.  Garrard looked pretty good to me but the more time he spent in the team, the poorer he became.  Similar with Nicholas to be fair.

It's a tough & difficult balance which I hope we achieve - but let's not expect too much or demand that we field our U19 team every week.

Pook is always out on the piss! He told the Adver how he spent the Saturday night after his debut in front of the telly with his parents, when i saw him off his face in Poonies.

If some of the youth team put some effort into looking after themselves, they might have more of a chance...

All youth team are in Po Na Na every saturday, thats why i tend to avoid it now, a few of them do think highly of themselves.

Werent you in there on saturday night marie?

Unless he fills out and gets a lot stronger over the next couple of years he won't have a chance, he's talented enough with the ball at his feet and he's got a bit of pace but without some strength he'll just be another Alan Young.

Agree with that. he needs to get himslf up the gym in the summer. I've struggled to see the reason for all the hype with Caton. He looks like a boy playing againts men at the moment.