82ers v STFC Quarter Final FA Youth Cup

[kirky69]

Town fans were class. Was it quite an even split in the ground or were the town fans just much louder?

Around us (W13) seemed a pretty even split, the Swindon fans making the noise were further across - I think in W12-  and overall probably more of us than City fans. Really decent turnout, good atmosphere, shame about the result and had chances at the end to send it in to extra time. Haven't seen an overall crowd figure published anywhere.

[Anonymous77]

How many would you give pro’s this summer? I believe Kanu, Evans, McGregor, Keyes, Brown, Hart, Hubbard, Adams are all the older year.

[DiV]

I guess that depends on wages, budget and (nothing new here) what sort of loan deals we could get them.

I’d love to see a decent amount get contracts, get some decent loan spells in & make it onto our first team. Just playing percentages it’s highly unlikely…

I mean just looking from a purely results perspective they’ve done well in the league & had a decent cup run but obviously leagues (I guess) are quite localised, categorised(?)

So, have our youths done well in quite a small pond or have they done well compared to bigger, better, more funded academics….?

[RobertT]

I have no insight on their ability, having not seen them.  Another point worth remembering is success at Youth level (results wise) doesn't translate to a career in the professional game.  The number who make it will be a small %.  I remember watching the Everton Youths against us 20 odd years ago.  Francis Jeffers was playing for them and was a cut above, not sure anyone else on their team made the grade though.  The real trick here would be to see this period of good luck (I know that the coaching team will take some plaudits, but the batch we have is a one off to a degree) and leverage it to build the infrastructure necessary to support that type of supply funnel going in future years.  Use this group as marketing fodder for the next batch, invest in the facilities and expand the coaching teams.

[Bob's Orange]

RobT, here was the Everton Youth team (I picked the final) that lifted the FA Youth cup in 1997/98

Everton: Delany, Regan, Eaton, Farley, Dunne, O'Brien (c) (82 Hibbert), Poppleton, Osman, Jevons (72 Jeffers), Cadamarteri, Milligan.

I think from that list only Richard Dunne, Tony Hibbert, Leon Osman and Jeffers had what you could call a decent career. Danny Cadamarteri and Phil Jevons also enjoyed careers in first team football. The others may have done, but I picked the more recognisable players from that side.

[kirky69]

How many would you give pro’s this summer? I believe Kanu, Evans, McGregor, Keyes, Brown, Hart, Hubbard, Adams are all the older year.

Having seen the u18s on a handful of occasions, the 3 who have consistently stood out for me have been Evans (good size, distribution, shot stopping and organiser) McGregor (good engine, composed & good in the air) and Hubbard (very skillful, a real box of tricks, physicality would be his main issue). The others all have their merits and may well be deserving of contracts in their own right.
As an example Hart in particular looks solid in this age group but as with all youngsters it is how they develop and whether they can transfer their potential to the professional game.

[Nemo]

Kanu, having had a bad injury, is probably eligible for a scholarship extension like we've had Harvey Fox on this year.