R0b83 Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 As per the subject title - Do you think pro youth is a good or a bad thing?? Kids aged 7-8 years old getting taken in by pro clubs' academies, maybe given a false sense of hope then binned before they're 15 etc. I normally find these players are the ones who have the worst attitudes, deeming themselves too good to back to boys club etc. Can think of a certain Hibs striker for one. I will point out that i don't him personally so only basing that on what i've heard and taken in myself by watching him on tv and interviews etc. Has our national game dipped since pro clubs have started signing kids at circa 8 years old? In 1998, when we last qualified for a tournement, were kids being signed up so young? Obviously there must be pro's to it. The kids will receive high level coaching, maybe from people who have played the game at a good/professional level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim.Lahey Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 I remember the people who were pro-youth when i was younger and not one has made it pro. They always thought they were big shots. Yes i was, and still am, seething on the verge of tears.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R0b83 Posted June 23, 2016 Author Share Posted June 23, 2016 When i was younger it was the time when the boys that were picked were bigger than everyone else. The likes of Garry O'Connor etc. Not a bad player though to be honest - could've/should've been better than he was. Scotland need to re-look at their whole grassroots set up (again) and copy the structures of the likes of Spain, Germany, Holland - even countries like Poland and Iceland, etc. Facilities need to be more available - when i say available i mean at a reasonable cost. Some/most youth teams can't afford to train at all these new state of the art complexes. Venues such as Toryglen sits empty some Sat's cos teams can't afford to play on them. School football should be made into a big deal......some kids' parents can't afford to pay £30 per month for 2/3 kids to play football at a club. Give them an opportunity in/at schools to be coached. How many potential world class kids are we missing out on due these never having a chance to play football? Just a thought.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinks Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 They system itself can leave some kids with an inflated sense of themselves, but how many times have we said Scottish players aren't "gallus" anymore? There's some many different reasons why we aren't producing better players anymore. Level of facilities, coaching, competition etc. Hopefully McClair won't bin the whole set up just to introduce yet another version of what is essentially the same problem. First off, there should be some sort of Quality Assurance for the coaching produced at these levels. And I totally agree with the lack and cost of facilities. When Iceland puts you to shame, then you know you need to start improving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinnig Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 It's a mixture of the two and depends entirely on how good a player your kid actually is. And how honest you, the kid and the coaching staff are. That might be brutal but the whole ethos was supposed to be best v best. Most teams have a few that stand out from a squad of up to twenty. How they progress is entirely up to the coaching staff. It's non competitive football up to age 17 so for those who might expect a level of competitiveness to ready them for professional and international football the kids just won't have that real experience. The 'rest' should do better than they may otherwise down to the individual development ethos - provided the coaching staff are up to it. My son was in pro youth football for several years and I can name two stand out coaches from around twenty who coached him. Almost all have never played professional football, many never progressed from 5 a side. They may be well qualified in the theory but have no practical experience to draw upon and pass to the kids that in theory are the next generation of pros. The 'rest' are unfortunately just that. You need a squad to play each week and I'm a firm believer that the real development comes from game time, real experience in the pitch, rather than night after night of drills. With a small number commanding all the game time cos fundamentally they are the best and despite all the focus on development rather than winning, coaches still want to win and in many cases simply avoid a drubbing. The 'rest' will have cris -crossed Scotland for perhaps 20 minutes on the pitch. At the end of the day these boys are still kids. They have expectations of professional football beyond school that in all likelihood will never be fulfilled. Some honesty about their chances from all concerned should be part of the development and might address some of the cockiness that manifests itself and is rarely a good thing. I hate the term 'jersey fillers' but for some that will be the peak of their football progress at professional level. The answer is probably to reduce the numbers. Some of the regional academies have been controversial and it's too soon to say that this is a better model. Some of the 'wee' teams have flourished from Academy graduates pulling on a first team shirt but it's far too ad hoc. Brian Mclair is now the main man and has been in post for quite some time. I await his vision for the future with interest. Perhaps it's a simple as cut the numbers, invest more in grassroots football, introduce pro -youth on a regionalised basis across the whole of Scotland (none of this contracting your kid to a club on a year to year basis when they are 14 as though they were some kind of commodity), consider pathways through amateur and junior football for the 'rest' ....who you never know might just flourish later in life. The present system will reject them. A new system must aim to keep as many kids as possible playing matches every week. It's the only way - I think! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pie n beans Posted June 25, 2016 Share Posted June 25, 2016 A lot of things wrong their, up to 14s is development and U15 is about getting the winning mentality into your game as pro teams offer full time contracts at 16 so everyone is fighting for that, U17 is very competitive as the league winners qualify for champions league football against the best in Europe, every age group must have an "A Licence" coach and a "B licence coach as his number 2 so the standard has went up considerabley, I totally disagree with regional football and I can't see your reason for that, there is no difference in Hearts jumping in a mini bus and going West than going into Fife.i am just confused with your comments but least you have your thoughts pinnig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeKRR1878 Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Personally I am not a fan of it. I played youth football until I was 17 and from experience a lot of boys who dropped from Pro Youth to Youth teams had rotten attitudes. Many felt they could stroll in to any team with minimal commitment or effort. Many also thought they were too good for the level. On the other hand the one line I hated hearing people say was "aw naw he used to play for Hearts he's amazing" cos other players would then drop confidence levels because one player they were up against played pro youth at one point. This would then have one team expecting to be beaten which then would end up what would happen. As well as this the set up that comes to my mind is Celtic. I do admire what it is they have tried to do by moving them to the same school to learn and train together similar to how the Dutch do it. But out of every 50 boys how many actually break into the Celtic team? These boys are only studying English, Maths and a Science so if a horrible injury occurs these boys are then left limited in careers as they'll have no highers or many grades. This is only my opinion on it though and of course there will be pros to it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pinnig Posted July 24, 2016 Share Posted July 24, 2016 McClair quit. Will anyone step up and make this 'visionary' role work or is it simply an impossible job?http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36874392http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/mark-wotte-says-clubs-failure-8481743#gtAWwH5kl3OSrJQj.97 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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