Excited



The Cabbage said:
This interview with a Celtic fan might temper you a bit marra;) Don't like the sound of the favourite agents:(

What did you make of the Academy articles? There was another one yesterday. I took heart from all of them if I'm honest. They certainly said all the right things
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The bit about agents raised an eyebrow but without further knowledge, I think its difficult to make much from that. The chap says he believes in a model that Park was keen to progress in.

The thing I felt noteworthy in the interview was the fans whinging on about buying players as projects, I at least, would be firmly behind that. He is obviously comfortable working within a clever ethos.

I enjoyed what videos I saw on the academy although there wasn't really anything to make a judgement upon other than Dickman being professional in front of a camera. I like that Ross is involved. I'll try to catch the rest over the weekend as I don't exactly relish thinking its a bit of a car crash this season and of course could be very wrong.
 
The Cabbage said:
This interview with a Celtic fan might temper you a bit marra;) Don't like the sound of the favourite agents:(

What did you make of the Academy articles? There was another one yesterday. I took heart from all of them if I'm honest. They certainly said all the right things
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I got through the articles, no idea with the video's, I saw three of them, dont know if there is more as the website drove me barmy.

I enjoyed reading as its an interesting aspect that we seldom hear about but there wasn't a great deal I could take away from it.

Good that they are concentrating on the kid's life skills as you would expect, not so great that they appear skeleton-staffed.

I liked some of what Reid said and his optimism which is in contrast to what I took from the podcast but still, the exodus, results and perhaps perception has me fretting. The bit that's pointed towards us almost being lucky to continue it wasn't ideal either.
 
Coeus said:
I got through the articles, no idea with the video's, I saw three of them, dont know if there is more as the website drove me barmy.

I enjoyed reading as its an interesting aspect that we seldom hear about but there wasn't a great deal I could take away from it.

Good that they are concentrating on the kid's life skills as you would expect, not so great that they appear skeleton-staffed.

I liked some of what Reid said and his optimism which is in contrast to what I took from the podcast but still, the exodus, results and perhaps perception has me fretting. The bit that's pointed towards us almost being lucky to continue it wasn't ideal either.
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There were three aspect which satisfied me. Firstly the integration with the first team seems better than its ever been. That is vital. Secondly they’ve recognised that we have to offer a compelling reason for kids to stay at the club. If we can be a poaching target - and the worries around duplicitous behaviour there seem to have been laid to rest at least to some extent recently - we need to get kids to want to stay in other ways. The club clearly understand this and are attempting to achieve it. The task for point one and two seems linked. Reduce the size of the first team squad and set ourselves up as a ‘hothouse’.

Lastly - and critically for me - Reid impressed me. He’s clearly intelligent for a football man and is a thinker in his field. It’s obvious that he’s looking for an edge - a way for Safc to compete beyond our natural limitations. That is undoubtedly a good thing. It puts the academy way down my list of worries about the football side as things stand. If there was any evidence whatsoever that Coton and the recruitment lot were similarly driven to find a competitive advantage I’d be far more confident about our future on the pitch.
 
The Cabbage said:
There were three aspect which satisfied me. Firstly the integration with the first team seems better than its ever been. That is vital. Secondly they’ve recognised that we have to offer a compelling reason for kids to stay at the club. If we can be a poaching target - and the worries around duplicitous behaviour there seem to have been laid to rest at least to some extent recently - we need to get kids to want to stay in other ways. The club clearly understand this and are attempting to achieve it. The task for point one and two seems linked. Reduce the size of the first team squad and set ourselves up as a ‘hothouse’.

Lastly - and critically for me - Reid impressed me. He’s clearly intelligent for a football man and is a thinker in his field. It’s obvious that he’s looking for an edge - a way for Safc to compete beyond our natural limitations. That is undoubtedly a good thing. It puts the academy way down my list of worries about the football side as things stand. If there was any evidence whatsoever that Coton and the recruitment lot were similarly driven to find a competitive advantage I’d be far more confident about our future on the pitch.
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I liked the bit about Reid identifying how we need to keep these players but it's quite another implementing it and then, of course, there are levels to how well you do that. It's akin to Donald saying 100 points or Ross saying we have to improve, it doesn't really mean anything to me without an explanation as to how they're going to achieve it. I don't think I have always been like this but without any substance behind word's, I find it pointless, maybe I'm just spoilt with how open the new lot are.
 
Coeus said:
I liked the bit about Reid identifying how we need to keep these players but it's quite another implementing it and then, of course, there are levels to how well you do that. It's akin to Donald saying 100 points or Ross saying we have to improve, it doesn't really mean anything to me without an explanation as to how they're going to achieve it. I don't think I have always been like this but without any substance behind word's, I find it pointless, maybe I'm just spoilt with how open the new lot are.
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Think you’ve hit the nail on the head with the last bit fella;). You can’t really expect them to give away what they look for in a player in public as that is an aspect of any competitive advantage. Things to note are the fact that there are four defined elements that they’re looking for in players as directed from the first team. Personally I’m okay with them not going into the minutiae of how they’ll achieve that as things stand. Most wouldn’t be interested in a Ronnie gill article and I’m comfortable enough that they’re talking about the right things at least. Let’s face it, they’ve never even managed that before!

As I say, the academy should be well down our lists of football worries. Recruitment, on the other hand, sounds more of a shambles with every public mention - before we even consider the chatter on here. Let’s see them tell us something about how they do that and manage to come across half as well as Reid did.
 
The Cabbage said:
Think you’ve hit the nail on the head with the last bit fella;). You can’t really expect them to give away what they look for in a player in public as that is an aspect of any competitive advantage. Things to note are the fact that there are four defined elements that they’re looking for in players as directed from the first team. Personally I’m okay with them not going into the minutiae of how they’ll achieve that as things stand. Most wouldn’t be interested in a Ronnie gill article and I’m comfortable enough that they’re talking about the right things at least. Let’s face it, they’ve never even managed that before!

As I say, the academy should be well down our lists of football worries. Recruitment, on the other hand, sounds more of a shambles with every public mention - before we even consider the chatter on here. Let’s see them tell us something about how they do that and manage to come across half as well as Reid did.
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I'm not looking for what they look for in a player.

When he says they have to create an environment where players want to stay, how are they doing this? Could they do it better? What do they require to do this?

They said they had a WhatsApp group to share articles and such, are they all trained to the highest level? Is there plans in place for this to happen? Do they see any benefit in reaching out to European clubs to discuss the differences in how their academy' work? Is there an opportunity to build links with teams to build our knowledge in scouting and training?

How are they the best at what they do, given this is an elite academy, how do they plan on being in that bracket at their job? How are we making sure the further staff now required are the very best available as opposed to a friend of a friend?

Reid speaks about the importance of the perception that the route into the first team will have on potential new recruits, has this importance been stated firmly to the first team bosses? Is there a blueprint or structure to make sure the perception is the best it can be?

Those questions are a bit on the nose and I don't mean them to be offensive, just as it is, its nothing more than ideas similar to that of Juan's bring a load of Uruguayans over.
 
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