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Everton Youth Teams Thread

blueboy72 said:
And it was nothing to do with unsworth as he was fast tracked into the first team,
look at the potential money lost though from not giving younger players game time, we spent money on a few youngsters who left for nothing, because they Weren’t coached or their development not handled by the academy director
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I agree he wasn't a good coach and didn't develop the players enough. He has since proven he is not a good coach and the rumours are that hes not a particularly nice person. You're spot on he was defensive and boring.

But the season you keep talking about with Gordon being left on the bench was because he was playing Josh Bowler who cost us 6 million quid and Broadhead who we ended up getting a few million for. If he didn't play them he would've got stick for that as well.
 
blueboy72 said:
I don’t expect the under 21’s to be full of 17/18yr olds. It was more a point of unsworth plying players 23/24 who were out of contact and it was common knowledge they would be leaving, the season in question we had nothing to play for 7/8 games left and Gordon, plus others were on the bench, Gordon had made his debut for the first team but couldn’t get a game for the 21’s

And unsworth would constantly try and shut up shop with 30mins to go if we were a goal up and take a forward off for a defender, don’t get me wrong, it’s not a bad thing to do now and again and get the players used to be under pressure and seeing a game out, but he’d do it all the time
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I liked to criticise Unsworths method's as the last person, but i think you are revising history a little bit with the Anthony Gordon thing!

Appearances for the 2018/19 season in the under 23s
There are a couple in there (Browning 24/Galloway 22) after coming back from bad loans at Sunderland

The rest of this group were around the 19-21 age!
He started playing Gordon for the under 21s as soon as he could, he was one of his 'golden boys' The lad is 17 here breaking nto the under 23 squad

1699523129451.png


I cant seem to find the appearances for the following season but plenty of goals from him here at the age of 18.
Note also an 18 year old Ellis Simms who we managed to get £8m off Coventry for

1699523584020.webp
 
EFC_FRANCIS said:
I agree he wasn't a good coach and didn't develop the players enough. He has since proven he is not a good coach and the rumours are that hes not a particularly nice person. You're spot on he was defensive and boring.

But the season you keep talking about with Gordon being left on the bench was because he was playing Josh Bowler who cost us 6 million quid and Broadhead who we ended up getting a few million for. If he didn't play them he would've got stick for that as well.
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I agree to a lot of what you’ve said, but I was watching the 21’s regular at that time and remember funming that he was playing Connor grant and David henen while our best prospect sat on the bench.

I fully understand him play bowler and broadhead, but there was still other attacking spots available.
 
Raino85 said:
I liked to criticise Unsworths method's as the last person, but i think you are revising history a little bit with the Anthony Gordon thing!

Appearances for the 2018/19 season in the under 23s
There are a couple in there (Browning 24/Galloway 22) after coming back from bad loans at Sunderland

The rest of this group were around the 19-21 age!
He started playing Gordon for the under 21s as soon as he could, he was one of his 'golden boys' The lad is 17 here breaking nto the under 23 squad

View attachment 234518

I cant seem to find the appearances for the following season but plenty of goals from him here at the age of 18.
Note also an 18 year old Ellis Simms who we managed to get £8m off Coventry for

View attachment 234531
Click to expand...
Anthony Gordon's early appearance stats according to Transfermarkt. He played 15 matches for the U21s in 2018/19 when he was 17 and 18 years old. I'm not a big fan of Unsworth but I think Gordon was one that was handled ok.
Screenshot_20231109_131132_Chrome.webp
 
Two points.
1. I took more interest in Gordon than most, from his appearances as a stick thin 16 year old to sponsoring his thread for four seasons. People are just plucking out stats. . This is what I remember. Gordon didn’t play consistently at 17 , Unsworth started him in early in the season for a few matches, he was physically not as big as others , did ok , but results didn’t go well though and he was dropped. He came off the bench a few times but from my memory didn’t start another match until close to the end of the season , a gap of around four months. In my view his development as one of our most talented youngsters was initially handled poorly, it would be unthinkable today for an equivalent talent not to be featuring regularly in the u21s at 17.

2. I criticised Unsworth, I defended him at times from some of the more ludicrous claims, ultimately he stayed too long and I was relieved when he finally went, but he’s gone , I have no further interest in him, time we moved on.
 
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Do we have an Irish scout??

If we do he needs sacking.

And if not, I'll do it for free.

Clubs here have really got youth departments in order, and surprise surprise Brighton have named another Irish lad on the bench today, has only arrived over from Cork City for peanuts. And the lad is going to make it, I've no doubt.
 
Verbal Kint said:
Do we have an Irish scout??

If we do he needs sacking.

And if not, I'll do it for free.

Clubs here have really got youth departments in order, and surprise surprise Brighton have named another Irish lad on the bench today, has only arrived over from Cork City for peanuts. And the lad is going to make it, I've no doubt.
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Dunno, you’d expect so . We do seem to have scouts in Northern Ireland with Sean McAllister and Jack Patterson both joining at 16 in recent years.
 
Verbal Kint said:
Do we have an Irish scout??

If we do he needs sacking.

And if not, I'll do it for free.

Clubs here have really got youth departments in order, and surprise surprise Brighton have named another Irish lad on the bench today, has only arrived over from Cork City for peanuts. And the lad is going to make it, I've no doubt.
Click to expand...

The problem with the southern players is the UK deciding to be bellends and leave the EU which changed the rules on signing young foreign players
 

blueloon said:
You got a name/ ex club mate? I’ve seen a couple of individuals announcing from other clubs, often they get offers in November , allowing them to find another club if they're not offered a scholarship.
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www.transfermarkt.co.uk

Braiden Graham - Player profile 24/25

Braiden Graham, 17, from Northern Ireland ➤ Everton FC U18, since 2024 ➤ Centre-Forward ➤ Market value: €50k ➤ * Nov 7, 2007 in Ballygowan, Northern Ireland
www.transfermarkt.co.uk www.transfermarkt.co.uk
 
mightymoyes said:
The problem with the southern players is the UK deciding to be bellends and leave the EU which changed the rules on signing young foreign players
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I think they were too young coming over anyway, 18 at least is plenty, the good ones are playing League of Ireland football or staying in the academy which have improved dramatically. Jason Melia came on in the cup final today at 16, playing in a full house at the Aviva stadium is better than a dog at finch farm.

Cork City took Spurs/Arsenal/ and Benfica in a recent tournament, Benfica immediately secured deals for two of them so you may have a point as regards the whole Brexit thing.
 
blueloon said:
Two points.
1. I took more interest in Gordon than most, from his appearances as a stick thin 16 year old to sponsoring his thread for four seasons. People are just plucking out stats. . This is what I remember. Gordon didn’t play consistently at 17 , Unsworth started him in early in the season for a few matches, he was physically not as big as others , did ok , but results didn’t go well though and he was dropped. He came off the bench a few times but from my memory didn’t start another match until close to the end of the season , a gap of around four months. In my view his development as one of our most talented youngsters was initially handled poorly, it would be unthinkable today for an equivalent talent not to be featuring regularly in the u21s at 17.

2. I criticised Unsworth, I defended him at times from some of the more ludicrous claims, ultimately he stayed too long and I was relieved when he finally went, but he’s gone , I have no further interest in him, time we moved on.
Click to expand...
Again. Ignoring the actual fugures and just saying stuff dosent make it true.

Gordon was a decent prospect, but only around the same way ryan ledson, liam walsh, nathan broadhead, ellis simms were. Pretty much abit like how we rate Dobbin now.

His attitude (over time) & workrate eventually got him to elevate above other youth prospects. Ancelotti didnt particularily rate him or like him (not sure which one) but he still used him, but only when he had too.

Gordon's opportunity came because one summer we only brought in Townsend & Gray, there was a spot availible. For him there was a lot of luck and good timing involved
 

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