2020/21 Thierry Small

[Eggs]

Spot on here!

Also when he signs elsewere, instead of vilifying a 16 year old kid as being a greedy footballer (we will be offering him the same amount as everyone else), i hope there is an investigation by the people higher up at the club why one of our most talented young players in almost a decade had to down tools and felt like he couldnt stay here to progress his career! Why does he feel elsewere is the right move for him?
These questions need to be asked.
Does he not feel hes getting good enough coaching?
Does he feel there is no path to the first team?
Does he look at the likes of Lewis Gibson & feel like we should be doing better with someone who at 17 was one of the best centre halves for his age in the country? And has now come off the back of to many pointless under 23 seasons and a disasterous loan at Reading

….I remember watching a few England youth games and Gibson wasn’t a starter. It’s not necessarily the coaches fault if players don’t transition from very promising youngsters to the the first team. indeed, I reckon most will not come through.

I really don’t get this ‘pathway to the first team’. You can have all the pathways you want, but at the end of the day youngsters need to perform to force their way into contention. They have to be truly outstanding to make that final leap, I’d look at recruitment more than coaching if players aren’t coming through,

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Spot on here!

Also when he signs elsewere, instead of vilifying a 16 year old kid as being a greedy footballer (we will be offering him the same amount as everyone else), i hope there is an investigation by the people higher up at the club why one of our most talented young players in almost a decade had to down tools and felt like he couldnt stay here to progress his career! Why does he feel elsewere is the right move for him?
These questions need to be asked.
Does he not feel hes getting good enough coaching?
Does he feel there is no path to the first team?
Does he look at the likes of Lewis Gibson & feel like we should be doing better with someone who at 17 was one of the best centre halves for his age in the country? And has now come off the back of to many pointless under 23 seasons and a disasterous loan at Reading

Surely his path to the first team is currently blocked by the current French national left back? If he went to another club, does he think players of a similar calibre won't also be "blocking his path"?

 

[twoblue]

Villa are currently signing a wealth of talent in their academy. The majority of their staff have been headhunted from wba, now they have picked off the talent that West Brom let go - Louis Barry, and potentially small.
The side have just won the youth cup, the owners are as rich as anyone in the league and they are progressing each year. Make no mistake, villa are track to challenge the the four before we do.

 

[Timak]

The simple fact is Everton's reputation is poor within the game and rapidly getting worse. We don't have the basics other teams have in place that young players want. You might not think individual development coaches, loans managers, pathway planning etc matter but every decent young player in the country is being offered these and Everton, rightly or wrongly, are perceived as being massively behind the times.

 

[ForeverBlue92]

Hope you're reading this lad - BOOOOOO

 

[COYBL25]

The simple fact is Everton's reputation is poor within the game and rapidly getting worse. We don't have the basics other teams have in place that young players want. You might not think individual development coaches, loans managers, pathway planning etc matter but every decent young player in the country is being offered these and Everton, rightly or wrongly, are perceived as being massively behind the times.

How do you know this ?

I know people who have lads at our academy, Liverpool`s academy and Man City`s academy. My lad also plays footy with a lad who was in Man U`s academy for years, before his parents took him out, due to the fact that the way the boys in his age group were being treated, was making him mentally unwell.

From talking to the them, the only real difference seems to be that Man City are very good at finding ways to bend the rules, with regards to providing houses, cars, cash for the parents etc and they have many many more kids in their academy, due to their wealth.

There seems to be a difference in what clubs want from youngsters - we want big athletic lads, where as Liverpool will take smaller, more nimble lads, but from what I can gather the infrastructure seems to be pretty much the same.

 

[catcherintherye]

The simple fact is Everton's reputation is poor within the game and rapidly getting worse. We don't have the basics other teams have in place that young players want. You might not think individual development coaches, loans managers, pathway planning etc matter but every decent young player in the country is being offered these and Everton, rightly or wrongly, are perceived as being massively behind the times.

If this is the case, it's a real enditement on both Unsworth but also Brands.

Some of this also comes down to how you sell yourselves, and I also think Everton are poor at this. Structurally Everton are in a very good spot to position itself very aggressively on the youth. Essentially a paradigm of being secure in the league with little fear of relegation, against having a none top 6 squad where younger players could be given time.

 

[catcherintherye]

How do you know this ?

I know people who have lads at our academy, Liverpool`s academy and Man City`s academy. My lad also plays footy with a lad who was in Man U`s academy for years, before his parents took him out, due to the fact that the way the boys in his age group were being treated, was making him mentally unwell.

From talking to the them, the only real difference seems to be that Man City are very good at finding ways to bend the rules, with regards to providing houses, cars, cash for the parents etc and they have many many more kids in their academy, due to their wealth.

There seems to be a difference in what clubs want from youngsters - we want big athletic lads, where as Liverpool will take smaller, more nimble lads, but from what I can gather the infrastructure seems to be pretty much the same.

I think Tim works within football mate, and may be talking about older players and really how we manage the transition from 16 upwards.

We have always been very good at a younger level.

 

[catcherintherye]

Villa are currently signing a wealth of talent in their academy. The majority of their staff have been headhunted from wba, now they have picked off the talent that West Brom let go - Louis Barry, and potentially small.
The side have just won the youth cup, the owners are as rich as anyone in the league and they are progressing each year. Make no mistake, villa are track to challenge the the four before we do.

It's a fair point you make, but there has to be a bit of context to it. Villa did win the youth Cup, but aren't a top draw academy by any stretch. They won it, because City and Chelsea were knocked out by ourselves. Every season at least 1 of them get to the final. The week we defeated Chelsea in the Youth Cup, Chelsea defeated Villa 7-2 the week before. They are a good academy Villa but no better than here and had we reversed draws, they would have likely been knocked out well before we did.

 

[Timak]

I think Tim works within football mate, and may be talking about older players and really how we manage the transition from 16 upwards.

We have always been very good at a younger level.

I am talking 16-21.

Take Manchester United, they've now hired specific development coaches (Justin Cochrane being one) or Brighton who have Davie Weir as loans/pathway manager.

Brexit has ramped up the competition for domestic players, every club is throwing huge resources at trying to get the best players. Villa are sinking in millions getting an U18 dream team together.

Rightly or wrongly our reputation is poor in the upper age groups. We had a recruitment ban which hasn't helped but the likes of Small have every academy in the country after them offering not only money but mapped out plans with specific moves etc

Again it may be that we do have all those things in place but externally the reputation is always "they'll get your ready for EFL and have great attitudes but if you want to play PL go to X instead"

 

[Tubey]

The simple fact is Everton's reputation is poor within the game and rapidly getting worse. We don't have the basics other teams have in place that young players want. You might not think individual development coaches, loans managers, pathway planning etc matter but every decent young player in the country is being offered these and Everton, rightly or wrongly, are perceived as being massively behind the times.

Seriously though, what does Marcel Brands actually do at the club?

 

[Billy Dean]

Villa are currently signing a wealth of talent in their academy. The majority of their staff have been headhunted from wba, now they have picked off the talent that West Brom let go - Louis Barry, and potentially small.
The side have just won the youth cup, the owners are as rich as anyone in the league and they are progressing each year. Make no mistake, villa are track to challenge the the four before we do.

Yeah I read somewhere they've got the likes of Barry, Chukwuemeka, the Ramsey brothers and some others all very highly rated. They tend to recruit players of relatively younger age too I think. I like what they're doing at the moment

 

[JMT]

Let's be honest, Our youth system has been badly cack the last couple of years and can hardly be surprised if people want to go, Unsworth needs binning ASAP.

 

[messymascot]

If as looks likely he leaves for elsewhere it won't be great. However if we learn from this and make sure it doesn't happen again it won't be a total disaster. Small might not even make it but it has shown that obviously there is something wrong with the way we run things.

 

[mahermi1]

Let's be honest, Our youth system has been badly cack the last couple of years and can hardly be surprised if people want to go, Unsworth needs binning ASAP.

Always felt at Everton, it's a jobs for the boys club and I know a fair few clubs have players coaching at their clubs, but surely not to the level of Everton. When Brands came here as director of football, I thought one of his duties would be to overhaul the youth system, I'm seeing nothing and nothing coming through, why is that are Brands hands tied behind his back ? Is there still too much influence from above.