Comolli Sacked

[GTi]

I dont understand the fascination with buying young. We've been doing this for years and we are still waiting for one of them to break though. If we want top four finishes we need a quick fix, which means buying established younger players, 2 or 3 from Ath Bilbao spring to mind. They wont come cheap, but these are the players we need.

[el matador]

I dont understand the fascination with buying young. We've been doing this for years and we are still waiting for one of them to break though. If we want top four finishes we need a quick fix, which means buying established younger players, 2 or 3 from Ath Bilbao spring to mind. They wont come cheap, but these are the players we need.

kenny already tried that with adam, downing, enrique and doni but it didnt work.

We do need better players but in the 22-25 bracket who can be bought relatively cheaply and turned into world beaters.

[Mostar]

I dont understand the fascination with buying young. We've been doing this for years and we are still waiting for one of them to break though. If we want top four finishes we need a quick fix, which means buying established younger players, 2 or 3 from Ath Bilbao spring to mind. They wont come cheap, but these are the players we need.

I think our longer term vision is correct one as we have to try to find the great talent at young age (Messi was signed by Barca at age of 13 and Steve Heighway recognized that Gerrard will be a future star at age of 12 for example) but there is no doubt in my mind that we have to medium to short vision in mind where buying young established players and proven quality players has to be part of our plans.

[el matador]

I think our longer term vision is correct one as we have to try to find the great talent at young age (Messi was signed by Barca at age of 13 and Steve Heighway recognized that Gerrard will be a future star at age of 12 for example) but there is no doubt in my mind that we have to medium to short vision in mind where buying young established players and proven quality players has to be part of our plans.

mostar i coach under 11's and its virtually impossible at that age to say whether a player has it in him to go into the pro ranks or not.

the players with talent are obvious but there lies a multitude of obstacles between being a good player at the age of 12 and making the jump to reserve team let alone first team.

We've had countless players on the books of man utd, city, bradford and leeds united who have had the talent but for some reason or another got released. There was one lad who scored 120 goals in 18 games and was scouted by leeds.

He was there one season and came back not even a quarter of the player he was. The talent is obvious but the probability of young players making the grade are really low so I dont think you can say that x or y will definitely make it at the age of 11 or twelve.

When FSG talk about young players i think they mean in the 19-22 age bracket with a continued recruitment policy in the academy. focusing any younger than that and its a lottery.

[Mostar]

mostar i coach under 11's and its virtually impossible at that age to say whether a player has it in him to go into the pro ranks or not.

the players with talent are obvious but there lies a multitude of obstacles between being a good player at the age of 12 and making the jump to reserve team let alone first team.

We've had countless players on the books of man utd, city, bradford and leeds united who have had the talent but for some reason or another got released. There was one lad who scored 120 goals in 18 games and was scouted by leeds.

He was there one season and came back not even a quarter of the player he was. The talent is obvious but the probability of young players making the grade are really low so I dont think you can say that x or y will definitely make it at the age of 11 or twelve.

When FSG talk about young players i think they mean in the 19-22 age bracket with a continued recruitment policy in the academy. focusing any younger than that and its a lottery.

I think you misunderstood my post.

My point was that our Academy in general is crucial piece of our long term future not that we expect to discover world beaters at tender age of 12 or 13 (or younger) even though those anomalies do happen from time to time.

Clearly players at any age can be very good early on and then turn into duds later and never really make it as there is no guarantees in football but my point was that investment in academy imo especially 16 and up is very important for the long term prospects of this club.

Until those youngsters are ready sure we have to fill the void with 19-22 age group but at same time we need need few players from 22-25 and few above that age group to give us needed quality.

[GTi]

mostar i coach under 11's and its virtually impossible at that age to say whether a player has it in him to go into the pro ranks or not.

the players with talent are obvious but there lies a multitude of obstacles between being a good player at the age of 12 and making the jump to reserve team let alone first team.

We've had countless players on the books of man utd, city, bradford and leeds united who have had the talent but for some reason or another got released. There was one lad who scored 120 goals in 18 games and was scouted by leeds.

He was there one season and came back not even a quarter of the player he was. The talent is obvious but the probability of young players making the grade are really low so I dont think you can say that x or y will definitely make it at the age of 11 or twelve.

When FSG talk about young players i think they mean in the 19-22 age bracket with a continued recruitment policy in the academy. focusing any younger than that and its a lottery.

Couldnt agree more, yes we need to buy the best youngsters, but we need the best young players who have already made the transition into first team football. Unfortunately its us and everyone else who wants that type of player which come with a very high price tag. Munian, and Martinez would probably cost us £40mil+ but it would be money very well spent, almost guaranteed to produce the goods.

[barnes10]

Im stunned to read that kenny chose downing over mata.

Before I get flamed, Legend that his is and will always, its clear that he's not fit to run our transfer policy. If this is true then FSG will obviously know it was Kenny who pushed it. I'm convinced they'll move him aside next season.

[Shaggy]

That 'Sweeper' article can't even get Comolli's age right (just the 10 years out!) so I'll take that with a pinch of salt.

[Fredo]

That 'Sweeper' article can't even get Comolli's age right (just the 10 years out!) so I'll take that with a pinch of salt.

Yeah saw that, 49

Must have been a typo.

[Craig_H]

That 'Sweeper' article can't even get Comolli's age right (just the 10 years out!) so I'll take that with a pinch of salt.

[el matador]

I think you misunderstood my post.

My point was that our Academy in general is crucial piece of our long term future not that we expect to discover world beaters at tender age of 12 or 13 (or younger) even though those anomalies do happen from time to time.

Clearly players at any age can be very good early on and then turn into duds later and never really make it as there is no guarantees in football but my point was that investment in academy imo especially 16 and up is very important for the long term prospects of this club.

Until those youngsters are ready sure we have to fill the void with 19-22 age group but at same time we need need few players from 22-25 and few above that age group to give us needed quality.

yes mate you're right in that we need a steady supply of young, talented and hungry players from the academy into the first team. That has to be supplemented by players who are 19-22 with the likes of alonso, torres etc...

In time these 19-22 year olds become the senior pros and so forth it continues. The academy is key to the future of this club.

[el matador]

Im stunned to read that kenny chose downing over mata.

Before I get flamed, Legend that his is and will always, its clear that he's not fit to run our transfer policy. If this is true then FSG will obviously know it was Kenny who pushed it. I'm convinced they'll move him aside next season.

i dont know why you are so surprised. Kenny wants to play 442 so whos the better wide man - probably downing.

if you're playing with one in behind the striker then obviously mata is the man. But it comes down to tactics. If you prefer playing a more dated way then downing is the choice.

[Lecter]

Supposedly big money is not available and even if it is, I wouldn't trust him with the money. Makes me cringe - Mata cost £23.5M and Downing cost £20M. Mata has 13 goals and 18 assists and Downing has 2 goals and 0 assists

Analysis of transfer fees in isolation is ****ing pointless and pathetic

Mata is on double the wages Downing is on and that would have to be included in any cost analysis of any players

That said Downing is ****ing ****e and we shouldnt have touched him imo

Easily the worst purchase made by Kenny imo

[Lecter]

He was convinced by the manager - I don't think the pull of playing Champions League football was the deciding football at all as I remember reading various articles when he signed for Chelsea and he never mentioned that once. I think we had a chance of getting him

Hes also hardly likely to turn down double the wages that we were prepared to offer Downing

[Lecter]

Even if Mata wasn't available we could have done much better than spending 20 million pounds on Stewart Downing.

This to me is the more relevant point than pointless comparisons to players whos actual cost valie is considerably more than that we paid for Downing