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My son plays for Bath City under-8s and met Zak Vyner and Max O'Leary up at the Odd Down training ground last night.  What thoroughly nice lads they are, a real credit to the club.  If there are more like them - articulate, intelligent, passionate about the game and the club - then I feel optimistic about the future of Bristol City.  How many of us would far rather see us doing the best we can with some local lads in the squad than buying success with a squad packed full of players with no commitment to the club or the area?

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2 hours ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

My son plays for Bath City under-8s and met Zak Vyner and Max O'Leary up at the Odd Down training ground last night.  What thoroughly nice lads they are, a real credit to the club.  If there are more like them - articulate, intelligent, passionate about the game and the club - then I feel optimistic about the future of Bristol City.  How many of us would far rather see us doing the best we can with some local lads in the squad than buying success with a squad packed full of players with no commitment to the club or the area?

 

That's just you then . ;)

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2 hours ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

My son plays for Bath City under-8s and met Zak Vyner and Max O'Leary up at the Odd Down training ground last night.  What thoroughly nice lads they are, a real credit to the club.  If there are more like them - articulate, intelligent, passionate about the game and the club - then I feel optimistic about the future of Bristol City.  How many of us would far rather see us doing the best we can with some local lads in the squad than buying success with a squad packed full of players with no commitment to the club or the area?

 

Some us were very lucky to see us do just that in the 70s.

Sadly I fear those days are behind us, and pretty well every other club, because the game has moved on. Players have far less loyalty to a club these days, because the financial rewards are so great and whether we like it or not we have to live that.

I still believe we should be making the most of the academy, as clubs like Southampton have shown what can be achieved in this regard. 

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2 hours ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

My son plays for Bath City under-8s and met Zak Vyner and Max O'Leary up at the Odd Down training ground last night.  What thoroughly nice lads they are, a real credit to the club.  If there are more like them - articulate, intelligent, passionate about the game and the club - then I feel optimistic about the future of Bristol City.  How many of us would far rather see us doing the best we can with some local lads in the squad than buying success with a squad packed full of players with no commitment to the club or the area?

 

We could try, but we'd probably end up in league two.

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3 hours ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

My son plays for Bath City under-8s and met Zak Vyner and Max O'Leary up at the Odd Down training ground last night.  What thoroughly nice lads they are, a real credit to the club.  If there are more like them - articulate, intelligent, passionate about the game and the club - then I feel optimistic about the future of Bristol City.  How many of us would far rather see us doing the best we can with some local lads in the squad than buying success with a squad packed full of players with no commitment to the club or the area?

 

perfect example of a local club trying to do the best with players from their area is the gas, they ended up getting relegated out of the football league doing it as well,

Players should be picked because they are the best available for the game and that position not because they are from Bristol

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I personally think the Academy has not been utilised since its establishment given the £ invested and there should be a club rule that at least 5 players in the matchday squad should be home grown. That is really the only way of forcing progression. There are a couple of youth players who should have been given game time for me this season - Diego De Girolamo has done well consistently all season (not got a look in). Then of course you have McClousky. Alot has been said of the club about investing in youth and lets see if it bears fruit. All of this kind of thing has been said before - if I recall, it was one of the 5 pillars at the time SOD was appointed.....Not many players have really come through during that period - perhaps only Bobby Reid and he has hardly set the world on fire.....

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4 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

perfect example of a local club trying to do the best with players from their area is the gas, they ended up getting relegated out of the football league doing it as well,

Players should be picked because they are the best available for the game and that position not because they are from Bristol

A perfect example is Athletic Bilbao who only pick players from the Basque region of Spain. Despite this huge restriction on their pool of players they are just one of three teams (the others being Real Madrid and Barcelona) to never be relegated from the Spainish top flight. The Basque region has a population of just over 2 million. That's the same as us only fielding players from Bristol, Somerset, Witshire and Gloustershire. 

It is more than possible, don't dismiss it so easily. 

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40 minutes ago, Welcome To The Jungle said:

A perfect example is Athletic Bilbao who only pick players from the Basque region of Spain. Despite this huge restriction on their pool of players they are just one of three teams (the others being Real Madrid and Barcelona) to never be relegated from the Spainish top flight. The Basque region has a population of just over 2 million. That's the same as us only fielding players from Bristol, Somerset, Witshire and Gloustershire. 

It is more than possible, don't dismiss it so easily. 

I can dismiss it, we don't have a cat 1 academy so any star players that happen to be good enough and likely to improve will be plucked out of our team and there is not a thing we can do about it,

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45 minutes ago, MarkRed! said:

I personally think the Academy has not been utilised since its establishment given the £ invested and there should be a club rule that at least 5 players in the matchday squad should be home grown. That is really the only way of forcing progression. There are a couple of youth players who should have been given game time for me this season - Diego De Girolamo has done well consistently all season (not got a look in). Then of course you have McClousky. Alot has been said of the club about investing in youth and lets see if it bears fruit. All of this kind of thing has been said before - if I recall, it was one of the 5 pillars at the time SOD was appointed.....Not many players have really come through during that period - perhaps only Bobby Reid and he has hardly set the world on fire.....

Bobby Reid, Joe Bryan, Scott Golbourne, David Cotterill all started and was in the match day squad, all came through our youth academy, Vyner and McClousky both featured for the first team this season (before being loaned out),

Plenty are coming through not all are good enough, 

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I love the optimism of filling the team with local talent but to paraphrase another quote 'You don't win anything with BRISTOLIAN'S'. Since the heady days of the mid-70s (and I am old enough to have seen it), can we name 10 Bristolian's (i.e. from Bristol, not Bath, Frome etc) that could be said to have made it to the top of their sport. I'll kick it off with Gary Mabbutt, Lee Haskins and Judd Trump (although Whitchurch is mighty close to not being Bristol). How about the other 7?

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3 minutes ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

I love the optimism of filling the team with local talent but to paraphrase another quote 'You don't win anything with BRISTOLIAN'S'. Since the heady days of the mid-70s (and I am old enough to have seen it), can we name 10 Bristolian's (i.e. from Bristol, not Bath, Frome etc) that could be said to have made it to the top of their sport. I'll kick it off with Gary Mabbutt, Lee Haskins and Judd Trump (although Whitchurch is mighty close to not being Bristol). How about the other 7?

Marcus Stewart

Billy Wedlock

Arthur Milton

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1 hour ago, downendcity said:

Some us were very lucky to see us do just that in the 70s.

Sadly I fear those days are behind us, and pretty well every other club, because the game has moved on. Players have far less loyalty to a club these days, because the financial rewards are so great and whether we like it or not we have to live that.

I still believe we should be making the most of the academy, as clubs like Southampton have shown what can be achieved in this regard. 

To be successful in this regard the coaching staff/infrastructure, management-has to be correct from bottem to top with everyone singing from the same hymsheet..

Were lightyears away.

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15 minutes ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

I love the optimism of filling the team with local talent but to paraphrase another quote 'You don't win anything with BRISTOLIAN'S'. Since the heady days of the mid-70s (and I am old enough to have seen it), can we name 10 Bristolian's (i.e. from Bristol, not Bath, Frome etc) that could be said to have made it to the top of their sport. I'll kick it off with Gary Mabbutt, Lee Haskins and Judd Trump (although Whitchurch is mighty close to not being Bristol). How about the other 7?

Eddie Hapgood..Glen Catley??

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1 hour ago, Welcome To The Jungle said:

A perfect example is Athletic Bilbao who only pick players from the Basque region of Spain. Despite this huge restriction on their pool of players they are just one of three teams (the others being Real Madrid and Barcelona) to never be relegated from the Spainish top flight. The Basque region has a population of just over 2 million. That's the same as us only fielding players from Bristol, Somerset, Witshire and Gloustershire. 

It is more than possible, don't dismiss it so easily. 

 

Yup, we should make the old Wessex area our stomping ground. Any local young player looking for first team football at a decent level  should be able to look at us and see a plethora of local talent going through the club and then going onto fulfil/further their careers elsewhere. We really should be getting cat 1 status, but also have to sort out the whole set up, the staff turn over and quality of coaching staff is not what you would expect with a team with ambition.

 

Get Cat 1

Get a stable and good coaching staff on board

Don't let the first team coach / manager meddle with the set up, if they want appointments or changes then it should be in agreement with a DoF and Academy Director - constant changing due to managers/coaches may work with first teams, but messes up long term development projects

Make BCFC academy the first choice for local talent knowing they will get first team football because they can see others like them flowing through the club

Actually play them, and I don't mean Bryan and Reid who I think broke through into the first team what 5 years ago now ?  15 min appearance all season is not, giving youth a chance.

 

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47 minutes ago, Monkeh said:

I can dismiss it, we don't have a cat 1 academy so any star players that happen to be good enough and likely to improve will be plucked out of our team and there is not a thing we can do about it,

Correct, for now. If we aspire to Cat One status though and make that a priority, then it is far from impossible to make a top flight side from only South West english players. It'll be hard work and it'll take a generation to come to fruition but it is possible.

 

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Just now, Fiale said:

 

Yup, we should make the old Wessex area our stomping ground. Any local young player looking for first team football at a decent level  should be able to look at us and see a plethora of local talent going through the club and then going onto fulfil/further their careers elsewhere. We really should be getting cat 1 status, but also have to sort out the whole set up, the staff turn over and quality of coaching staff is not what you would expect with a team with ambition.

 

Get Cat 1

Get a stable and good coaching staff on board

Don't let the first team coach / manager meddle with the set up, if they want appointments or changes then it should be in agreement with a DoF and Academy Director - constant changing due to managers/coaches may work with first teams, but messes up long term development projects

Make BCFC academy the first choice for local talent knowing they will get first team football because they can see others like them flowing through the club

Actually play them, and I don't mean Bryan and Reid who I think broke through into the first team what 5 years ago now ?  15 min appearance all season is not, giving youth a chance.

 

Any manager must name two under 21 academy players in his match day 18 for example. They may not always play but they are involved

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21 minutes ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

I love the optimism of filling the team with local talent but to paraphrase another quote 'You don't win anything with BRISTOLIAN'S'. Since the heady days of the mid-70s (and I am old enough to have seen it), can we name 10 Bristolian's (i.e. from Bristol, not Bath, Frome etc) that could be said to have made it to the top of their sport. I'll kick it off with Gary Mabbutt, Lee Haskins and Judd Trump (although Whitchurch is mighty close to not being Bristol). How about the other 7?

A good point, though there have been a few in recent years.

Lily Owsley, hockey Olympic gold medal.

Jenny Jones, snowboarding Olympic bronze medal.

Claudia Fragapane, gymnastics World Championship bronze medal.

Sally Conway, judo Olympic bronze medal.

Mark Regan, played rugby for England and the British and Irish Lions.

Chris Broad, played cricket for England.

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29 minutes ago, Welcome To The Jungle said:

Correct, for now. If we aspire to Cat One status though and make that a priority, then it is far from impossible to make a top flight side from only South West english players. It'll be hard work and it'll take a generation to come to fruition but it is possible.

 

once we get cat one my opinion will change, thats what the club is working towards but until then we will always have to buy in, 

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1 hour ago, RoystonFoote'snephew said:

I love the optimism of filling the team with local talent but to paraphrase another quote 'You don't win anything with BRISTOLIAN'S'. Since the heady days of the mid-70s (and I am old enough to have seen it), can we name 10 Bristolian's (i.e. from Bristol, not Bath, Frome etc) that could be said to have made it to the top of their sport. I'll kick it off with Gary Mabbutt, Lee Haskins and Judd Trump (although Whitchurch is mighty close to not being Bristol). How about the other 7?

Great point. It is worth noting though that there aren't many bigger teams (except maybe Swansea and *shudder* Cardiff) than us in our wider catchment area of Gloucs, Somerset and South Wales and we've still missed out on Eric Dier (from Cheltenham), Jack Butland (Clevedon), Nathan Dyer (Trowbridge).

I've heard that Bristol Sport are running sports events at schools and with local teams with our youth scouts in attendance, trying to identify talent at an even earlier stage than we do now in an effort to stop instances like the above happening. However, I know that Southampton shop for talent around our neck of the woods regularly, evensofar as having a base in Bath, and it's questionable how we'll compete with them in the long term.

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7 minutes ago, Creg said:

Great point. It is worth noting though that there aren't many bigger teams (except maybe Swansea and *shudder* Cardiff) than us in our wider catchment area of Gloucs, Somerset and South Wales and we've still missed out on Eric Dier (from Cheltenham), Jack Butland (Clevedon), Nathan Dyer (Trowbridge).

I've heard that Bristol Sport are running sports events at schools and with local teams with our youth scouts in attendance, trying to identify talent at an even earlier stage than we do now in an effort to stop instances like the above happening. However, I know that Southampton shop for talent around our neck of the woods regularly, evensofar as having a base in Bath, and it's questionable how we'll compete with them in the long term.

you say missed out 

Eric Dier was living in Portugal from 7 years old, how did we miss out on him?

Jack Butland was at Jamie Shore academy and got a very good offer from Birmingham (at the time a prem club) its very hard to compete with that

Dyer joined Southampton again at the time we had little chance of competeing with them on youth front,

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4 hours ago, downendcity said:

Some us were very lucky to see us do just that in the 70s.

Sadly I fear those days are behind us, and pretty well every other club, because the game has moved on. Players have far less loyalty to a club these days, because the financial rewards are so great and whether we like it or not we have to live that.

I still believe we should be making the most of the academy, as clubs like Southampton have shown what can be achieved in this regard. 

As far back as I can remember Southampton have had a big scouting network In this area. This has always been a bugbear to me that they can come on our patch and sign good young players from under our noses. Will it ever change ? I'd like to think so but I doubt it.

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Just now, robinreliant said:

As far back as I can remember Southampton have had a big scouting network In this area. This has always been a bugbear to me that they can come on our patch and sign good young players from under our noses. Will it ever change ? I'd like to think so but I doubt it.

Southampton have been expanding their scouting network since the 80s. They were developing youth before it became the popular thing to do. If we can get Premier League football, then we might be able to challenge, but a footballers career is only so long. I don't blame youngsters for heading to one of the best clubs in the world for youth development.

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2 minutes ago, ZiderEyed said:

Southampton have been expanding their scouting network since the 80s. They were developing youth before it became the popular thing to do. If we can get Premier League football, then we might be able to challenge, but a footballers career is only so long. I don't blame youngsters for heading to one of the best clubs in the world for youth development.

Son of a friend of mine has just been picked up by Southampton aged 8, while training in Bath...

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It's true that they have been up there for a long period of time bar a short period and that is maybe why young kids and their parents are lured towards them rather than us.

We have been saying that the success of our academy  is the way forward but what you say is true and that's why I don't think it's going to change any time soon sadly. We are doing things a different way now and scouting abroad more and more but other clubs are doing exactly that as well. I do admire Southampton and the way they have brought in successful managers time after time. Also buying raw talent and selling them on for big fees has been their forte as well. Maybe we are learning that aspect of their success.

 

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6 minutes ago, The Dolman Pragmatist said:

Son of a friend of mine has just been picked up by Southampton aged 8, while training in Bath...

Friend of mine is a very big gas fan. (Well sort of friend). His Grandson has just signed for us. He's not happy at all I can tell you.

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