Artus & Gj

[Rednready]

November last year. GJ says Artus is very close to selection..nothing happened.

Artus captain for reserve grade, shows skills with tackling, passing and scoring regular goals.......no selection.

Rave reviews from people watching first grade training. " Best midfielder on display " etc..........no selection.

No further word from GJ since his quote about Artus being very close to selection.

So we have our biggest midfielder with rave reviews, soon to be 20 and yet to get a start. Thats an age when Skuse, Fontaine, Keogh, Lita, Williams and Cotterill had all played for the first team.

Has Artus been a bad boy as stated in another thread, or has the club kept things quiet to keep outside interest away.

Will he get his chance this coming season, and will he succeed at championship level ?

[Andy Horsman]

Interesting. Will definitely raise more than eyebrows if he doesn't feature soon.I suspect that his opportunity is just around the corner, after all, if GJ had a problem with him, he would be gone, ask Phiilips, Stewart and Benyon...

[bh_red]

perhaps his form dipped, then again after November, Johnson and Noble form both improved and there was no way either could be dropped to bring in artus

[tin]

Wasn't he injured for a while ?

Who could Johnson drop to enable Artus to make his debut - bearing in mind that every game was a big one as there was a lot of pressure towards the end of the season ?

If we would have won promotion at Millwall, maybe he would have got a game against Rotherham.

He had quite a serious injury mid-season I believe. From what I heard from inside the club, he was very close to getting a game mid-season and got injured at the wrong time. That's why I personally wouldn't be too bothered if we sold Skuse for £m's with this guy waiting in the wings.

[Tunley Legend]

It's surely up to Artus to show the sort of form in pre-season that means Johnson cannot possibly leave him out.

[GrahamC]

I can only surmise two reasons for his non selection.

Firstly at the "business end" of last season GJ clearly went for experience and the much more experienced Skuse was also to be found on the bench as Russell came in to do a job.

Second reason? The reserves' opposition, scoring 9 against Weymouth's second string proves absolutely nothing and although that's not Artus's fault, a month on loan in Hereford's first team, say, would do him far more good than playing against dross like that.

[Rednready]

I can only surmise two reasons for his non selection.

Firstly at the "business end" of last season GJ clearly went for experience and the much more experienced Skuse was also to be found on the bench as Russell came in to do a job.

Second reason? The reserves' opposition, scoring 9 against Weymouth's second string proves absolutely nothing and although that's not Artus's fault, a month on loan in Hereford's first team, say, would do him far more good than playing against dross like that.

Sound reasoning, but I hope he gets a few starts in the pre season, enough to make him hard to leave out. If Skuse does leave, then there will be a vacancy. Otherwise, perhaps a month on loan with a call back clause.

[tomman]

Artus was keen to go out on loan to get first team football. Torquay and Cheltenham were both interested. Simple reason he didn't go was that Johnson didn't want him to.

No doubt he will come through in time, Johnson loves him, and we will have a great local player (City mad) in our first team.

[CGS RED]

Artus was keen to go out on loan to get first team football. Torquay and Cheltenham were both interested. Simple reason he didn't go was that Johnson didn't want him to.

No doubt he will come through in time, Johnson loves him, and we will have a great local player (City mad) in our first team.

You don't post often, but always with good sense and substance. If Johnson loves him, that says it all.

[Topbuzz]

Was surprised to see him pick up a promotion medal at the End of season sponsors evenin.

[REDOXO]

November last year. GJ says Artus is very close to selection..nothing happened.

Artus captain for reserve grade, shows skills with tackling, passing and scoring regular goals.......no selection.

Rave reviews from people watching first grade training. " Best midfielder on display " etc..........no selection.

No further word from GJ since his quote about Artus being very close to selection.

So we have our biggest midfielder with rave reviews, soon to be 20 and yet to get a start. Thats an age when Skuse, Fontaine, Keogh, Lita, Williams and Cotterill had all played for the first team.

Has Artus been a bad boy as stated in another thread, or has the club kept things quiet to keep outside interest away.

Will he get his chance this coming season, and will he succeed at championship level ?

We did get promoted so I suspect GJ will think he picked the right team....However I do agree with what underlies your comment.. that we are not allowing players through from our reserves/accademy quickly enough.

If anyone vaguely suitable becomes available right now there is a clamour to bring them in.. which will block the progress of players such as Artus (A problem we have had for many years) and unfortunately if we look like we might sell a player many people on this forum go nuts

The fact is the home grown neucleus of our 76/77 promotion team took time to develop and we as supporters don't give managers (and chairman) that sort of time anymore...However the alternative is bringing in players that simply don't do enough...As witnessed by the last nine years of failure...

If Cole Skuse should go to Reading (as has been mentioned) for a lot of money then this is an opportunity for Artus...Not a step backward or the sign of a unambitious club...Keep the faith people running a business/football club is not as black and white as many would have us believe

[Geoff65]

However I do agree with what underlies your comment.. that we are not allowing players through from our reserves/accademy quickly enough.

If anyone vaguely suitable becomes available right now there is a clamour to bring them in.. which will block the progress of players such as Artus (A problem we have had for many years) and unfortunately if we look like we might sell a player many people on this forum go nuts

It's when it's right to bring them in that has plagued us for many years - this season we had a promotion push to deal with - not an ideal time to blood raw talent - season before we had Tinnion leaving / uncoperative players / unsettled dressing room / relegation fight on our hands and yes GJ could have brought talent in at that time we did have an outside chance of play offs - even so we had JMW and cotterill in the side and we had a good midfield gaining experience of each other whilst under new management.

Start of the season coming up we have to test the waters and see how strongly we will fair in the new division - our first aim will be to stay up then blooding raw talent again might prove difficult however if by xmas we are mid table with no obvious concerns about relegation then GJ can start bringing new talent from academy in - but until then his main objective has to be to the club first and nurturing players second.

Hopefully with a bit of luck we can comfortably stay in this division for 4 - 5 years and the regular oppertunity to blood academy players will be automatic.

Just as a thought if we did reach mid table medocrity for a couple of seasons how many youngsters do you expect to be given a chance? I can only see one or two at most and they have to co-incide with positions we need filling e.g. we might have a tip top right back but if we have 2 players playing at the top of their form then getting the youngster in still might not happen.

[REDOXO]

It's when it's right to bring them in that has plagued us for many years - this season we had a promotion push to deal with - not an ideal time to blood raw talent - season before we had Tinnion leaving / uncoperative players / unsettled dressing room / relegation fight on our hands and yes GJ could have brought talent in at that time we did have an outside chance of play offs - even so we had JMW and cotterill in the side and we had a good midfield gaining experience of each other whilst under new management.

Start of the season coming up we have to test the waters and see how strongly we will fair in the new division - our first aim will be to stay up then blooding raw talent again might prove difficult however if by xmas we are mid table with no obvious concerns about relegation then GJ can start bringing new talent from academy in - but until then his main objective has to be to the club first and nurturing players second.

Hopefully with a bit of luck we can comfortably stay in this division for 4 - 5 years and the regular oppertunity to blood academy players will be automatic.

Just as a thought if we did reach mid table medocrity for a couple of seasons how many youngsters do you expect to be given a chance? I can only see one or two at most and they have to co-incide with positions we need filling e.g. we might have a tip top right back but if we have 2 players playing at the top of their form then getting the youngster in still might not happen.

I'm not sure quite how to reply to this as you hacked off the front and end to my original post....However I will give it a shot...

1 A promtion push is not the time to bring in youngsters and that was what I thought I implied by my first sentence ...Ref : We did get promoted so I suspect GJ will think he picked the right team (please read this in the conext of the post it was a reply to)

2 The BT times are the tip of the very big Iceberg...City have not been good at bringing through talent for MANY years because of the instant expectations of supporters and the percieved excess of funds the club had at Div 1 level (and much earlier)...We have looked outside consistantly and underpaid our ex accademy/youth players when in the first team...The main reason cited by Louis Carey for leaving for Coventry..

3 I agree entirely about the start of the season which also underlay this post "give our current pro's a chance at the begining of the season" which is what I said on another thread earlier today...I cant be bothered to find it please take a look at my recent posts its there...

4 Unfortunately in any form of management there is an element of risk...It is minimizing this risk that becomes an issue, thus I would expect at least one player getting in the sixteen from the accademy depending on whom the manager thinks is good enough (and other considerations..such as interest in our players from other clubs...among others...the situation is always in flux, thats football)

5 Your question..."Just as a thought if we did reach mid table medocrity for a couple of seasons how many youngsters do you expect to be given a chance?" Answer...If mediocrity is the standard of playing "ÿoungsters" then probably quite a few, however mediocrity rarely is the catalyst for youngsters at City as this is when we as a club have traditionally bought from the outside due to the expectation levels that surround the club.

6 How easy it would be if we could just blood left backs (etc) when we need them...The fact is unfortunately that sometimes you have to alter styles/tactics/formations/positions (hopefully marginally, very occasionally radically) just to give a player that needs it some first team action...(ALA Rosenior now a prem league full back)...Management is a bitch and there is always some ###### out there who will tell you they can do better...However GJ has broad shoulders for a little bloke!

[bcfcchris2016]

maybe johnson has had a fall-out with Artus.

But now, it is up to Frankie to prove Gary wrong and put in some good pre-season displays for City and hopefully we can see him next season in championship.

if he don't have a good pre-season, i think he can be the next Benyon