Cameron Coxe released.....

[Tuerto]

As I said, I don't want to make this just about Cameron Coxe. We've got one of the oldest squads in the league and I thought they turned in a performance today that was, in some ways, disgraceful for seasoned professionals - there's that cliche about how teams perform on a wet, windy Tuesday in Stoke, well today we didn't fancy it on a wet, windy Saturday in Stoke and for a team set up to play like we've been doing since Neil Warnock arrived that's just not on, yet I bet that for most, if not all, of those experienced pros, football won't be any where near as brutal for them when it comes to selection for Tuesday night.

Ofcourse it wont be so brutal, they've proved themselves to be able performers at this level over a period of years, they have history to back them up, that's how it works. Most of those Experienced pros would've been in the position Coxe and co were in at some point, it's not like they haven't gone through the process. The brutal bit comes when it's contract renewal time.

[the other bob wilson]

Ofcourse it wont be so brutal, they've proved themselves to be able performers at this level over a period of years, they have history to back them up, that's how it works. Most of those Experienced pros would've been in the position Coxe and co were in at some point, it's not like they haven't gone through the process. The brutal bit comes when it's contract renewal time.

If there is one single thing which illustrates how the approach to youth development has changed at Cardiff City over the past few years, it's the question Binge Thinking asked on here a few seasons back. Apologies to Richard if I've got this wrong, but it was along the lines of what happened in just six games at Cardiff City in the twentieth century, but in all but two matches during 2014/15 I believe it was? The answer was City played a league game without a single Welshman in their squad.
I watched City sides I rate as a lot better than this one finish higher in the old Second Division in the 60s and 70s than we are currently in the Championship with a nucleus of Welsh, mostly home grown, players in the team, so the line about younger players not being able to break through because the standards are so much higher these days does not wash with me. Similarly, during the time you were at the club, there were always locally born youngsters graduating into the first team, so, brutal or not, a teenager on City's books could believe there was a way of making it into your local club's senior team because there were plenty of others who had done so.
This has gradually stopped happening in the last decade and the current under 18 team would have been less than ten when the last player to break through and nail down a regular place in the first team was given his debut and, even then, most of Joe Ralls' development years were spent at Farnborough Town.
It seems to me that one of three different things, or maybe a combination of two or all three, have happened since Ralls' debut in 2011. Either, the Academy talent spotters are doing a poorer job than their equivalents did since we played our first Football League games in 1920. City have always struggled to attract the very best local talent, so, again, the line that the best youngsters all go to the big clubs with category One Academies doesn't wash with me - we were always able to produce young talent that would come into the first team and, in many cases, improve it. Second, despite all of the money thrown at it, there is a poor standard of coaching at the Academy which hinders, rather than helps, the development of talented youngsters - there is always good representation from Cardiff in Wales age group sides all the way up to Under 19 level, something which makes me favour option two over option one. Finally, managers are less willing to take a risk on youth because, by and large, the Cardiff way has become to throw money at potential selection issues by giving them funds to spend on a series of players who have come here with, being charitable, mixed results.
I daresay there has been some pressure from above on managers for instant results which has contributed to option three as well, but my feeling is that it is options two and three that are most relevant when it comes to the failure, and it has been a total failure over the past five or six seasons, of our Academy when it comes to what should be its primary function.

[Tuerto]

If there is one single thing which illustrates how the approach to youth development has changed at Cardiff City over the past few years, it's the question Binge Thinking asked on here a few seasons back. Apologies to Richard if I've got this wrong, but it was along the lines of what happened in just six games at Cardiff City in the twentieth century, but in all but two matches during 2014/15 I believe it was? The answer was City played a league game without a single Welshman in their squad.
I watched City sides I rate as a lot better than this one finish higher in the old Second Division in the 60s and 70s than we are currently in the Championship with a nucleus of Welsh, mostly home grown, players in the team, so the line about younger players not being able to break through because the standards are so much higher these days does not wash with me. Similarly, during the time you were at the club, there were always locally born youngsters graduating into the first team, so, brutal or not, a teenager on City's books could believe there was a way of making it into your local club's senior team because there were plenty of others who had done so.
This has gradually stopped happening in the last decade and the current under 18 team would have been less than ten when the last player to break through and nail down a regular place in the first team was given his debut and, even then, most of Joe Ralls' development years were spent at Farnborough Town.
It seems to me that one of three different things, or maybe a combination of two or all three, have happened since Ralls' debut in 2011. Either, the Academy talent spotters are doing a poorer job than their equivalents did since we played our first Football League games in 1920. City have always struggled to attract the very best local talent, so, again, the line that the best youngsters all go to the big clubs with category One Academies doesn't wash with me - we were always able to produce young talent that would come into the first team and, in many cases, improve it. Second, despite all of the money thrown at it, there is a poor standard of coaching at the Academy which hinders, rather than helps, the development of talented youngsters - there is always good representation from Cardiff in Wales age group sides all the way up to Under 19 level, something which makes me favour option two over option one. Finally, managers are less willing to take a risk on youth because, by and large, the Cardiff way has become to throw money at potential selection issues by giving them funds to spend on a series of players who have come here with, being charitable, mixed results.
I daresay there has been some pressure from above on managers for instant results which has contributed to option three as well, but my feeling is that it is options two and three that are most relevant when it comes to the failure, and it has been a total failure over the past five or six seasons, of our Academy when it comes to what should be its primary function.

Bob, i don't know why we aren't producing good young players. It could be the set up, coaching or individuals within the coaching set up or our last four or five managers and the remit that they had to work from.

Our youth set up started to ramp up and become more Professional when a bloke named Gavin Tait was brought in and was given the freedom to re-structure things, he would've been responsible for picking out Aaron Ramsey, James Collins, Joe Ledley and Chris Gunter at a very young age and brought in Earnshaw. He left the club to go to Sunderland and he now works for the FA. His young Protege, Matty Crocker took over the reigns and developed all four of these players, he was an apprentice with the club but never made the grade (From Llanedeyrn) He was doing some fantastic work with the youngsters alongside Neil Ardley who left for AFC Wimbledon. Crocker ended up working for the FA and was in charge of all age groups below senior England national team in the implementation of coaching and education, apparently he was instrumental in the success of the u17s world cup win. He's now at Sothampton (Director of Football operations) who have a fantastic history in producing young talent (they don't employ mugs) maybe we just haven't employed the right people.