Jared Bowen

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Jared Bowen

I said the same on Twitter in response to a Paul Abbo post - it feels like, on the rare occasions in recent years when a young player was selected for the first team, they have been quite quickly discarded, and I always wondered how they were ALL deemed not good enough (I assumed that those making such decisions clearly knew much more than me and saw more of the player than we ever would).

I asked Buzby where those players ended up. I’m not surprised he swerved the question.

The fact is that, during the past ten years, none of the players who graduated from the club’s youth system, made first team appearances and were subsequently discarded have gone on to bigger and better things.

Players who fall into that category include Xavier Benjamin (now at Enfield), Sam Bowen (now at Solihull Moors), Cameron Coxe (now at Boreham Wood), Tom Davies (now at Newport County), Kieron Evans (now at Eastleigh), Jai Semenyo (also at Eastleigh) and Chanka Zimba (now at Inverness Caledonian Thistle).

The one that stands out for me is Ollie Denham. He made his debut in a League Cup game against Brighton and started in a FA Cup tie against Liverpool at Anfield before playing five Championship games for City during the second half of the 2021/22 campaign. Fans were talking in serious terms about him being a genuine Premier League prospect. He’s now playing for Sligo Rovers in the League of Ireland.

The only realistic conclusion you can draw from the above is that those players were simply not good enough for Championship or even League One football, and the club was right to release them when it did.

The young players who have made it through to the first team in recent years and looked genuinely capable of playing at Championship or League One level have all been retained (Cian Ashford, Joel Bagan, Rubin Colwill, Isaak Davies and Eli King), and now we have another very promising batch of academy products emerging to play alongside them.

It’s really exciting stuff, but it’s not as if the emergence of the younger players in the current squad is a sudden development. After all, Bagan made his first team debut in February 2020, Colwill made his in February 2021, Davies and King made theirs in October 2021, and Ashford made his in August 2023.

[BLUEAWAY TOO]

Re: Jared Bowen

It was more a case of the 1st team manager not being prepared to sacrifice experience for youth.
Players need to play regularly at the level that they’re required for to develop and even better if in a winning team.
Bowen didn’t leave us and immediately become a much better player

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Jared Bowen

Bowen didn’t leave us and immediately become a much better player

Bowen was only ever here on trial.

[the other bob wilson]

Re: Jared Bowen

Here’s a question about managerial attitudes towards young players. I’ve seen Dylan Lawlor described as a “generational talent” and a Champions League player in the making, but do you think he would be a regular starter in a Neil Warnock managed City team?

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Jared Bowen

Here’s a question about managerial attitudes towards young players. I’ve seen Dylan Lawlor described as a “generational talent” and a Champions League player in the making, but do you think he would be a regular starter in a Neil Warnock managed City team?

Not a chance, but here’s another question: if City were still in the Championship, do you think Lawlor would be a regular starter at this stage of his career?

[the other bob wilson]

Re: Jared Bowen

Not a chance, but here’s another question: if City were still in the Championship, do you think Lawlor would be a regular starter at this stage of his career?

Under this manager yes, under Warnock, no way. However, Warnock would have to be a strong contender for a best second tier manager of the last 50 years award. I’d also say that whereas it’s fear of the sack which makes many not pick kids, with Warnock it was a matter of principle. He never feared the sack, in fact he tended to clear off as soon as he sensed things were beginning to turn against him.

[The Lone Gunman]

Re: Jared Bowen

Under this manager yes, under Warnock, no way. However, Warnock would have to be a strong contender for a best second tier manager of the last 50 years award. I’d also say that whereas it’s fear of the sack which makes many not pick kids, with Warnock it was a matter of principle. He never feared the sack, in fact he tended to clear off as soon as he sensed things were beginning to turn against him.

I’m not so sure he would be a regular starter in the Championship even under BBM. I reckon the manager has a fair bit more leeway with the youngsters at this level than he would if we were the level above.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens to our line-up in the coming weeks now that Osho is in the squad. He won’t have come here to sit on the bench.