The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

[the other bob wilson]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

I was going to post this a few days ago but didn't. Does anyone actually think that these youngsters will get anywhere near the first team? We see these kind of articles every year and none of them seem to make any impression. Or is it more of WalesOnline posting articles for the sake of it?

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/...rdiff-14340162

Someone e-mailed me that a few days ago with a comment on how poorly researched it was - I agreed with him.

Margetson has played for Under 23s this season, but, generally speaking, has been unable to get a starting place in the Under 18 side most of the time - the same is true to a lesser extent with Wooton. Burwood played for the Under 23s yesterday, as did Spence, and seems to have established himself as first choice for the Under 18s recently, while I can remember seeing Bodenham play very well in his first match for the Under 23s about a year ago.

For me, Spence, who has scored twenty one times I think it is now for the Under 18s this season, is the one with the best chance among those five and he would have been a sub in our final game of last season up at Huddersfield if there had not been a problem with his insurance, but I don't think anyone who watches Under 18 football regularly would come up with those five names if they were asked who were the best young prospects at the club.

[thehumblegringo]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

Someone e-mailed me that a few days ago with a comment on how poorly researched it was - I agreed with him.

Margetson has played for Under 23s this season, but, generally speaking, has been unable to get a starting place in the Under 18 side most of the time - the same is true to a lesser extent with Wooton. Burwood played for the Under 23s yesterday, as did Spence, and seems to have established himself as first choice for the Under 18s recently, while I can remember seeing Bodenham play very well in his first match for the Under 23s about a year ago.

For me, Spence, who has scored twenty one times I think it is now for the Under 18s this season, is the one with the best chance among those five and he would have been a sub in our final game of last season up at Huddersfield if there had not been a problem with his insurance, but I don't think anyone who watches Under 18 football regularly would come up with those five names if they were asked who were the best young prospects at the club.

I was completely baffled when I read the article Bob. If you haven't got a clue about a subject why would you write an article about it.

[the other bob wilson]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

Here's my report on yesterday's Development team game.

http://mauveandyellowarmy.net/

[Tokyo Blue]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

Someone e-mailed me that a few days ago with a comment on how poorly researched it was - I agreed with him.

Margetson has played for Under 23s this season, but, generally speaking, has been unable to get a starting place in the Under 18 side most of the time - the same is true to a lesser extent with Wooton. Burwood played for the Under 23s yesterday, as did Spence, and seems to have established himself as first choice for the Under 18s recently, while I can remember seeing Bodenham play very well in his first match for the Under 23s about a year ago.

For me, Spence, who has scored twenty one times I think it is now for the Under 18s this season, is the one with the best chance among those five and he would have been a sub in our final game of last season up at Huddersfield if there had not been a problem with his insurance, but I don't think anyone who watches Under 18 football regularly would come up with those five names if they were asked who were the best young prospects at the club.

Thanks for the response, and it was exactly as I suspected. I got the same impression that the article wasn't entirely accurate or worthwhile. But I always get intrigued by these kind of articles as I'd love to see more youth development from the club.

I follow your blog posts about the U23s and U18s with keen interest, and often wonder when the next local talent will come along to break in to the first team.

[Loramski]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

Here's my report on yesterday's Development team game.

http://mauveandyellowarmy.net/

Healey took a knock very early on. He tried to run it off but was limping noticeably and after a mistake which nearly led to a goal was taken off. He looked very unhappy, it's been a desperate 12 months for him.

It was a shame that Spence ended up playing wide in the second half, he doesn't look that comfortable there. With only three outfield subs it was going to be hard to keep everyone in a favoured position but having waited so long for a shot at the under-23s again, I'm sure Spence would've liked to have stayed more central. I thought they could've stuck Rowe out wide instead but I'm sure they had their reasons. As you said, it was hard to make any impression in those conditions so I guess it wouldn't have made much difference.

[the other bob wilson]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

There's a match at Cardiff City Stadium tonight, the club's Twitter feed has confirmed that the Development team are playing Bolton,kick off 7 o clock.

[Loramski]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

There's a match at Cardiff City Stadium tonight, the club's Twitter feed has confirmed that the Development team are playing Bolton,kick off 7 o clock.

3-0 loss tonight. Bolton are well clear in their league so not an unexpected result but there's very little positive to say about the game. We had a few players out but the trialists and youngsters who replaced them made little impression, we only had one shot on target in each half. James Waite had a terrific effort tipped over early in the second half and he was the stand-out performer but he had little support. Ridiculously cold, shame this game didn't get called off too.

[the other bob wilson]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

3-0 loss tonight. Bolton are well clear in their league so not an unexpected result but there's very little positive to say about the game. We had a few players out but the trialists and youngsters who replaced them made little impression, we only had one shot on target in each half. James Waite had a terrific effort tipped over early in the second half and he was the stand-out performer but he had little support. Ridiculously cold, shame this game didn't get called off too.

Bolton reminded me of the Preston team that came here and won just after Christmas - poor, but still quite a bit better than us. I can remember reading somewhere that the Bolton team of the 50s were very much a "take no prisoners" outfit and it seems to me that many of their teams since then have had the same philosophy. Bolton weren't too particular about whether they played the man or the ball in the early stages and, to add to all of the other factors which made the match a really poor watch, there was also the fact that it never really flowed because of all the stoppages for fouls.

The longest stoppage came when Paul McKay was stretchered off with what looked like a bad injury - there was a foul by a Bolton player, but that was given for a tackle seconds after McKay was injured and, on just the one viewing, it doesn't look like the injury was caused by a poor challenge,

I've not looked up the names of the assortment of trialists on show yet, but I thought the number 10 looked pretty useful for a while before fading and the tiny number eleven looked to have some ability.

I agree completely with your summing up, Waite was our best player.

[Loramski]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

A quick update. Having lost three games in a row, 4-0, 3-0 and 3-0, the under-23s won two away games in three days last week, 3-0 at Colchester and 4-0 at Watford. A bizarre set of results and if you've been betting on both teams to score you're well out of pocket but it's good to see some goals going in for us. Mark Harris got two in the first game and Ogo Obi scored three over the two games. Ibrahim Meite is back and scored in the Watford game. The usual mix of trialists and regulars, still work in progress at that level.

[Loramski]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

A quick look at how some of our former youngsters are doing. The close season will see a lot of these lads move up and down the leagues and while none of them are playing at a higher level than us yet, there are a couple showing the potential to possibly do that at some point.

Ashley Baker has just signed a two and a half year contract extension at Sheffield Wednesday and is in line to make his first team debut before the end of the season. Tom James has made 49 appearances for Yeovil and seems set for a move in the summer. Semi Ajayi has made 39 appearances for Rotherham and they have made the League 1 play offs, Deji Oshilaja has been a regular in the AFC Wimbledon side and, in League 2, David Tutonda has established himself in the Barnet team as they battle against relegation.

Regan Poole has struggled on loan at Northampton and has dropped out of the picture there recently, Ben Nugent has made 27 appearances for Gillingham and Rollin Menayese has been playing for Swindon, on loan from Bristol Rovers (he was recently sent off at Newport). Josh Yorwerth has played 41 times for Crawley, keepers Luke O'Reilly and Ollie Byrne are at Spurs and Blackburn respectively, Eli Phipps is in Colchester's under-23 side & Marco Weymans is playing in Belgium's First Division B for Tubize.

In the National League, Luke Coulson has scored 10 in 46 from midfield for Ebbsfleet, Danny Johnson 13 in 36 for Gateshead while Tommy O'Sullivan has struggled to get games for Torquay, on loan from Colchester.

At the next level down, Theo Wharton has made little impact at York while Gethyn Hill has scored 18 for Weston Super Mare alongside Jarrad Welch, who has been playing regularly recently. Jazzi Barnum-Bobb is at play-off bound Chelmsford while Robbie Patten is at Chippenham. Hereford will be at that level too next season, Jamie Bird has been playing for them.

I'm sure there are others I've forgotten (or can't track down), stick your own ones up if you think of any.

[Cyncoed Slumdog]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

Not a former player but Rhys Healey scored on his loan debut for Torquay before being sent off in a subsequent game.
I'm also curious to know how Tyrone Duffus is doing at Hereford. He looked good for our U23's and started well at Hereford but I think was injured early in his loan spell.

[Loramski]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

Not a former player but Rhys Healey scored on his loan debut for Torquay before being sent off in a subsequent game.
I'm also curious to know how Tyrone Duffus is doing at Hereford. He looked good for our U23's and started well at Hereford but I think was injured early in his loan spell.

Duffus went back to Hereford having recovered from a hamstring injury but went off after half an hour of his comeback game, a knee injury I think. I saw him on crutches at the CCS in January so I assume his season was over then. I agree with you, he did look good for us and I'd like to think he'll be back here next season.

I mentioned Rhys Healey on here the other night. He got a hat-trick on Tuesday in a shambolic Torquay home defeat against Guiseley, who had a player sent off after 3 minutes but still won 4-3. Rhys was described as admirable but then I've never seen a bad word said about him as a player or a person during any of his loan spells. Of course he should be scoring at that level but he always applies himself wherever he goes and seems to earn a lot of respect. I pointed out that he's now played in the top five divisions (as well as the Scottish and Welsh Premier Leagues) but, largely due to his injuries, we're still not quite sure what his level is. He deserves some luck, hopefully he'll push on next season.

[the other bob wilson]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

I see Baker was an unused sub at Wolves for Sheffield Wednesday yesterday - hopefully, he'll get some game time next week.

[Blue in the Face]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

I see Baker was an unused sub at Wolves for Sheffield Wednesday yesterday - hopefully, he'll get some game time next week.

Apparently that's eight times across the season that he's made the bench for a Wednesday league game which would suggest he isn't merely making the bench because of a rare collection of injuries. He's also just signed a two and a half year contract extension.

Did you feel we let him go too early? Or has he merely bloomed since leaving us?

[Loramski]

Re: The Bluebirds Academy and DVP thread...

I see Baker was an unused sub at Wolves for Sheffield Wednesday yesterday - hopefully, he'll get some game time next week.

Bit of an odd one this. Wednesday only needed a point to win their under-23s league on Friday but Baker was pulled out of that to join up with the first team squad and then left on the bench. The under-23s lost 2-1 which not only cost them the title but second place too (Notts Forest overtook them on goal difference while Bolton won the league) so they didn't even make the play-offs. Apparently, Baker was due to make his first team debut recently but fell ill on the day of the game. Maybe next week, as you say.

Jarrad Welch scored (another) good goal yesterday in a man of the match performance for Weston. I never saw him play here but I remember you saying you rated him. I know Des Parrot was impressed with him at Cinderford last season and said he'd had a trial at Bournemouth. He seemed to leave here under a cloud but he's establishing himself at non-league level now, I wonder if a bigger club will come in for him in the close season.