Kids today! Are they really?

[Rock_Flock_of_Five]

In the past social media wasn’t prevalent like it is these days. Players can get hammered on football messageboards these days and in social media in general. It never used to be like this so it’s much harder for them these days.

^^^ This

In fairness, I don't recall any of our young players getting abuse during a game. Rhys Weston and Cameron Toshack used to raise a few groans from the home crowd, but that was more out of frustration than any real direct attack on them.

It's natural that players are going to be analysed on their performance on social media platforms, regardless of whether they are junior or senior players. You wouldn't expect anything less on a football forum, it's one of its facets.

I agree with the OP though, I regard 16-19 year olds as "kids" in football terms.

[Citizen's Nephew]

^^^ This

In fairness, I don't recall any of our young players getting abuse during a game. Rhys Weston and Cameron Toshack used to raise a few groans from the home crowd, but that was more out of frustration than any real direct attack on them.

It's natural that players are going to be analysed on their performance on social media platforms, regardless of whether they are junior or senior players. You wouldn't expect anything less on a football forum, it's one of its facets.

I agree with the OP though, I regard 16-19 year olds as "kids" in football terms.

Forgive me if I'm wrong but I think you are the only one who has picked up on this. When I put the title of the thread up I thought it would attract more discussion about this aspect of kids v lads v youngsters which is why I mentioned a couple of debutants under 18.

I still think it's something we don't like to talk about. Is it because as a society now we tend to infantilise young men who, 70-80 years ago would be leading very different and quite often dangerous lives? I don't know. I'd love to hear more from people regarding this though.