poor behaviour from GTFC

I took in a few youth team games last season and I have to say how surprised I was with how small Town were in comparison to many of their opponents.  Be that just a freak occurrence that a particular year group are small or an actual philosophy of the club to develop talent based on ability not size, knowing that the physical side may come later on for a few of them.  I don't know which it is but I know which I hope it is.[/quote]



Yes I took the Doncaster game here , it's looked like men against boys . We were nippy and passed the ball well , but their physical build just wasn't up to that of Doncaster .  Even the match last week against hull , they were a good 3 to 4 inches taller than us , last season while in the conference teams were bigger . I know it doesn't always mean they are more skillfull but they are more intimidating.

I know of a few people who have been released through the youth system of clubs for being too small, slow or whatever.  Each individual case seems harsh but youth coaches have to make decisions - there's always more aspiring footballers than there are places in squads.

Still, easier to make a living in football than many sports.  There must be over 2,000 professional footballers in England so you can be the 2000th best footballer in the country and still make a living from it.

You could be the 2nd or 3rd best tennis player in the country but if you aren't in the world top 100 you will have to fund yourself to play.

I think some of you are missing the point.  He's not trying to say he's Maradona, but raising some points about prevailing football culture in this country, which only cares about strength, fitness and physicality, and not about skill.  This is before you even start on the way we educate (or not, as the case may be) our young players before either using them or disposing of them.

Of course, he could "pull himself up by the bootstraps" and by the looks of it he has done and continued playing to a level he enjoys and is suited to.

Are we saying that we should all just keep quiet about the stone-age coaching culture that's holding our national game back and that kids should just "bluddy well shudd upp" and do as they're told by clueless clubs?

Quoted from DocTower

I took in a few youth team games last season and I have to say how surprised I was with how small Town were in comparison to many of their opponents.  Be that just a freak occurrence that a particular year group are small or an actual philosophy of the club to develop talent based on ability not size, knowing that the physical side may come later on for a few of them.  I don't know which it is but I know which I hope it is.

Interesting comment.  My son plays in the 3rd team for his age group in his local club.  Most of the boys are decent footballers but it's noticeable that they are all currently shorter than average for their age.  The boys in the first team are mostly bigger - and often it's just because they were born in Sept/ Oct and the 3rd team boys are 6-12 months younger.  Time and again they lose against bigger teams

Quoted from HackneyHaddock

I think some of you are missing the point.  He's not trying to say he's Maradona, but raising some points about prevailing football culture in this country, which only cares about strength, fitness and physicality, and not about skill.  This is before you even start on the way we educate (or not, as the case may be) our young players before either using them or disposing of them.

Of course, he could "pull himself up by the bootstraps" and by the looks of it he has done and continued playing to a level he enjoys and is suited to.

Are we saying that we should all just keep quiet about the stone-age coaching culture that's holding our national game back and that kids should just "bluddy well shudd upp" and do as they're told by clueless clubs?

I don't think posters are saying size is more important than skill.  But if you have two players of equivalent skill and one is physically more imposing on the pitch, the bigger one will get the contract.  In all sport now, you have to be bigger, fitter, stronger to reach the top.  

Quoted from LondonMariner43

Interesting comment.  My son plays in the 3rd team for his age group in his local club.  Most of the boys are decent footballers but it's noticeable that they are all currently shorter than average for their age.  The boys in the first team are mostly bigger - and often it's just because they were born in Sept/ Oct and the 3rd team boys are 6-12 months younger.  Time and again they lose against bigger teams

Great point.  Now take that and rewind five weeks to the European Championships and the debate about why England are so technically inept and haven't come close to winning anything for 50 years.  Countries like Portugal, the Netherlands, Uruguay etc, all have populations a fraction of ours yet have consistently outperformed us in terms of semis and finals reached over the last 40 years.  Surely they must be doing something we're not, or something that fuels their success?  Whatever it is, I bet discarding skilful kids because they're not built like David Haye isn't one of them.

Quoted from 61125[b

]I think some of you are missing the point.  He's not trying to say he's Maradona, but raising some points about prevailing football culture in this country,[/b] which only cares about strength, fitness and physicality, and not about skill.  This is before you even start on the way we educate (or not, as the case may be) our young players before either using them or disposing of them.

Of course, he could "pull himself up by the bootstraps" and by the looks of it he has done and continued playing to a level he enjoys and is suited to.

Are we saying that we should all just keep quiet about the stone-age coaching culture that's holding our national game back and that kids should just "bluddy well shudd upp" and do as they're told by clueless clubs?

The point he is raising is that GTFC rejected this lad , hence the title of the thread. If he was having a go at the system of Youth Development then he would have quoted examples from several clubs across the Professional Football Pyramid and not just GTFC.

I suppose, Rancido, he's just giving his own experience but agree the article would have benefited from some more examples.  Somewhere on the internet there's an article on Sonny Pike, one time "next Gazza" which paints a similar picture of teenage footballer rejection.

Fair enough, he might not have been good enough, but he should have been given the courtesy of being told he wasn't good enough, not that he was "too small to play football".  An even more honest answer would be to tell him he was "too small to play football for an English fifth tier club trying to produce players it feels able to use or monetise in the technically-inept English league pyramid."

Perhaps the chap should go to one of Glenn Hoddle's soccer schools and try to move to Spain as Griezmann did to develop his game in a more enlightened coaching environment?

Quoted from HackneyHaddock

I suppose, Rancido, he's just giving his own experience but agree the article would have benefited from some more examples.  Somewhere on the internet there's an article on Sonny Pike, one time "next Gazza" which paints a similar picture of teenage footballer rejection.

Fair enough, he might not have been good enough, but he should have been given the courtesy of being told he wasn't good enough, not that he was "too small to play football".  An even more honest answer would be to tell him he was "too small to play football for an English fifth tier club trying to produce players it feels able to use or monetise in the technically-inept English league pyramid."

Perhaps the chap should go to one of Glenn Hoddle's soccer schools and try to move to Spain as Griezmann did to develop his game in a more enlightened coaching environment?

Aye he'll have a real shot at being a professional in Spain considering he can't make Cleethorpes first team FFS. Maybe, just maybe, he's not good enough and the coach thought he was doing him a favour by saying the reason was he was too small rather than being brutally honest and telling him he hasn't got what it takes. If he had the ability, it wouldn't matter how small he is. Andy Taylor was tiny but still played a couple of seasons for Town professionally. Danny North and Peter Bore weren't exactly behemoths either.

I don't doubt that we're not coaching players to be as technically proficient as other countries. However, that isn't the same argument as this where a lad who wasn't up to it and has an axe to grind.

mariner91, again that's not the point.  I don't doubt he wasn't probably good enough.  Why didn't the coach just say that instead of BS-ing him?  

The whole point of the debate we're having is that in England we discard young players based on size, not on ability and also have a technical deficiency.  The two may or may not be connected.