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Quoted from Davec

http://www.grf-football.co.uk/i-told-small-play-football/

GTFC should be ashamed.

Because we released a player who is currently representing Cleethorpes Town reserves? If he was going to make it professionally, he'd be playing in their first team at least. Like others have said, if you're good enough you're big enough and it just looks like this lad is looking for something to blame.

Quoted from Davec

http://www.grf-football.co.uk/i-told-small-play-football/

GTFC should be ashamed.

Should Town retain all the young kids who are too small/too fat/too slow?

Maybe they all come under the same umbrella, the one marked 'don't see them as ever being good enough to get in our first team'

Jamie Vardy was deemed too small by Sheff Wednesday and released. He then had to decide between dropping down the leagues significantly and making himself known by sheer effort and commitment and working his way up the football ladder, or writing a blog about it.

I've done a lot of years in junior football and its a common trend for clubs to insist the dad goes with a child as they want to see how big they are and therefore how big the kid is likely to be.
Football in general tends to treat kids as disposable and its a pretty brutal process with so few making it. I tend to advise parents now not to go when the kids get invited to training especially at 9 or 10. If they're good enough they'll still be knocking at 12 and 13. Trouble is the parents and the kids are blinded by the potential and frightened their kid will be left behind.
The best kid I've ever seen signed for a championship side, screwed his education up and got dumped. It's a great shame but I don't see it changing much

No disrespect but he went on playing at cleethorpes town , surely if he was good enough someone else would have picked him up.

I would question the lads need to write a blog, however he is just yet another victim of a strange coaching set up we have in this country. Unfortunately size and speed still matters too much in junior football and you only need to look at the local junior game to see how much pressure is put on youngsters to win rather than develop. This pressure is one of the reasons local adult football is in decline.
Anyway going off piste.
Good luck to the lad for the future, as others have said, get your head up keep scoring goals and developing your game and if you are good enough it will happen, but as I'm sure you are aware the chances are very slim. Just look around the changing room with Clee Town and you will see any number of local lads who were with Town academy and didn't progress as far as they would have liked.
Enjoy the game for as long as you are able.

That's just how it is at that level you are given a chance for success but there are no equal outcomes and for each kid that makes it there are 10 times as many that don't. Sometimes you get knocked back and you keep going and have success sometimes you realise it's not possible and move on. The cream always rises to the top. Very few people will make it as pro footballers at league level. If so many people could make it we'd have a lot more top English players in the international side.

dave C knocking the club again! surely not!

I was not too bad a player when I was younger, but due to having chrons disease I had problems with height and weight, and I was told I was too small to play, it happens, you get on with it, nothing article to me

Gtfc have not produced a player for yonks

Good job a young Lionel Messi never came knocking on BP's door, eh?

Quoted from dapperz fun pub

Gtfc have not produced a player for yonks

Except for Venney, Clifton and Max Wright who are in the first team squad? Or Dayle Southwell now playing for Wycombe?

Quoted from buckstown

I've done a lot of years in junior football and its a common trend for clubs to insist the dad goes with a child as they want to see how big they are and therefore how big the kid is likely to be.
Football in general tends to treat kids as disposable and its a pretty brutal process with so few making it. I tend to advise parents now not to go when the kids get invited to training especially at 9 or 10. If they're good enough they'll still be knocking at 12 and 13. Trouble is the parents and the kids are blinded by the potential and frightened their kid will be left behind.
The best kid I've ever seen signed for a championship side, screwed his education up and got dumped. It's a great shame but I don't see it changing much

Maybe you should recommend the parents do go but wear platforms and a couple of big coats?

So the kid has been told by his parents and mates how good he is , how he's going to make it big time , told how much money he could earn . Bit of a reality check as it will be for hundreds of others , bit of a " Poor Me " write up . Go get a proper education then decide where your future lies .

Quoted from Davec

http://www.grf-football.co.uk/i-told-small-play-football/

GTFC should be ashamed.

Some of the stuff you put on here slagging off the club reminds me of that lad Rattray who used to post on here but got kicked off. Are you Aaron?

For a few years now there has been a trend to talk kids up and not to criticise them or even show the realities of life. This is true of most things, not just football.

If the lad was good enough he would have been kept on. The club would have at the very least given him a decent shot at another position that doesn't require physical stature. John McDermott started out as a weedy midfield kid from Middlesboro who became a weedy winger before being converted to a pacy full back.

It is true that not too many league strikers in recent years have been really small and those that are generally play alongside a target man. It seems unlikely to me that he would have been rejected solely because the side was going to play 4-3-3 because no side would play 4-3-3 for 90 minutes week in and week out. If this lad was good enough to do a job then a club of higher standing than Cleethorpes Town would have taken him.

Blog does come across as a bit of a whinge but can understand the lads frustration and upset.  It's a brutal system.

The age old 'good enough big enough' argument is currently championed by Josh Venney but I think there's still that mentality that if you're too slight you're going to struggle, especially in and around the level Town are at.

It's really simple, clubs like Town simply can't afford to wait and see if lads bulk up a bit.  Money is too tight to pin it on maybes.  We've seen ourselves first hand that when you're in the depths of the Conference it's not about planning for the future, it's about clawing like intercourse just to get out of there.  After that you can then start to think about a bit of future development.

There will be loads of lads like the blogger who are full of potential but have huge doubts over them physically.  But the focus is on the short term so rather than keep five or six of those lads for another year that money goes towards a quite average but physically capable player for the first team.  It might not be right but it's the nature of football.

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.

I'm certainly not Aaron!

Quoted from Davec

http://www.grf-football.co.uk/i-told-small-play-football/

GTFC should be ashamed.

Just another opportunity for one of the " regular knockers " to have a pop at GTFC ! I would imagine that this same scenario has been repeated at every professional football club in Great Britain. Non-league teams are mostly composed of players who have been rejected by Youth Team set-ups at Professional Clubs and I bet a lot of these self same players thought they were world beaters by their family and friends.

Quoted from Davec

I'm certainly not Aaron!

I think you are, something ive said before

Think what You like, try and prove it though

This sob story happens to involve Town, but don't have a go at the club. These things happen all the time at all clubs, it's part and parcel. Get over it young man and if you want to be a pro footballer work hard at your game and try other routes. If you are good enough someone will spot you.

I too was told at 15 by GTFC I wasn't good enough to get a YTS deal. Absolutely disgusting behaviour from Town. But what was Town's loss was the West Yorkshire Wednesday night 5-a-side League's gain.

Quoted from Davec

Think what You like, try and prove it though

Either way, you like to regularly have a go at the club but on this occasion you're way off the mark. How is it poor behaviour to release someone who, I'd bet my right bollock, won't ever play a match as a professional?

Quoted from Davec

Think what You like, try and prove it though

That's the sort of thing Aaron would say ;)

Those grapes taste so sour he could probably make a decent bottle of wine

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.

Quoted from livosnose

That's the sort of thing Aaron would say ;)

Does anyone miss him.
I do 😂😂

Quoted from RoboCod

Jamie Vardy was deemed too small by Sheff Wednesday and released. He then had to decide between dropping down the leagues significantly and making himself known by sheer effort and commitment and working his way up the football ladder, or writing a blog about it.

Spoke to a guy at the Wednesday academy recently and he says it's a misconception/myth that Vardy was released for being too small. He said he was released because at the time he just wasn't good enough.

But absolutely agree with your point.

I also don't doubt that some kids ARE disregarded/released due to their size though. Not saying this lad would've made it but it's daft to release a nippy and mobile finisher because he isn't 6 foot tall. If that wasn't the real reason then just tell him. Only the Coaches will know I suppose.

Quoted from diehardmariner

Blog does come across as a bit of a whinge but can understand the lads frustration and upset.  It's a brutal system.

The age old 'good enough big enough' argument is currently championed by Josh Venney but I think there's still that mentality that if you're too slight you're going to struggle, especially in and around the level Town are at.

It's really simple, clubs like Town simply can't afford to wait and see if lads bulk up a bit.  Money is too tight to pin it on maybes.  We've seen ourselves first hand that when you're in the depths of the Conference it's not about planning for the future, it's about clawing like intercourse just to get out of there.  After that you can then start to think about a bit of future development.

There will be loads of lads like the blogger who are full of potential but have huge doubts over them physically.  But the focus is on the short term so rather than keep five or six of those lads for another year that money goes towards a quite average but physically capable player for the first team.  It might not be right but it's the nature of football.

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.

I think it's been a feature for years. I'm always surprised how footballers are in general, but Town's homegrown crop always seemed shorter than many to me. I remember Woodses' ;-) side that won that competition at QPR were like mini-dynamos compared to the tall QPR lads. The philosophy in football these days seems to be find and big, rangy athlete and encourage him to play with a ball, rather than find talented ball-players and educate them to become rounded footballers.

Quoted from FishOutOfWater

School of hard knocks I know and it's never pleasant to be written off as such when not much you can do about your height ( I was in that place once....15 and only 5'1"!!) but if you're good enough, you can make it still

Maybe Dave Boylen ( or if he were still around the club Dave Gilbert ) could give this lad a bit of advice...they didn't do so badly

When I was a young player that question of being big enough was always being thrown at me, some of the comments being made were that they never believed I could mix my ability against anybody who was bigger than me.

My dad knew that I had to believe in my own ability so this is what he made me say before the start of the game
WHEN THE BALL IS ON THE GROUND EVERYBODY IS THE SAME SIZE ITS WHAT YOU DO WITH THE BALL THAT MATTERS NEVER FORGET THAT
"
. When you think it about the ball is more on the ground in a football match than it is in the air, not unless of course the managers who are in charge just want you to kick the ball forward and hope for the best
.
On a final comment I would say that you really had to believe in what you were doing, and I had a target because i wanted to play for Grimsby Towns first team, and I achieved it after a lot of people who should now better said I would not go any further than the youth team. Well they were wrong was they not.Dave Boylen