Could we be ruining our young players

Carl Leaburn

We all love to see the home grown players coming through and making the first team. Guy has always been open about wanting this to happen and he has shown this season he will do this. The problem is with the way the team are playing at the moment are we going to ruin some of these younger players. Holmes-Dennis made his league debut last night in a game where the crowd was booing after about 10 minutes. Cant do his confidence any good. Aherne-Grant was awful last night and has been gradually getting worse. You wonder if having to play an 18 year old so many times already in what is first full season at first team level is going to have an effect on his progression. There have been lots of others this season with the odd game or two and you get the feeling it might be a bit too early for them. Don't think for one minute I am knocking these kids because I think we have got lots of quality coming through but it may just be too early for some of them.

Redmidland

Short answer Yes, you don't put youngsters into the fray from the off when the team is struggling and fans are not happy. As I posted elsewhere last night start with the most experienced players, get your noses in front and then start substituting after 60 mins or so when legs have gone. Not as last night, starting with the weakest team, then when 3-0 down bring on experienced players.....utter tosh.

Scoham

Too many having to play alongside players who most of which are young and/or new to the league themselves.

carly burn

I would have to agree. And the irony is that the one thing Roland appears to be addressing is a future for our youth with the academy improvements.
Hardly inviting,when you see the kind of cack you could get mixed up in when you've done your time

AFKABartram

Agree totally

ME14addick

Excellent post - they're draining our young players of any confidence.

Bedsaddick

I felt sorry for Holmes-Dennis last night. He clearly didn't have a clue what he was supposed to do or even where to play. That one decision to play him in that side could have put him back years .

If Luzon put him in to make a point to RD , which has been suggested , then that is a disgraceful decision.

TheBrand09

Can someone remind me of what Parkinson said about when Pardew played Scott Wagstaff when he was not ready for first team football.

soapboxsam

TheBrand09 said:

Can someone remind me of what Parkinson said about when Pardew played Scott Wagstaff when he was not ready for first team football.

It's Wagstaff or Green, Big nose ?

WestCountryAddick

I think we all know that the ideal solution is to slowly bring youngsters in via games with little at stake and in teams that have enough experienced players in that they can help them through. Only once they've proved they are adapting well and can cope with higher pressure situations should they start to progress to the first team and into more meaningful matches.

I think many of us feel sorry for our current crop of young prospects. We have a situation where our squad is not fit for purpose and young players who may have a bright future are being forced into the team in less than ideal circumstances. Some youngsters may thrive on that, but equally there will be some that just aren't ready. The current situation could easily damage their confidence, and as we know, good form and player confidence go hand in hand. If RD really wants to make money out of our academy, he needs to understand that nurturing young stars takes patience, you can't just toss them in and expect them to perform.

Dazzler21

Bedsaddick said:

I felt sorry for Holmes-Dennis last night. He clearly didn't have a clue what he was supposed to do or even where to play. That one decision to play him in that side could have put him back years .

If Luzon put him in to make a point to RD , which has been suggested , then that is a disgraceful decision.

One game out of position won't put him back years... Might alienate his desire to play for us again though.

Dazzler21

TheBrand09 said:

Can someone remind me of what Parkinson said about when Pardew played Scott Wagstaff when he was not ready for first team football.

Pretty sure he just said that Pardew built waggy up to believe he was a lot better than he was, which made waggy appear arrogant in training etc.

CyrilDavies

Scott Wagstaff arrogant?..Don't make me laugh.

addick1965

We are not only ruining our young players but our young supporters as well

RedArmySE7

Yep, massively in danger of killing some of the young lads' confidence. THD is hardly going to return to the U21's buzzing after last night is he? Hardly going to "big up" playing for the First Team to his team mates down there either.

Nadou

I'm sure it doesn't help KAG to have Watt having a go at him which he does frequently when what has gone wrong is actually Watt's fault. The kid needs encouragement.

soapboxsam

addick1965 said:

We are not only ruining our young players but our young supporters as well

We are struggling so much to keep young fans, that the age limit for the junior red membership has been put up to 25.

SantaClaus

Young players can also be ruined when they rot in the reserves. At least we're giving them a shot. It's not ideal that it's in a failing side but life's short and if these players wait too long for us to turn the corner their moment might have gone.

Lincsaddick

Ideally, youngsters need to be brought into a well managed team which plays to a consistent pattern .. at present this is just not the case .. excuse the dramatic analogy .. Rather than being brought into an organised Roman Legion Cohort, our first team young players are more like Christians being thrown to the Colosseum lions

Big_Bad_World

Send them down the road. We'll nurture them for you. We've got a few of our own being blooded this season and all are making very good progress.

The main issue for yourselves, as I see it, is that the Championship isn't the ideal place to chuck youngsters in at, especially if you want more than consolidation and/or the potential relegation fight that would ensue if too many are blooded at the same time. League One is far more forgiving and doesn't have, as some have alluded to, the same level of confidence crushing ability that the Championship has due to being a much higher standard of football (especially amongst the top 6-8 teams).

PL54

So is the problem playing them in the first place or the crowd booing them?

stevexreeve

Young footballers should not be exposed to humiliation like they were last night.

Charlton football club, its management and everybody associated with it should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to happen.

Baldybonce

These are 18 year old men playing a game of football and being very well paid for it.
There are 18 year old men in Afghanistan who would be quite chuffed if the Taliban just booed and called them rude names.

Ben18

It is not ideal for young players to come into a team in poor form and they can suffer from it, but surely first XI football is generally good for their development.

I think more damage is done to the confidence of young players with the abuse they get on social media, and from the crowd.

Atletico Addick

Said this a long while ago, the crowd's reaction to them/the match isn't the most important benefactor though, it's the players they are sharing the pitch with - if they are sharing it with inexperience and fellow youths it's a recipe for disaster. You need to filter them in very slowly amongst the experience, so they can learn.. wasn't a coincidence the last young player to shine from our academy was so long ago, having the team to support them breeds confidence and it also gives them a margin for error they don't have in the current team. But stuff like this Roland doesn't factor in as he doesn't think/know. To him he just wants them out there, play well then he can sell. Lock that profit and go again.

Exiled_Addick

Nadou said:

I'm sure it doesn't help KAG to have Watt having a go at him which he does frequently when what has gone wrong is actually Watt's fault. The kid needs encouragement.

Watt is one of the kids. In fact most of the team are under 23 and could be classed a kids. Nick Pope is one of the oldest players in the team which says a lot.

Athletico Charlton

If we don't play the we can't sell them.

Covered End

Yes of course we are. Douchebag is too thick to understand.

dizzee

We'll release a lot of these players to lower teams and they will progress up the league and we will regret getting rid.

Harriott
Holmes-Dennis
Ahearne-Grant

They'll all end up decent players and we will regret ruining them.

Good post by the way.

Just_Llera

I don't like the other side of that though, I think youth players should be thrown in a bit or they will never be given a chance. I think the problem is we are jumping them straight from the u18s to the first team. Cousins, Poyet and I guess Fox all had at least a year with the U21s and pushed up again from there.

harveys_gardener

We are playing the wrong kids - skilful but lightweight and liable to be bullied by bigger, experienced opponents. We need youngsters who have the physical attributes like Gomez, Poyet, Fox and Cousins whose skills maybe not fully developed but will learn. Earmark Lennon, Konza, Aribo, Hanlan and Umerah rather than our jewels like Edwards, Lookman, and KAG. Pigott and Harriott are proven better than some of our starters at the English game. We can blood an U21 in an organised side but not play several in a clueless shambles.