Loads would argue he joined at 16 and made his debut at 17 so he didn't count as an academy product
Which is a fair comment. But if we're claiming him as one of our own - the OS certainly are and I'm happy to go along with it, then I think he is largely underrated by our fans.
Based on what he's done and the awards he's been nominated for/won it's hard to argue against the idea that he is our best ever academy product.
Oddly though if you asked 100 fans the question I imagine he would only get named by a small chunk. Most would say Parker/Bowyer/Gomez.
Is it that success in other countries is just less visible than success in the prem?
I think that part of it, " out of site, out of mind" and he has not played for a Euro or UK giant yet, plus he was with us during our decline so while playing for us, whilst he stood out, any half arsed footballer would, so he has probably not been judged as highly as he should have been. The three quoted above all had good premiership careers and been high profile. Even Gomez's goal scoring prowess gets mentioned frequently now.
I personally count him as an academy product as like many have said that's where he was scouted for and where he started, it just turned out that he was bloody good so we fast-tracked him to the first team.
I personally count him as an academy product as like many have said that's where he was scouted for and where he started, it just turned out that he was bloody good so we fast-tracked him to the first team.
He played for our U18s... thats part of the Academy... Is good enough for me
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Oddly though if you asked 100 fans the question I imagine he would only get named by a small chunk. Most would say Parker/Bowyer/Gomez.
Is it that success in other countries is just less visible than success in the prem?