[Albion] Simon Rusk has left the building

[Return of the Rev]

Good

 

[V_001]

If Crofts hasn’t got his badges how can he manage, is it not like the first team that you need badges before being able to take the top job? Will this mean he won’t be playing any more?

His been on a fast-track program and is almost done, worth noting that he does already in-fact have the qualification to coach at academy/23s level, what I meant was in terms of experience in that his only taken less then a handful of games as a coach on his own and that’s been in the Sussex Senior Cup.

All that said, as a man manager he is very good and the players and staff really do respect him, so I for one am very happy and excited to see how it pans out.

 

[Swansman]

Andy Crofts will take charge until end of season

Know who made the decision? DA?

 

[AZ Gull]

Crofty still needs to complete his badges, but is a real people person, likes talking to the players walking them through senarios on where to improve, where they had options etc. I think he will do well, but maybe get a Mark Beard or Ben Smith in alongside him.

But to answer your questions, Rusk’s needed 1st team football, he treated his role with us like he was a 1st team manager, so from a player development prospective his leaving is good for us in terms of getting the best from our quality younger players. Knowing Andy like I do, he will play a more developmental brand of football, he has a great relationship with everyone at the club, is very well liked and will be happy to once and for all hang up his boots and let the youngsters blossom, because as I said previously we have an excellent crop of u17s and 18s this season, the u23s has some exciting times ahead.

His been on a fast-track program and is almost done, worth noting that he does already in-fact have the qualification to coach at academy/23s level, what I meant was in terms of experience in that his only taken less then a handful of games as a coach on his own and that’s been in the Sussex Senior Cup.

All that said, as a man manager he is very good and the players and staff really do respect him, so I for one am very happy and excited to see how it pans out.

I thought at the time that this was very telling.....back in November 2019 Taylor Richards (who, I must admit, hadn't always impressed me with his performances for the U-23s last season) scored an absolute cracker at Southampton in injury time at the end of the match. He immediately ran over to Crofts on the sidelines:-

 

[ditchy]

Crofty still needs to complete his badges, but is a real people person, likes talking to the players walking them through senarios on where to improve, where they had options etc. I think he will do well, but maybe get a Mark Beard or Ben Smith in alongside him.

But to answer your questions, Rusk’s needed 1st team football, he treated his role with us like he was a 1st team manager, so from a player development prospective his leaving is good for us in terms of getting the best from our quality younger players. Knowing Andy like I do, he will play a more developmental brand of football, he has a great relationship with everyone at the club, is very well liked and will be happy to once and for all hang up his boots and let the youngsters blossom, because as I said previously we have an excellent crop of u17s and 18s this season, the u23s has some exciting times ahead.

may I ask what a developmental brand of football is ?

 

[The Fits]

I thought at the time that this was very telling.....back in November 2019 Taylor Richards (who, I must admit, hadn't always impressed me with his performances for the U-23s last season) scored an absolute cracker at Southampton in injury time at the end of the match. He immediately ran over to Crofts on the sidelines:-

View attachment 132963

Lovely photo. I love stuff like that- if that is the kind of respect Crofts commands from the kids then absolutely give him a go.

 

[V_001]

may I ask what a developmental brand of football is ?

Allowing the youngsters to express themselves, a good balance between team performances and what the academy exists for, feeding players into the 1st team. There’s also a train of thought within the game that you learn by failing - Don’t get me wrong I want to win every game I’m involved in, that’s a natural sporting instinct but unless the boys at u23 level are allowed to make their own decisions, take risks on the pitch and make mistakes here in the professional development stage of there career they wont know how to deal with things in the future, I think under Simon he want to win every game, hence why I said in an earlier post that he needed to be a 1st team coach, our emphasis needs to be on developing players and winning is a by-product of that.

We have to remember that in academy football there is 3 sometimes maybe 4 players in each team that the club really believe has a chance, the rest albeit harsh are only there to give those top 3 to 4 boys a chance to play, the 23s is no different, there needs to be 3-4 boys knocking on Grahams door every season not just asking for 1st team football but actively pushing the 1st team into to being better and stronger.

JM the academy gaffer has a goal that he put in place for 7 years, maybe a little longer, and that was that in 5 year he wanted to see 30% of any 1st team starting 11 to have come through our academy, it was a big goal but one where we wanted to thank Mr Bloom for all his efforts and ultimately make the club self sufficient, I genuinely think that this could happen within the next two seasons and I think JM together with people like Crofty and possibly Mark Bear or Ben Smith are the guys to do it.

 

[andy1980]

Allowing the youngsters to express themselves, a good balance between team performances and what the academy exists for, feeding players into the 1st team. There’s also a train of thought within the game that you learn by failing - Don’t get me wrong I want to win every game I’m involved in, that’s a natural sporting instinct but unless the boys at u23 level are allowed to make their own decisions, take risks on the pitch and make mistakes here in the professional development stage of there career they wont know how to deal with things in the future, I think under Simon he want to win every game, hence why I said in an earlier post that he needed to be a 1st team coach, our emphasis needs to be on developing players and winning is a by-product of that.

We have to remember that in academy football there is 3 sometimes maybe 4 players in each team that the club really believe has a chance, the rest albeit harsh are only there to give those top 3 to 4 boys a chance to play, the 23s is no different, there needs to be 3-4 boys knocking on Grahams door every season not just asking for 1st team football but actively pushing the 1st team into to being better and stronger.

JM the academy gaffer has a goal that he put in place for 7 years, maybe a little longer, and that was that in 5 year he wanted to see 30% of any 1st team starting 11 to have come through our academy, it was a big goal but one where we wanted to thank Mr Bloom for all his efforts and ultimately make the club self sufficient, I genuinely think that this could happen within the next two seasons and I think JM together with people like Crofty and possibly Mark Bear or Ben Smith are the guys to do it.

Wow. In that case Crofts gets my backing. We are surely nearly there. With Ben White, Robert Sanchez, and Connelly, Alzate I'm sure 3 of those 4 will regularly be in the starting line up.

 

[Kosh]

Crofty beard gets my vote. Beard was a very good player, always enjoyed watching him play for Sheff Utd with my dad ... Crofts is a legend in my book, a shining example to the young players. The perfect appointment.

 

[Marshy]

If Mark beard is not involved in the U23 set up I will be very disappointed. He’s a cracking coach, works bloody hard and cracking fella.

Done a great job with the U18s also

 

[ditchy]

Allowing the youngsters to express themselves, a good balance between team performances and what the academy exists for, feeding players into the 1st team. There’s also a train of thought within the game that you learn by failing - Don’t get me wrong I want to win every game I’m involved in, that’s a natural sporting instinct but unless the boys at u23 level are allowed to make their own decisions, take risks on the pitch and make mistakes here in the professional development stage of there career they wont know how to deal with things in the future, I think under Simon he want to win every game, hence why I said in an earlier post that he needed to be a 1st team coach, our emphasis needs to be on developing players and winning is a by-product of that.

We have to remember that in academy football there is 3 sometimes maybe 4 players in each team that the club really believe has a chance, the rest albeit harsh are only there to give those top 3 to 4 boys a chance to play, the 23s is no different, there needs to be 3-4 boys knocking on Grahams door every season not just asking for 1st team football but actively pushing the 1st team into to being better and stronger.

JM the academy gaffer has a goal that he put in place for 7 years, maybe a little longer, and that was that in 5 year he wanted to see 30% of any 1st team starting 11 to have come through our academy, it was a big goal but one where we wanted to thank Mr Bloom for all his efforts and ultimately make the club self sufficient, I genuinely think that this could happen within the next two seasons and I think JM together with people like Crofty and possibly Mark Bear or Ben Smith are the guys to do it.

Thank you for explaining that. I go along with that , but also to instil a winning mentality

 

[Swansman]

Odds on someone Nordic replacing him?

Andy Crofts will take charge until end of season

Thank you for explaining that. I go along with that , but also to instil a winning mentality

Most of the "winning mentality" thing is temporary. Skill is permanent.

Winning is not all that. I remember that one of the teams in Sweden, Malmö FF I think, had a year group of players that crushed absolutely everything. No one could match them. They won U13 titles, U14, U15, U16 and also had excellent results in Europe.

They almost never lost, and never over here in Sweden. But none of them turned into great players, because in most cases you learn a whole lot more from losing than from winning. If you are always winning at youth level, it generally means that you've had your playing doing exclusively what they do well rather than what they need to improve.

With the latest batch of kids I coached, we went on a long winning streak, not because we were great but because we were placed in a too poor series. Suddenly it became difficult to convince players that they needed to work hard on specific things to improve, so I invited ourselves to a youth cup where we would get stomped by some of the best youth teams in southern Sweden. After that, it was a lot easier again.

Winning really isnt everything at that level.

 

[Swansman]

Oops.. ****ed up the quoting in the post above and cant edit it. Was a response to ditchy.

 

[Swansman]

His gone and on his way to Stockport County.

Now confirmed.

You know if he is bringing any of your kids with him on loan or something?