[Albion] Simon Rusk interview - The Guardian

[Easy 10]

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...youth-teams-reality-brighton-coach-simon-rusk

Interesting piece, spelling out just how hard the path is to bridge the gap from the U23's to actually playing in the PL.

Hughton was reluctant to promote too many youngsters. “I can’t blame him for not giving younger players an opportunity,” says Rusk. “To play a young player you’ve got to put three, four or five noses out of joint in the dressing room. So, unless it’s an absolute screaming talent, it’s a hard thing to do."

"For some of our players, the perceived gap between 23s and getting in the first team has got a lot bigger and, with that, there is a naturally enhanced level of disillusion in one or two of them"

 

[Icy Gull]

So what is it, they’re not good enough (more alleged bad recruitment then) or the manager had favourites he didn’t want to upset?

Something else we’ll find out next season then.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Reckon the whole U23 concept is fatally flawed, in terms of being a boilerhouse for the PL first team. Face it, its a bit of a footballing ghetto. If you're still languishing there at age 22 then you're not going to set the footballing world on fire. Which leaves the club little option other than to farm the player out for maybe a modest profit that probably does little more than cover the club's initial investment in the player. Harsh maybe, but what's the alternative?

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

So what is it, they’re not good enough (more alleged bad recruitment then) or the manager had favourites he didn’t want to upset?

Something else we’ll find out next season then.

Good enough for me.
It would be a lot easier to be critical of any manager for not ‘blooding’ them if we were in the championship.

Every potential point in the PL surely you’d go for ‘tried and tested’.

Of course as I’ve mentioned many times, I’d make it a rule that with 7 subs, at least 2 should be U23s. Then when we’re 3-0 up against an inferior team, say Palace, you could give them an initial 20 mins.....


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[Easy 10]

"In scouting players, Manchester United don’t have the organisation to deliver the best players in my opinion. Then with the education of players, you cannot say that the education of Manchester United is very good. How many players are coming through?"

"With Manchester United, you have a fantastic performance department and that is under the guidance of the doctor. But this performance department needs also the guidance of an experienced technical director. You have to use that department not only for the first team but also intensively for the youth education. Then young players are more educated in the philosophy of Man United and the big step to the first team is much easier. These are the important aspects that you have to develop as a technical director." - L. van Gaal


Step forward Dan Ashworth...
In those terms, perhaps the writing was on the wall for Hughton as soon as Ashworth was coming on board.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

"In scouting players, Manchester United don’t have the organisation to deliver the best players in my opinion. Then with the education of players, you cannot say that the education of Manchester United is very good. How many players are coming through?"

"With Manchester United, you have a fantastic performance department and that is under the guidance of the doctor. But this performance department needs also the guidance of an experienced technical director. You have to use that department not only for the first team but also intensively for the youth education. Then young players are more educated in the philosophy of Man United and the big step to the first team is much easier. These are the important aspects that you have to develop as a technical director." - L. van Gaal


Step forward Dan Ashworth...
In those terms, perhaps the writing was on the wall for Hughton as soon as Ashworth was coming on board.

I believe our U23s were a league higher than Man Utd last year......

Just saying.....


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[schmunk]

I believe our U23s were a league higher than Man Utd last year......

Just saying.....


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...and will be for the forthcoming season, as Man U U23s languished in mid-table in PL2 Div 2.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

"In scouting players, Manchester United don’t have the organisation to deliver the best players in my opinion. Then with the education of players, you cannot say that the education of Manchester United is very good. How many players are coming through?"

"With Manchester United, you have a fantastic performance department and that is under the guidance of the doctor. But this performance department needs also the guidance of an experienced technical director. You have to use that department not only for the first team but also intensively for the youth education. Then young players are more educated in the philosophy of Man United and the big step to the first team is much easier. These are the important aspects that you have to develop as a technical director." - L. van Gaal


Step forward Dan Ashworth...
In those terms, perhaps the writing was on the wall for Hughton as soon as Ashworth was coming on board.

The first tranche of back office resignations can only be a matter of weeks away now as Dan! Dan! starts treading on toes with size 10 DMs. There's absolutely no way he can advocate a radical new way forward without explicitly or implicitly criticising what came before

 

[Easy 10]

I believe our U23s were a league higher than Man Utd last year......

Just saying.....

Doesn't contradict anything van Gaal has said then does it. Despite the infinite resources Man Utd have at their disposal, their youth policy was and is clearly failing. It probably stagnated even further under Mourinho, who wouldn't recognise a youth player if he was wearing a nametag and had a seagull on his head.

Bloom seems keen to engender a culture where there is a clear path from U23's to the first team squad, and perhaps just didn't see that happening under Hughton. I wouldn't entirely blame Hughton for that btw, because he's under huge pressure to get results and if the kids aren't there then, well, they're not there. But the Potter / Ashton appointments look like being a clear statement of intent to change that.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

...and will be for the forthcoming season, as Man U U23s languished in mid-table in PL2 Div 2.

Didn’t our U18s knock them out of the cup as well [MENTION=1276]AZ Gull[/MENTION]


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[One Teddy Maybank]

Doesn't contradict anything van Gaal has said then does it. Despite the infinite resources Man Utd have at their disposal, their youth policy was and is clearly failing. It probably stagnated even further under Mourinho, who wouldn't recognise a youth player if he was wearing a nametag and had a seagull on his head.

Bloom seems keen to engender a culture where there is a clear path from U23's to the first team squad, and perhaps just didn't see that happening under Hughton. I wouldn't entirely blame Hughton for that btw, because he's under huge pressure to get results and if the kids aren't there then, well, they're not there. But the Potter / Ashton appointments look like being a clear statement of intent to change that.

Yes agree entirely.
It will be interesting to see what comes of the Ashworth role.......


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[Bakero]

"In scouting players, Manchester United don’t have the organisation to deliver the best players in my opinion. Then with the education of players, you cannot say that the education of Manchester United is very good. How many players are coming through?"

"With Manchester United, you have a fantastic performance department and that is under the guidance of the doctor. But this performance department needs also the guidance of an experienced technical director. You have to use that department not only for the first team but also intensively for the youth education. Then young players are more educated in the philosophy of Man United and the big step to the first team is much easier. These are the important aspects that you have to develop as a technical director." - L. van Gaal


Step forward Dan Ashworth...
In those terms, perhaps the writing was on the wall for Hughton as soon as Ashworth was coming on board.

I had a similar thought when I read that LVG interview the other day.

 

[timbha]

...and will be for the forthcoming season, as Man U U23s languished in mid-table in PL2 Div 2.

Means nothing. It’s about producing one or two individuals who make the first team or get sold, not about winning the U23 league.

 

[seagull_special]

Reckon the whole U23 concept is fatally flawed, in terms of being a boilerhouse for the PL first team. Face it, its a bit of a footballing ghetto. If you're still languishing there at age 22 then you're not going to set the footballing world on fire. Which leaves the club little option other than to farm the player out for maybe a modest profit that probably does little more than cover the club's initial investment in the player. Harsh maybe, but what's the alternative?

I absolutely agree and if players over 20 are being loaned out to L1 or 2 clubs then you can pretty well write them off, we need to be loaning U23s to Championship Clubs just to see if they stand a chance of bridging the gap. I don’t think there is a direct route from U23 to first team.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

The under 23 squad is a farm, some players will be able to make the step up (Aaron Connolly looks like being the first of them) and others never will because they'll need to be playing regularly to get a rhythm, develop and improve and then earn the Premier League chance later in their career (Shane Duffy). The reality is that we will try and develop players who can play for us in the first team but more likely we'll be trying to sell on the players to make a bit of cash money to keep investing in the younger players. Financially, the first team is a long way clear so I doubt the under 23 system will ever be in a position to fund our first team activities.

 

[Justice]

Jesse Lingard is a prime example of taking a step down to step up, in my view the ones deemed good enough have to play men’s football to have a chance of PL game time.

 

[symyjym]

So what is it, they’re not good enough (more alleged bad recruitment then) or the manager had favourites he didn’t want to upset?

Something else we’ll find out next season then.

I don't think he had favourites but just didn't like fast tracking youngsters. Back in Hughton's day the kids were washing the kits and polishing boots. Hughton sent a message on how he viewed the U23s though when he gave James Tiley just 15 seconds at the end of the second Semi Playoff, when the game was beyond saving. I felt the 15 seconds was a bit of an insult and I wouldn't call it a good experience for any player or good motivation for any of the other U23s in waiting.

That said we have let 7 of the U23s go so it is probably a combination of Hughton not being generous to U23 and there not being much talent in there as well.

Hughton's remit was getting the club to the Prem so the youth was always secondary and therefore there was no real system in place to view the U23s and first team as a whole, which requires a fresh approach to close the gap and motivate with modern training methods. I would imagine Potter has a proven system in place to accommodate all and be put in place immediately.

I don't know if under Hughton the U23s shared the training times as the first team or if they ever even occasionally trained together. If there was a complete wall between the U23 and first team it would be hard to get the continuity between the two levels. This is my take on it but Tiley's 15 seconds is probably the best clue to the disinterest with playing the youth.

 

[dazzer6666]

https://www.theguardian.com/footbal...youth-teams-reality-brighton-coach-simon-rusk

Hughton was reluctant to promote too many youngsters. [/i]

Too many ? It was in fact, er, none wasn’t it ?

 

[Barham's tash]

Bloom seems keen to engender a culture where there is a clear path from U23's to the first team squad, and perhaps just didn't see that happening under Hughton.

I’ve posted this before but there was a quote from a member of the backroom staff at the academy stating CH wouldn’t even consider U23 players for a place on the bench until they’d trained with the first team 30/40 times. How can you bring your natural talent and enthusiasm for the game as a youngster in an environment like that? It’s madness.

 

[AZ Gull]

I don't think he had favourites but just didn't like fast tracking youngsters. Back in Hughton's day the kids were washing the kits and polishing boots. Hughton sent a message on how he viewed the U23s though when he gave James Tiley just 15 seconds at the end of the second Semi Playoff, when the game was beyond saving. I felt the 15 seconds was a bit of an insult and I wouldn't call it a good experience for any player or good motivation for any of the other U23s in waiting.

That said we have let 7 of the U23s go so it is probably a combination of Hughton not being generous to U23 and there not being much talent in there as well.

Hughton's remit was getting the club to the Prem so the youth was always secondary and therefore there was no real system in place to view the U23s and first team as a whole, which requires a fresh approach to close the gap and motivate with modern training methods. I would imagine Potter has a proven system in place to accommodate all and be put in place immediately.

I don't know if under Hughton the U23s shared the training times as the first team or if they ever even occasionally trained together. If there was a complete wall between the U23 and first team it would be hard to get the continuity between the two levels. This is my take on it but Tiley's 15 seconds is probably the best clue to the disinterest with playing the youth.

Tilley's only league appearance came at the meaningless last regular league game of the season at Middlesbrough at the end of the 2014-15 campaign.