U23 goal vs Boro tonight (Connolly) - deserves it's own thread

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AZ Gull

@SeagullsAcademy @seagullsacademy.bsky.social
Oct 14, 2003
13,103
Chandler, AZ
If you cared to go to the EFL website and look at the goals scored by young players from ALL professional divisions it is quite impressive, although it doesnt invalidate the skill executed to score them, on its own it doesnt necessarily represent some 'gold standard', it is just a very good goal by good players.

Connolly's is a good goal, a very good goal and good for him, but unless your offer a reason why you would think his particular development pathway and this goal scored might be unique to him personally and therefore qualifies the current recruitment policy is the point that I raise, to some extent its an irrelevence.

Despite reading these two long sentences repeatedly, I'm still not sure what you are trying to say.

I think you are trying to say that no matter what he does on the pitch, there should be a Sussex youngster in his place in the academy (no matter what THAT youngster does on the pitch). Is that it?
 








GT49er

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Feb 1, 2009
49,191
Gloucester
Ah for someone that says he isnt particular opinionated you seem to be finding your feet, so good for you.

If you cared to go to the EFL website and look at the goals scored by young players from ALL professional divisions it is quite impressive, although it doesnt invalidate the skill executed to score them, on its own it doesnt necessarily represent some 'gold standard', it is just a very good goal by good players.

Connolly's is a good goal, a very good goal and good for him, but unless your offer a reason why you would think his particular development pathway and this goal scored might be unique to him personally and therefore qualifies the current recruitment policy is the point that I raise, to some extent its an irrelevence.

I note your nerdy friend seems to think it is laughable that any young player from Moulescoombe especially (why there ??) could possibly replicate the development pathway of any other young player no matter where they come from, its a particularly ignorant comment.
SignuptheMoulescombe8NOW!
 














BigGully

Well-known member
Sep 8, 2006
7,139
Despite reading these two long sentences repeatedly, I'm still not sure what you are trying to say.

I think you are trying to say that no matter what he does on the pitch, there should be a Sussex youngster in his place in the academy (no matter what THAT youngster does on the pitch). Is that it?

No I am not, you cannot quite grasp my point even though you have chosen to comment indirectly to me on random posts.

You only offer a view on current form, whereas my general point is consistent, it is on the current recruitment policy, driven by a bias towards Ireland in particularly and even Scandinavia and why in my view this is no more than vested interest by the manager of the academy and therefore has an inevitable impact on overall outcomes, if you dont care where the talent is nurtured then you dont care.

You seem not to undertsand that its the point of recruitment that is critical, after which preferential opportunity effects that outcome on young players development and progress, so future young player outcomes doesnt necessarily endorse the original recruitment decision.
 








AZ Gull

@SeagullsAcademy @seagullsacademy.bsky.social
Oct 14, 2003
13,103
Chandler, AZ
No I am not, you cannot quite grasp my point even though you have chosen to comment indirectly to me on random posts.

You only offer a view on current form, whereas my general point is consistent, it is on the current recruitment policy, driven by a bias towards Ireland in particularly and even Scandinavia and why in my view this is no more than vested interest by the manager of the academy and therefore has an inevitable impact on overall outcomes, if you dont care where the talent is nurtured then you dont care.

You seem not to undertsand that its the point of recruitment that is critical, after which preferential opportunity effects that outcome on young players development and progress, so future young player outcomes doesnt necessarily endorse the original recruitment decision.

It still sounds to me like you are saying that (effectively) if a Sussex lad had gotten the spot as a scholar that Connolly has, then that Sussex lad would by now be the one that had scored 4 goals in 4 U23s matches and earned two penalties to boot. You think that Connolly is only here BECAUSE he is Irish, not because he just might be a better prospect that what we had in the academy in that position at U-16 level last season.

Look, when all's said and done, you have your view on John Morling and the academy and it is as valid as anybody else's. You have certainly had more recent, closer contact with the academy set-up than I have ever had (or will ever have). It's just that I think that clouds your ability to recognise that there ARE talents out there that sometimes ARE better than Sussex youngsters and with our set-up we do now have a realistic chance of attracting them here even if there is interest from other Premier League academies.

I was born and grew up in Sussex. I would love to see Albion playing in the Premier League with an entirely all-Sussex squad, but I don't think it is a realistic proposition. In my view we have to be looking at the best prospects wherever they were born. I have no way of knowing whether there is any merit in your criticism of John Morling (and others in the academy), and ultimately the only person who can make that judgement is Tony Bloom.
 












WATFORD zero

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 10, 2003
27,787
You only offer a view on current form, whereas my general point is consistent, it is on the current recruitment policy, driven by a bias towards Ireland in particularly and even Scandinavia and why in my view this is no more than vested interest by the manager of the academy and therefore has an inevitable impact on overall outcomes, if you dont care where the talent is nurtured then you dont care.

Is it not possible that the manager of the academy, together with the management team at BHA have decided that Ireland and Scandanavia gives the best Value for Money in terms of focusing our scouting network. I wouldn't have thought that even a club with our infrastructure (or any significant business) would be capable of scouting the whole of Britain/Europe/Worldwide without some sort of agreed targetting.

Also, given our current set up from top to bottom, I can't see one employee who is going off on some 'vested interest' lasting very long, Can you ?
 


Me and my Monkey

Well-known member
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Nov 3, 2015
3,462
Was anyone there? I like to go to the U23s when I can, but didn't see this one publicised. Or maybe I was asleep.
 




BigGully

Well-known member
Sep 8, 2006
7,139
It still sounds to me like you are saying that (effectively) if a Sussex lad had gotten the spot as a scholar that Connolly has, then that Sussex lad would by now be the one that had scored 4 goals in 4 U23s matches and earned two penalties to boot. You think that Connolly is only here BECAUSE he is Irish, not because he just might be a better prospect that what we had in the academy in that position at U-16 level last season.

Look, when all's said and done, you have your view on John Morling and the academy and it is as valid as anybody else's. You have certainly had more recent, closer contact with the academy set-up than I have ever had (or will ever have). It's just that I think that clouds your ability to recognise that there ARE talents out there that sometimes ARE better than Sussex youngsters and with our set-up we do now have a realistic chance of attracting them here even if there is interest from other Premier League academies.

I was born and grew up in Sussex. I would love to see Albion playing in the Premier League with an entirely all-Sussex squad, but I don't think it is a realistic proposition. In my view we have to be looking at the best prospects wherever they were born. I have no way of knowing whether there is any merit in your criticism of John Morling (and others in the academy), and ultimately the only person who can make that judgement is Tony Bloom.

You can never be certain and direct comparisons on young players is a pointless task.

I am not necessarily commenting on Connolly or other individual players, mine is a more general view but I suspect and as the stat man you could check that Connollys player pathway hasnt been anything exceptional, I doubt that Man Utd, Arsenal or Chelsea were knocking on his mums door, which in itself confirms this, it doesnt disqualify his potential success, but it does show how recruitment policy drives outcomes at critical stages of young players careers.

I have yet to see at academy level a player brought in from elsewhere that was instantly an obvious 'stand out' player, they are nearly always similar to those already within that group, but policy might offer preferential support and opportunity that skews future assessment, we will not be bringing in the schoolboy captain of Germany, Italy, Spain or Brazil anytime soon, we will be bartering for good talented players, Iceland, Norway and Ireland is not some unique territory for recruiting them.
 


BigGully

Well-known member
Sep 8, 2006
7,139
Is it not possible that the manager of the academy, together with the management team at BHA have decided that Ireland and Scandanavia gives the best Value for Money in terms of focusing our scouting network. I wouldn't have thought that even a club with our infrastructure (or any significant business) would be capable of scouting the whole of Britain/Europe/Worldwide without some sort of agreed targetting.

Also, given our current set up from top to bottom, I can't see one employee who is going off on some 'vested interest' lasting very long, Can you ?

I do agree, certainly Morling is tapping into his previous Irish connections, I think there is little else on his CV that might have given Burke the inclination to hire him.

It therefore follows that he will have a bias with his recruitment policy towards Ireland, which by default then can hinder other young players not from there, its not unique to BHA and ultimately Bloom or whoever is responsible for the academy will support him or not, which in itself is reason for making it a successful policy, which again reinforces the bias.

I am not 'anti' but I find it quite interesting how young player recruitment and development is managed, for me currently if two young players of similar ability have a decision to be made either on their recruitment or selection to play a game, my money would be on the player from County Cork above the kid from Bexhill.
 
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