Scotland

[Deadly_D'Jaffo]

The place has been very fair to us recently; Murphy, Flynn, Scougall & Harris have all been standout performers during our revival under NC. Wilson set the ball rolling with the signings of Murph & Flynn not to mention the fax machine doing us out of Fleck & Hutton. NC is obviously keeping up the trend and his comment about young Scottish players being technically better then English players is an interesting one. Are Scotland on the rise? Is their talent better and cheaper?

 

[Esablade]

I dunno about that but HP recently received a 7 million quid Govt grant to shift jobs from Sheffield to Scotland!

Modern Capitalism!?
What's it all abhart!?

http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2013/06/17/hp_scrapping_sheffield_jobs_grab_7m_scottish_grant/

 

[moDtheGod]

I don't think Scotland's talent is getting any better, as can be seen by their current squad which is full of Englishmen. Gilk, Boyd, Pawlett, Chris Martin and James Morrison are all English! Jamie Mackie's been around the squad a couple of years and they've recently capped Liam Bridcutt and our very own Matt Phillips - all English too.

 

[Deadly_D'Jaffo]

I don't think Scotland's talent is getting any better, as can be seen by their current squad which is full of Englishmen. Gilk, Boyd, Pawlett, Chris Martin and James Morrison are all English! Jamie Mackie's been around the squad a couple of years and they've recently capped Liam Bridcutt and our very own Matt Phillips - all English too.

..And that useless, soft in the challenge, rubbish in the air, doesn't score enough, good for nowt Kevin McDonald who just got promoted, was Wolves player of the year and named in the L1 team of the year.

 

[moDtheGod]

He's not been capped has he? I guess you're just trying to drive home a point.

 

[Deadly_D'Jaffo]

He's not been capped has he? I guess you're just trying to drive home a point.

I thought he had played already, I noticed he got called up though.

Going back on topic; Livingston have churned out some good talent in recent years though, they're like the Scottish version of Southampton.

 

[Kev Gee]

When Scotland wins independence can SUFC join as well?

 

[SwissBlade]

Scottish players are certainly cheaper and see League one as a way into English football. We've done well recently to pick out some decent players for our needs. Small, Quick attacking players are clearly getting cloned up there.

Not sure they're anymore skillful than english players but for the price and willingness to come to League one, yes i'd agree that we're better with Scottish players than english. For them it seems a big step up.

Long may it continue!

 

[grafikhaus]

Scottish players are certainly cheaper and see League one as a way into English football. We've done well recently to pick out some decent players for our needs. Small, Quick attacking players are clearly getting cloned up there.

Not sure they're anymore skillful than english players but for the price and willingness to come to League one, yes i'd agree that we're better with Scottish players than english. For them it seems a big step up.

Long may it continue!

Agree with that. It could also be that they're 'hungrier' than our kids who are told at about 13/14 some big team are interested, forgo education and 95% end up on the scrapheap.

Long may it continue. Our 'Scottish Legion' have even altered the catering available on matchdays.

​

 

[wizadry]

The place has been very fair to us recently; Murphy, Flynn, Scougall & Harris have all been standout performers during our revival under NC. Wilson set the ball rolling with the signings of Murph & Flynn not to mention the fax machine doing us out of Fleck & Hutton. NC is obviously keeping up the trend and his comment about young Scottish players being technically better then English players is an interesting one. Are Scotland on the rise? Is their talent better and cheaper?

Cloughys point was that they all start playing competitive football at a very early age because of the lack of money up there to actually buy anyone.Not like our country where our top clubs buy our youngsters early and leave them to rot.

The answer to your question though djaffo is i don't think that their talent is better ,and no there country isn't on the rise,but their talent is certainly cheaper and doing us a very good job in league 1

 

[Derby_Blade]

are told at about 13/14 some big team are interested, forgo education and 95% end up on the scrapheap.

View attachment 8503​

Again a great example of how good A manager Cloughy is, making all academy players get A-levels to keep their contracts!

 

[vorpal blade]

I didn't hear that DerbyBlade until I read your post. I've been banging on about it for years, quite apart from making them more useful individuals if they don't play football as a career, I'm sure more intelligent* players are better on the pitch too.

Complete lack of education makes the England team a laughing stock compared with nearly every other country.

*(for me intelligence requires making your brain work hard)

 

[Ted Danson]

I hadnt heard that either, while it seems a good idea certainly not everyone is capable of doing A levels, they're the hardest exams by a mile and have little relevance to being able to kick a ball or read a game of football.

Is it stipulated which A-levels they need to do? Can they sack it off by doing easy madeup subjects like R.E or just do art or something?

 

[Derby_Blade]

I've only been told it by a few mates at Derby academy, Mason Bennett, Will Hughes and the like all just did one A-Level in sports physio or something like that and only have to pass (50%) so it's nothing too challenging. I imagine it'll be something Cloughy brings here in the next few seasons.

 

[Kenilworth]

Academy Lads A Levels Part of Their Contract Commitment
That's a great shout and when parents are part of the decision process for deciding which club academy their lads end up at, this has to be an important factor - gives them peace of mind that other important stuff is not neglected and that the club is interested in the future development of these boys into fully rounded individuals not just football and scrap 'em if they are not good enough.

I agree with Ted that A levels are probably the hardest exam barrier of them all to get over - life stage, importance, etc but there should be every encouragement for the lads to do the best they possibly can and if they are too lazy to devote enough time to study (as opposed to having learning difficulties such as dyslexia) in between their football development commitments then it is a true measure of their character and desire to succeed - and we all know that our Nige holds this as a key attribute for selection.

Very pleased to hear this is going on at the club.

 

[grafikhaus]

Is it stipulated which A-levels they need to do? Can they sack it off by doing easy madeup subjects like R.E or just do art or something?

Well I only got one 'A' Level (The Life and Times of Russell Brand), but it was good enough to get me into Scunthorpe University.

 

[Darren]

I hadnt heard that either, while it seems a good idea certainly not everyone is capable of doing A levels, they're the hardest exams by a mile and have little relevance to being able to kick a ball or read a game of football.

Is it stipulated which A-levels they need to do? Can they sack it off by doing easy madeup subjects like R.E or just do art or something?

Are they? Mine* were a piece of piss and that was in 1985 when exams were really, really hard

* Since you ask, English Lit, History and Politics, not sure if they count as "made up subjects".

 

[Thaddeus]

Academy Lads A Levels Part of Their Contract Commitment
That's a great shout and when parents are part of the decision process for deciding which club academy their lads end up at, this has to be an important factor - gives them peace of mind that other important stuff is not neglected and that the club is interested in the future development of these boys into fully rounded individuals not just football and scrap 'em if they are not good enough.

I agree with Ted that A levels are probably the hardest exam barrier of them all to get over - life stage, importance, etc but there should be every encouragement for the lads to do the best they possibly can and if they are too lazy to devote enough time to study (as opposed to having learning difficulties such as dyslexia) in between their football development commitments then it is a true measure of their character and desire to succeed - and we all know that our Nige holds this as a key attribute for selection.

Very pleased to hear this is going on at the club.

Is this something that is really happening now at Sheffield United? Derbyblade ends his post with " I imagine it'll be something Cloughy brings here in the next few seasons", so it sounds more like something he's done in the past. A good idea if it does happen though and adds to the sense of a long term realistic vision.

 

[Kenilworth]

Is this something that is really happening now at Sheffield United? Derbyblade ends his post with " I imagine it'll be something Cloughy brings here in the next few seasons", so it sounds more like something he's done in the past. A good idea if it does happen though and adds to the sense of a long term realistic vision.

Hope so - and I am honoured to be the recipient of your first post on this forum - welcome Thadders UTB

 

[Ted Danson]

Are they? Mine* were a piece of piss and that was in 1985 when exams were really, really hard

* Since you ask, English Lit, History and Politics, not sure if they count as "made up subjects".

they were for me although Id imagine theres a few tough ones doing law. The maths exam was pretty much the same exam as I did at Uni but at Uni you could take in 2 pages of your own notes. Also you had to do the entire paper at A-level whereas at Uni you could pick 3 out of 10 areas that you felt comfortable with.

I did Maths, Physics and art but sacked them all of in the end and went to play on computers at college.

* Surly English lit is made up

 

[Thaddeus]

Hope so - and I am honoured to be the recipient of your first post on this forum - welcome Thadders UTB

Thanks Kenilworth. I'm much of a lurker than a poster (mainly due to my lack of knowledge) but I have become quite addicted to this board over the past few months and it's the little details like this that make it much more interesting than the usual kinds of sports reporting you get in the general media.

 

[Darren]

they were for me although Id imagine theres a few tough ones doing law. The maths exam was pretty much the same exam as I did at Uni but at Uni you could take in 2 pages of your own notes. Also you had to do the entire paper at A-level whereas at Uni you could pick 3 out of 10 areas that you felt comfortable with.

I did Maths, Physics and art but sacked them all of in the end and went to play on computers at college.

* Surly English lit is made up

I did subjects that really interested me and, as I was an incredibly boring and angelic teenager, I had no trouble getting straight A's

To be fair though, I dropped physics at 14 and got grade C at "O" Level in maths, so I probably would have found those A Levels incredibly hard.

 

[Kenilworth]

To be fair though, I dropped physics at 14 and got grade C at "O" Level in maths, so I probably would have found those A Levels incredibly hard.

Clearly - because you struggled with derived subjects and had a far greater penchant for depraved subjects

 

[Ted Danson]

I did subjects that really interested me and, as I was an incredibly boring and angelic teenager, I had no trouble getting straight A's

To be fair though, I dropped physics at 14 and got grade C at "O" Level in maths, so I probably would have found those A Levels incredibly hard.

I think thats the key, doing things your actually interested in rather than doing what will make your folks happy like I did.

Its a nice idea to have them get A-levels but if we had the next messi on the books and he couldnt get any would we really ship him out?

 

[Darren]

I think thats the key, doing things your actually interested in rather than doing what will make your folks happy like I did.

Its a nice idea to have them get A-levels but if we had the next messi on the books and he couldnt get any would we really ship him out?

A thing I always say to my kids is that you should never ever do anything just to please your parents and it's shitty parenting to compensate for your own failures by insisting your kids do something that you never managed to do.

My daughter is some kind of academic superstar - A's and A* stars at A Level, Oxford degree and now doing a fully funded Ph.D. That's her thing - she loves adademia and never wants to leave it.

That puts immense pressure on her younger brother and I think his mum expects him to replicate his sister's success. I tell him that he does not have to be like her; he has to choose his own path in life and do what he is happy with

 

[Kenilworth]

A thing I always say to my kids is that you should never ever do anything just to please your parents and it's shitty parenting to compensate for your own failures by insisting your kids do something that you never managed to do.

My daughter is some kind of academic superstar - A's and A* stars at A Level, Oxford degree and now doing a fully funded Ph.D. That's her thing - she loves adademia and never wants to leave it.

That puts immense pressure on her younger brother and I think his mum expects him to replicate his sister's success. I tell him that he does not have to be like her; he has to choose his own path in life and do what he is happy with

Agree with that philosophy Dazzler - you must be proud of them both.

So, which one of them will vote Conservative first?

Or should they never do anything just to please their parents

 

[Darren]

Agree with that philosophy Dazzler - you must be proud of them both.

So, which one of them will vote Conservative first?

Or should they never do anything just to please their parents

Actually, their mum (with whom they live) is far more of a close minded lefty than I am - I often challenge stuff they have picked up from her from a right wing perspective.

It's actually my son's 19th birthday today and he will vote for the first time. Labour it is, I think

 

[Grecian2000]

When Scotland wins independence can SUFC join as well?

We might have to.

IF Scotland go for independance AND they are excluded from the EU AND Dyke and his numpties ban none EU footballers from anything under Prem level we won't be able to get a 5 a side team together.

 

[Superblades]

The place has been very fair to us recently; Murphy, Flynn, Scougall & Harris have all been standout performers during our revival under NC. Wilson set the ball rolling with the signings of Murph & Flynn not to mention the fax machine doing us out of Fleck & Hutton. NC is obviously keeping up the trend and his comment about young Scottish players being technically better then English players is an interesting one. Are Scotland on the rise? Is their talent better and cheaper?

I have only read this post so far so sorry if someone has already posted this. I seem to remember a posts a while back questioning (myself included) the scouting network at the club as the players we had brought in were performing poor. Maybe we do need to just give the players time to adapt.

UTB!

 

[Darren]

Agree with that philosophy Dazzler - you must be proud of them both.

So, which one of them will vote Conservative first?

Or should they never do anything just to please their parents

I checked. He did vote Labour.

Eee...it makes me proud