Does Wilder deserve credit for the present crop from the Academy

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Yewsman

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One of the early things that CW did, I believe, was to overhaul the Academy. He brought in Jack Lester to over see it and it seems that things have moved on very much in the right direction since. I do not follow the Academy closely but I know that last season both U18's and U 23's were excellent. More importantly it appears that there is a crop of players who are thought to have real potential. The classic example is Ndaiye whose debut last Saturday was breath taking in a game I will never forget. Fortunately it seems that PA intervened to make sure he was given a contact otherwise we might have lost him. He appears to be an absolute gem and will surely go onto great things hopefully with us.
In addition we have Jebbison (who apparently Everton wanted to buy for £5 mill) and a number of other players some of whom have gone out on loan but who are widely tipped as stars of the near future; Lopata, Gordon, Brunt, Seriki and others. Would be interested to hear what regular followers of the U18's and U23's who post on here think.

Could the overhaul be one of Wilder's best decisions and can we nurture some others who are as good as Ndaiye?
 

I'm glad wilder had the foresight to bring in some good people. Surely it's Lester and Heckingbottom that deserve the credit though.

Also credit to Slav for being brave enough to play a youngster, over the big money players. That wasn't something Wilder regularly did.
 
One of the early things that CW did, I believe, was to overhaul the Academy. He brought in Jack Lester to over see it and it seems that things have moved on very much in the right direction since. I do not follow the Academy closely but I know that last season both U18's and U 23's were excellent. More importantly it appears that there is a crop of players who are thought to have real potential. The classic example is Ndaiye whose debut last Saturday was breath taking in a game I will never forget. Fortunately it seems that PA intervened to make sure he was given a contact otherwise we might have lost him. He appears to be an absolute gem and will surely go onto great things hopefully with us.
In addition we have Jebbison (who apparently Everton wanted to buy for £5 mill) and a number of other players some of whom have gone out on loan but who are widely tipped as stars of the near future; Lopata, Gordon, Brunt, Seriki and others. Would be interested to hear what regular followers of the U18's and U23's who post on here think.

Could the overhaul be one of Wilder's best decisions and can we nurture some others who are as good as Ndaiye?

You are on the wind-up right?
 
Honestly, no, I don't think he does. I think Hecky does.
I’d say that’s a bit of a stretch aswell Lester heads up the operation so he carries that can good or bad. He’s brought in good coaches at all levels and he has overseen a period of very good academy recruitment. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that forest had a very productive academy whilst he was there and now we have one as well.
 
As the academy is in topic,for those blades who watch the academy lads,would you Chuck in Kacper Lopata as a centre half partner with Egan ? Sensible answers please 😉
 
One of the early things that CW did, I believe, was to overhaul the Academy. He brought in Jack Lester to over see it and it seems that things have moved on very much in the right direction since. I do not follow the Academy closely but I know that last season both U18's and U 23's were excellent. More importantly it appears that there is a crop of players who are thought to have real potential. The classic example is Ndaiye whose debut last Saturday was breath taking in a game I will never forget. Fortunately it seems that PA intervened to make sure he was given a contact otherwise we might have lost him. He appears to be an absolute gem and will surely go onto great things hopefully with us.
In addition we have Jebbison (who apparently Everton wanted to buy for £5 mill) and a number of other players some of whom have gone out on loan but who are widely tipped as stars of the near future; Lopata, Gordon, Brunt, Seriki and others. Would be interested to hear what regular followers of the U18's and U23's who post on here think.

Could the overhaul be one of Wilder's best decisions and can we nurture some others who are as good as Ndaiye?

Wasn't early was it? 2019 JL became Academy Manager.

Didn't TB leave to join Man Utd?
 

Absolutely not.

no slight at wilder but he showed absolutely zero inclination to play any academy players - preference was for established professionals.

brooks is the only one and his hand was forced because of just how good he was. Even then he wasn’t really a regular.

RND would have saved us 15k a week and 2m fee we paid for Lowe. but wilder never gave him a chance.

we may not have had much of a chance but he didn’t exactly pound the table to keep ramsdale or DCL

Fair enough when things were working (which they did for 90% of his time here) but he never gave any academy lads a chance even when it patently wasn’t

His strengths lay elsewhere but he had no interest in developing young players
 
Wasn't early was it? 2019 JL became Academy Manager.

Didn't TB leave to join Man Utd?
Yes it was and he inherited a very strong academy structure from Travis Binnion, including some excellent staff - the majority of whom remain.

Brooks, Calvert-Lewin, Norrington- Davis and Ramsdale all came through the previous regime. Most of the current crop have also been developed over years not months.

I’m sure JL and PH have added value but, I agree, let’s not dismiss the excellent work that went before them.

I believe Binnion is now Nick Cox’s number two at Man U.
 
Ok before this descends into nonsense slagging can people pay attention to the facts

Its been said by Hecky I believe that our Acadamy status prevented free movement of players between the first team and youth team

I was as frustrated as anyone else when Wilder would name a bench with spaces on it rather than fill it with kids but the truth is and don't ask why because it makes no sense to me, Teams who had our academy status or lower (if that's a thing) couldn't move players between squads freely due to Covid regulations so Wilder's hands were tied by the clubs status and not that he was opposed to playing Kids.

Can we just all acknowledge this is the reason for CWs apparent disinterest in playing young players and not an actual disinterest



**Edit


5.30 onwards explains this
 
Last edited:
Travis Binnion was released/sacked. He did not leave to go to Manchester United. Although he has subsequently been appointed their lead U18 Coach. John Dungworth, who was SUFC U23 Coach under Binnion, was released/sacked at the same time. Andrew Hughes was appointed SUFC U23 Coach under Lester. But, that didn't work out & Heckingbottom was appointed to succeed him.
 
Travis Binnion was released/sacked. He did not leave to go to Manchester United. Although he has subsequently been appointed their lead U18 Coach. John Dungworth, who was SUFC U23 Coach under Binnion, was released/sacked at the same time. Andrew Hughes was appointed SUFC U23 Coach under Lester. But, that didn't work out & Heckingbottom was appointed to succeed him.
What did they do?
 
Ok before this descends into nonsense slagging can people pay attention to the facts

Its been said by Hecky I believe that our Acadamy status prevented free movement of players between the first team and youth team

I was as frustrated as anyone else when Wilder would name a bench with spaces on it rather than fill it with kids but the truth is and don't ask why because it makes no sense to me, Teams who had our academy status or lower (if that's a thing) couldn't move players between squads freely due to Covid regulations so Wilder's hands were tied by the clubs status and not that he was opposed to playing Kids.

Can we just all acknowledge this is the reason for CWs apparent disinterest in playing young players and not an actual disinterest



**Edit


5.30 onwards explains this
Covid wasn’t here for the duration of Wilders time here, that’s another fact we need to mention whilst we’re at it. 😁
 
Yes and no. The academy results in terms of player development are always trending years ahead of the the current incumbents. I'd argue five years minimum. The majority of the work was done years before we see the finished product at the Lane. You probably have to go back to Cox, Binnion - even the likes of Pemberton and Ron Reid - to get an holistic appraisal of everything that has impacted Shirecliffe; the way it operates; and what is coming through right now. A certain K McCabe deserves a mention too (ducks to avoid flying objects). Wilder's record for player development as a manager speaks for itself (a long time before he became Blades manager by the way). The club was accelerating at a rate of knots so we didn't see too much of that here; it was mainly a way to fund the club and allow him to bring in and develop youngish lower league signings. He was absolutely correct to loan RND to get him game time, though; that's a strange criticism. We are having the benefit of that decision now.
 
Covid wasn’t here for the duration of Wilders time here, that’s another fact we need to mention whilst we’re at it. 😁

Are you suggesting Wilder didn’t bring any young players through at all?
 
No, I’m not, he brought one through in 5 years and only started him in 9 games. 😁
Think that’s unfair.. I’m not in the militant wilder support group

but he gave minutes to

DCL
Ramsdale
Adams
Brookes

And he had them all sold before they could establish themselves,then apart from those players who else came through pre Covid who was good enough to make it? Brookes also suffered from a long term illness didn’t he which curtailed his involvement
 
Think that’s unfair.. I’m not in the militant wilder support group

but he gave minutes to

DCL
Ramsdale
Adams
Brookes

And he had them all sold before they could establish themselves,then apart from those players who else came through pre Covid who was good enough to make it? Brookes also suffered from a long term illness didn’t he which curtailed his involvement
I’m in neither group, I think it’s fairly obvious Wilder preferred to use a different approach to the youngsters, he showcased a few to bring some money in for the players he wanted which was good management, it brought us some short term gains on each occasion.
 

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