screechio

I can remember Semmens and Crocker saying that the academy's goal was to turn out players good enough to play professionally. If they were good enough for the first team, then it was a bonus. Hopefully with the investment since SR's takeover, the pathway will be better. But I don't believe we have had a manager brave enough to do it since Poch left.

I should know by now to never doubt your links

Apparently the names kelvin ehibhatiomhan and he's already in the reading first team. Alfie house has named him after his twitter handle. Top notch investigative journalism

250 pages were MLG though!!!

He played 4 games. He was man of the match twice and had two assists. He was dog s**t in the fourth game and complained of feeling out of breath b4 he was subbed. That doesn't sound like he was shite to me, but I'm not a Sunderland follower

I'd like to see evidence for that. The Mackem supporters I know rated him until his heart problems.

Looked like a hamstring.

Benfica and Porto's transfers never appear to be straight forward. Their players are likely to be dual owned and the fees reported are not necessarily what is paid. The Fifaleaks papers reported huge discrepancies in reported fees and actual fees. I seem to recall Mangala's transfer fee being close to 15mil in leaked accounts but reported at nearer 60mil by the clubs media.

The way things are going. I reckon we'll end up with the youth team manager at Manchester City.

I can remember working in a shop in Petersfield during the Poortvielt season. I chatted to him amicable for three weeks until somebody told him I was a Saints fan. He never came through my till again. And I can confirm he absolutely pongs on match days.

I seem to remember Dan Sheldon suggesting that Armstrong wasn't being picked due to his defensive abilities at set pieces rather than his attacking qualities. That's bound to knacker a forwards confidence.

I think he answered this in an episode of TSP. He hinted at the loan being seen as affordable debt and refinanced rather than getting repayed quickly after the takeover. But he also said that he had no concrete evidence that they would take this approach.

And Morgan scored the goal too.

Targett's problems have always been due to a lack of pace, and therefore would've been solved with first team exposure as his reading of the game would've improved. Would I want him back..no, but he's easily skilled enough for the Premier league as long as he's not exposed

They did 'win' the intertoto Cup 🤣

I can remember being seriously underwhelmed when Bertrand came in to replace Shaw. He was horrific in a Villa team relegated that season. But his performances were brilliant under Koeman. Pretty much all those signings came off that year.

To be fair. Spain doesn't seem to be a hotbed for long throw experts.

From what I can remember of his time at Palace, he was always played coming in off the right wing. Completely against his game. That said I wouldn't have him as an Ings replacement. I can't see him either scoring or assisting enough to replace Ings goals

I'd add a caveat to this point. We have tended to pick up players from these clubs before they get to Scholarship age. Recent years have seen us sign players from Man City, Arsenal and Chelsea for our academy. So we're not completely ignoring other youth players. Although the players we have signed have not been good enough to earn scholarships at said clubs

He seems to be at that stage where he is not getting anything from U23's and not quite good enough for first team. He's a different type of striker to what we have though and should be toughened up down at league one. Interestingly we have used Lincoln before so we must rate their style of football. Where's the harm in giving him a year to season and then re-evaluate him

Just seen that Mikkel Bakker has moved on from PSG for 7million euros. Am I right in thinking he was rumoured to have visited Staplewood when PSG closed their U23's down?

I always thought he looked the business attacking but needs minutes to become a prem level defender. He's in a similar position to Targett when he broke through. Needs the game time to become a first teamer, but we can't afford him the time to learn and make mistakes like Leicester did with Chilwell

Sounds positive especially if we want 3 in each position but I wonder how it will be financed. Will a player be moved out. Is the price too good to ignore? Or is there enough in the pot from the free transfers wages?

I hear that Adrian bloke from across Stanley Park could provide a similar level of competition 😂

Koeman was an obvious appointment due to the cruyff/barca DNA fanaticism. However he is walking into a financial mess and a squad that needs an overhaul. I'll give him a year b4 he's gone😉