Les Reed on The Footballers' Football Show tonight (7pm & 11pm - SS1)

[Saint-Armstrong]

Les Reed will be on the show at 7pm on Sky Sports 1. Repeated at 11pm.

 

The theme and key topic for discussion is youth development and how to have a successful academy.

 

I'm sure there's many of us who will be interested in that.

 

 

Hope this has been of use.

[DuncanRG]

I'll give that a watch, thanks for the heads up!

Edited 10 March, 2014 by DuncanRG

[Dig Dig]

Cheers for the heads up.

 

I'm sure bazza will be tuning in.

[Saint-Armstrong]

Les Reed:

 

- Everyone at Southampton works to the same philosophy

- Therefore, the manager can pick young players and allow them to make mistakes

- No one at the club is going to punish or criticise the manager for doing that

- We take boys from the age of 9 to 17 ideally

- At 17 we decide whether to offer them a contract

- Contracts offered to 17 year old players are all standardised and the same

- We then offer them a range of incentives to encourage good practice and reward hard work

- We believe that standardised contracts with incentives are the best way to handle youngsters and encourage them to make the first team

- We will offer new contracts to exceptional talents once they get to 18 or older

- We emphasise to them that we all start on the same starting line together

- From there on, it is all about the hard work that you must put in to reap the rewards

- Our club's structure is different from Chelsea or Manchester City

- That's because everyone within the club buys into the philosophy

- From the youth coaches to first team coach

- I say first team coach because that is what he is, he's a very good coach on the training pitch

- He was appointed because of his philosophy in this regard

- He has plenty of experience in nurturing young talent from his time in Spain

- Everyone buys into the fact that whether a first teamer or not, at the ages of 17 and 18 you will train with the first team on a regular basis

- For example Luke Shaw and James Ward-Prowse, they have to train with internationals

- Luke had to face Lallana, Rodriguez etc. in training, he trains alongside a Croatian international in defence, Dejan Lovren

- This is hugely beneficial, just training with senior pros is useful

- I don't understand the logic of investing significant sums in trying to attract the best possible young stars from abroad

- You then end up sending out the best of your own prospects to other teams who don't nurture them with the same level of interest

- I don't think the lower league environment is the best way to nurture your young players

- There's a theory of 'rough them up' but I don't agree with that

- We place high standards on our lads

- We monitor them heavily

- They gain their mental and physical strength at Southampton, nowhere else

- I don't buy the argument that loan spells in the lower leagues makes players better

- There are cases for loans though

- I think youngsters are better off in their own clubs

- But it depends on clubs providing the right experience

- It's sad to see young players in limbo, it's sad that they will never make their first team and spend their time on loan at several clubs

- We'd never attract the players here if it seemed we took lots in, kept some and discarded the rest just to make some money off of it

- We are selective

- We take our lads in on the promise that we will do everything possible on and off the field to make you a Premier League player

- There is a pathway for you if you do what is expected and required of you

- Luke and James have not been on loan, neither has Calum

- They have made the transition into the Premier League with very little difficulty whatsoever

- Competitive football is not important as such

- The standard you are playing to is far more important

- It's not Southampton's job to produce players for the Football League

- It's Southampton's job to provide for Southampton and that is what we will continue to do

- We can create the competitive environment in our B Team/U21 side in order to help progression

- We need to work together to improve the U21 league

- We need to think outside the box to incentivise the league more and make it that 'B' league that many discuss

- I can't envisage a time when United and Oldham fans standing together to cheer a team with mixed identity

- Is it Oldham or is it Manchester United B?

- Our academy is thriving because we believe we are doing the right thing

- Loans and feeder clubs are not in our formula

- I understand that there are League One and League Two clubs would like the opportunity to borrow players

- I can see that as appealing for smaller clubs

- But I think a lot more thought needs to go into it

- For example Arsenal and Barnet, who turns up to support?

- Is it Arsenal fans to see Arsenal's reserves, or Barnet fans to watch Barnet?

- I don't believe in loans or feeder clubs

- We believe that preparing our players with our own curriculum in house

- That makes them suited to our system, not anyone else's system, but ours

- It won't work to develop better English talent for the international squads in the future

- The difference is, our best 17, 18 and 19 year olds are playing in our first team, not anywhere else

- The top clubs, rather than parking players elsewhere, should develop them

- These players tend to leave the big club and end up with a career in the Football League

- Great for the player, getting a career, but why go to those top clubs in the first place if they don't maximise your potential

- As a club, if you just turn the player into a Football League player, why?

- We should work together with the U21 league and develop the international aspect

- The Next Gen competition etc should be worked on so we can make these young players the best that they can be

- We need to think outside the box if we want to develop better talent

[Hayling Saint]

Excellent

[St Chalet]

Thanks for taking the time to post that Saint Armstrong, very interesting stuff there.

[Smirking_Saint]

He knows what he is on about from the backroom sense.

 

He has done an excellent job with us

[Saint in Paradise]

Yes thank you for posting that most interesting.

[Minsk]

Thanks very much for that Saint-Armstrong. A very good Read. It also backs up something I posted on another thread last week; it is better for players like Gallagher to remain with us and train with the first team day in day out than go on loan to a L1 Team.

 

To be honest, IMHO, I also don't think prem teams should be allowed to bring players in on loan. It is completely ridiculous (for example) that Everton's best striker (Lukaku) can play against any other team except Chelsea.

[Sour Mash]

Les Reed:

Fair play for writing all that up. Does seem that we're not a fan of loaning out our young players to the lower leagues if we genuinely think they've got a chance of making it. Not sure I agree with that policy itself, especially if our squad grows in the next couple of years in terms of Premier League standard players.

[Sour Mash]

Thanks very much for that Saint-Armstrong. A very good Read. It also backs up something I posted on another thread last week; it is better for players like Gallagher to remain with us and train with the first team day in day out than go on loan to a L1 Team.

 

To be honest, IMHO, I also don't think prem teams should be allowed to bring players in on loan. It is completely ridiculous (for example) that Everton's best striker (Lukaku) can play against any other team except Chelsea.

But if Osvaldo had still been here, what would Gallagher have been doing for the last few months? Playing the occasional Under 21s game most likely. Extrapolate that for a year or two and that's not great development for him. Fully agree with your 2nd point though.

[The Kraken]

Thanks very much for that Saint-Armstrong. A very good Read. It also backs up something I posted on another thread last week; it is better for players like Gallagher to remain with us and train with the first team day in day out than go on loan to a L1 Team.

 

To be honest, IMHO, I also don't think prem teams should be allowed to bring players in on loan. It is completely ridiculous (for example) that Everton's best striker (Lukaku) can play against any other team except Chelsea.

Loans are ok, its the loans between clubs in the same division that are problem (specifically such as Lukaku). I've no problem with loans between clubs in different divisions but between clubs in the same division makes no sense and is open to abuse of the system in many ways.

[Minsk]

But if Osvaldo had still been here, what would Gallagher have been doing for the last few months? Playing the occasional Under 21s game most likely. Extrapolate that for a year or two and that's not great development for him. Fully agree with your 2nd point though.

 

If any player wouldn't get a sniff of the first team fr a couple of years then they will probably never make it. But I still feel any player would improve more by training, day in day out, with internationals and Premier League standard players than (for example) playing for Brentford against Gillingham, Crawley, Port Vale, etc.

 

However, the first point I made was just last week in response to when some were calling for Gallagher to be loaned out as 'our season was now over'.

[Minsk]

Loans are ok, its the loans between clubs in the same division that are problem (specifically such as Lukaku). I've no problem with loans between clubs in different divisions but between clubs in the same division makes no sense and is open to abuse of the system in many ways.

 

I would be happy if even that was stopped. But still don't see why any prem club needs to loan players in, given the money they have at their disposal.

[The Kraken]

I would be happy if even that was stopped. But still don't see why any prem club needs to loan players in, given the money they have at their disposal.

PL clubs perhaps don't need it, but historically it has worked well for players to go out on loan to the lower leagues, particularly young players. So I don't have too much of a problem with that. Loaning between clubs in the same division is an utter joke.

[Sour Mash]

If any player wouldn't get a sniff of the first team fr a couple of years then they will probably never make it. But I still feel any player would improve more by training, day in day out, with internationals and Premier League standard players than (for example) playing for Brentford against Gillingham, Crawley, Port Vale, etc.

 

However, the first point I made was just last week in response to when some were calling for Gallagher to be loaned out as 'our season was now over'.

He might get a "sniff", but any player's learning curve needs more than that. He'd have had plenty of training with internationals, so why not mix it up a bit with a 6 month loan. I'm sure Schneiderlin has talked about how the lower leagues toughened him up. Plenty of people would have written off Lambert when he was younger, he just needed to develop in reality. The point is I think there must be some players that would benefit from the competitive environment of first team football, but aren't yet ready to do a job for us.

[Goatboy]

PL clubs perhaps don't need it, but historically it has worked well for players to go out on loan to the lower leagues, particularly young players. So I don't have too much of a problem with that. Loaning between clubs in the same division is an utter joke.

 

Agree. There should also be a limit on the total number of loaned out players per season to stop clubs hoovering up talent.

[CB Fry]

Great read. Thanks for typing out.

 

Nice to see such a singular, specific strategic vision so well articulated.

 

Well done Saints and Sir Les.

[The Kraken]

Agree. There should also be a limit on the total number of loaned out players per season to stop clubs hoovering up talent.

Yep. Apparently Chelsea have 27 players out on loan. 27! That's insane.

[VectisSaint]

But if Osvaldo had still been here, what would Gallagher have been doing for the last few months? Playing the occasional Under 21s game most likely. Extrapolate that for a year or two and that's not great development for him. Fully agree with your 2nd point though.

Playing/benching regularly while Osvaldo served his suspensions.

 

Seriously though it would have made little difference, Sam would still have made the bench regularly, we are so short of striking options. The point is the B League needs to become more competitive and then there is no point in loaning players out by PL clubs, that's Read's valid point and how we develop PL players. The same system does not necessarily develop players for the Championship/L1/L2, but that isn't Southampton's (or other PL team's) concern.

[Goatboy]

Yep. Apparently Chelsea have 27 players out on loan. 27! That's insane.

 

Mental. It has to change.

[Smirking_Saint]

If any player wouldn't get a sniff of the first team fr a couple of years then they will probably never make it. But I still feel any player would improve more by training, day in day out, with internationals and Premier League standard players than (for example) playing for Brentford against Gillingham, Crawley, Port Vale, etc.

 

However, the first point I made was just last week in response to when some were calling for Gallagher to be loaned out as 'our season was now over'.

 

This basically certainly would help out much more in 'our' structure then another structure as we have the facilities and coaches to improve players more than say the lower leagues. Im not sure that 'toughening up' is necessarily required either really, maybe for some players but certainly not all.

 

I think the B leagues option will be far better for youth development or even a better managed youth league etc

 

All v difficult to implement however.

 

One thing though is its so refreshing to be one of the best clubs in terms of youth development arguably in Europe.

[Minsk]

PL clubs perhaps don't need it, but historically it has worked well for players to go out on loan to the lower leagues, particularly young players. So I don't have too much of a problem with that. Loaning between clubs in the same division is an utter joke.

 

Yep. Apparently Chelsea have 27 players out on loan. 27! That's insane.

 

I fully agree with lower league teams being able to loan players from higher divisions.

 

27 is completely insane! Yes, there should be a limit on the number of players a club can loan out.

[Smirking_Saint]

Yep. Apparently Chelsea have 27 players out on loan. 27! That's insane.

 

Thats just wrong, indeed, makes clubs hoover up talent and makes the whole system unfair.

 

Perhaps having limits on the amount of young players transfered in and ensuring that no loans for U18 year olds etc ?

[Sour Mash]

Playing/benching regularly while Osvaldo served his suspensions.

 

Seriously though it would have made little difference, Sam would still have made the bench regularly, we are so short of striking options. The point is the B League needs to become more competitive and then there is no point in loaning players out by PL clubs, that's Read's valid point and how we develop PL players. The same system does not necessarily develop players for the Championship/L1/L2, but that isn't Southampton's (or other PL team's) concern.

He wouldn't have got much playing time at all though. I've just picked him as an example, but it can be applied to many players; what we're saying is at the age of 18/19/20, you either need to be good enough to do a decent job in a top 10 Premier League squad, or you'll not be getting a properly competitive kick of the ball. Some positions it'll affect more than others, but I think for Centre Backs and Keepers it's something to look at, they'll rarely get offered a 15 minute run out.

[Sour Mash]

Yep. Apparently Chelsea have 27 players out on loan. 27! That's insane.

Do Chelsea ever bring any of their loan players back to play for their first team? Such a weird tactic, not sure what it achieves for them, apart form maybe helping to control the market and their opposition a bit.

[Viking Warrior]

Enjoyable to watch , I felt proud to be a saints fan and His body language was all very positive and clearly looking to a long term future at saints

 

Wasn't keen on his shoes mind and thanks st Armstrong for posting every thing he said

[Goatboy]

Do Chelsea ever bring any of their loan players back to play for their first team? Such a weird tactic, not sure what it achieves for them, apart form maybe helping to control the market and their opposition a bit.

 

It certainly has nothing to do with developing the player.

[Greenridge]

Thanks for taking the time S.A for summarising that. It made very interesting reading.

 

It doesn't seem long ago that Les Reed was the devil incarnate.

[The Kraken]

Do Chelsea ever bring any of their loan players back to play for their first team? Such a weird tactic, not sure what it achieves for them, apart form maybe helping to control the market and their opposition a bit.

Sadly I think that is a massive part of it. They can afford to take a punt on a huge array of talent knowing that they can then loan them out to save money and recall any ones (very few) that actually look promising enough to make the first team. It's a scattergun approach of little finesse but where the big clubs can dominate matters.

 

Chelsea 27 players out on loan. Man United 15. Liverpool 14. Arsenal 14. How can anyone within football argue that is good for the game?

[Batman]

Sadly I think that is a massive part of it. They can afford to take a punt on a huge array of talent knowing that they can then loan them out to save money and recall any ones (very few) that actually look promising enough to make the first team. It's a scattergun approach of little finesse but where the big clubs can dominate matters.

 

Chelsea 27 players out on loan. Man United 15. Liverpool 14. Arsenal 14. How can anyone within football argue that is good for the game?

pretty dire though. also, the players who go there are mad.

I know the money must be incredible but take scott sinclair

 

had a very good season at swansea. No doubt had a fair few clubs offering him very good money, but why go to city? its like semi retirement

[dronskisaint]

Thanks St Armstrong for taking that trouble - that's a powerful statement of policy.

 

I love the single-mindedness of our intent, we do seem to have a management team that knows what is required from top to bottom. I like being the envy of lesser clubs! ;)

[Batman]

do laugh when one or two bring up les reed when we are not doing so well

[The Kraken]

pretty dire though. also, the players who go there are mad.

I know the money must be incredible but take scott sinclair

 

had a very good season at swansea. No doubt had a fair few clubs offering him very good money, but why go to city? its like semi retirement

I'd guess the argument is that he'll pretty much guarantee he'll have various fallback loan options, so he can take the gamble. Huge wages at City which will last for the duration of his contract, and he's taken the punt of playing for a top side and the recognition that brings. Milner for instance wouldn't have anywhere near as many caps as he does without playing for City, he's the model for which that type of transfer has worked out, on a personal level. Sinclair not so much, but he's still playing Premier League, he'll move to another PL club if WBA go down, and he's probably multiplied his annual salary by a huge amount.

 

It's why I'd take out loans between PL clubs, and put limits on numbers of outgoing loans. In the first place, players might actually think twice before moving. And top PL clubs might actually think twice about hoovering up all the talent if they know that they'll be stuck with a load of high earners on their books that they can't offset by shipping them straight back out.

 

The whole system is f*cked but nobody seems to be in a hurry to repair it.

[Kingsland Red]

Didn't see the programme but read SA's bullet point list. (Thank you SA)

The point that jumped out at me is the no one criticises the (first team) manager for playing youth team players and accommodating their mistakes.This comes across in Poch's post match interviews after a defeat when he never responds to an interviewers prompt about a players error or performance.

Still "Together as One'.

After reading that, I believe Poch will stay this summer as he is the focal point of the system in place.

[Graffito]

The following is from the Secret Footballer. Maybe the what Read refers to when he talks about Chelsea and Man City hoovering up young talent and sending them out on loan. They are making money from it.

 

"If you want an example of this type of transfer, look no further than the career of the former Chelsea player, Kevin De Bruyne. De Bruyne was signed by the higher-ups at Chelsea from Genk, an unfashionable club in Belgium, for £7 million in the January window of 2012.

 

Later, Chelsea loaned him to Werder Bremen, a very capable Bundesliga side, where he played 33 league games and scored an impressive ten goals. Ultimately, Chelsea were able to put De Bruyne on the European map and increase his value while halving his wages by loaning him out, despite the fact that he played only three times for the Blues.

 

In the January window of 2014, Chelsea sold De Bruyne to another Bundesliga club, VfL Wolfsburg, for £17 million.

 

I realise that football purists might balk at the manipulation of a player’s career, especially a young player, or even the fact that the club has traded off its position as a blue-chip football club. But any person who appreciates business will no doubt have to begrudgingly admire a deal like that.

 

There is a side of transfering players that is ultimately about nothing more than making the club more money. When it works, you can’t help but be just a little impressed."

 

I'm not sure how many of the Chelsea and City type loanees out are signings and how many are from their development squads. We may be doing things quite differently two respects, in both growing our own and controlling their development through to first team. The weak point in the approach is the standard of competition the Under 21 s compete in, as Read has identified.

[GAS]

The following is from the Secret Footballer. Maybe the what Read refers to when he talks about Chelsea and Man City hoovering up young talent and sending them out on loan. They are making money from it.

 

"If you want an example of this type of transfer, look no further than the career of the former Chelsea player, Kevin De Bruyne. De Bruyne was signed by the higher-ups at Chelsea from Genk, an unfashionable club in Belgium, for £7 million in the January window of 2012.

 

Later, Chelsea loaned him to Werder Bremen, a very capable Bundesliga side, where he played 33 league games and scored an impressive ten goals. Ultimately, Chelsea were able to put De Bruyne on the European map and increase his value while halving his wages by loaning him out, despite the fact that he played only three times for the Blues.

 

In the January window of 2014, Chelsea sold De Bruyne to another Bundesliga club, VfL Wolfsburg, for £17 million.

 

I realise that football purists might balk at the manipulation of a player’s career, especially a young player, or even the fact that the club has traded off its position as a blue-chip football club. But any person who appreciates business will no doubt have to begrudgingly admire a deal like that.

 

There is a side of transfering players that is ultimately about nothing more than making the club more money. When it works, you can’t help but be just a little impressed."

 

I'm not sure how many of the Chelsea and City type loanees out are signings and how many are from their development squads. We may be doing things quite differently two respects, in both growing our own and controlling their development through to first team. The weak point in the approach is the standard of competition the Under 21 s compete in, as Read has identified.

Their policy with players has some similarities to that with managers. They have sacked managers year on year and been very successful. Certainly is a financial reason for all the loanees and probably excentuated by the FFP. They have a ready replacement to Czech in Courtois and perhaps Lukaku in a yr or two will be in the first team. Both either being worth shed loads or saving transfer fees on replacements. Just very good business. It's the football equivalent of compound interest (well, maybe there is some spurious connection).

[CB Saint]

He makes an interesting point about lower league loans. Why spend ten years training a nipper to play a certain way ie passing, and then lend him to a league one club where is is taught to "get in the the mixer"

 

seems to to me that it would be counterproductive and may set back the lad instead of improving him

[saint lard]

Just watched the programme.

 

Les Reed has certainly gone up in my estimation

He made some excellent points.

He appears to be an integral piece of the jigsaw at SFC and the progress of the club both on the pitch and off it.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rooney]

Thanks St Armstrong for posting that detail. I had to go out so missed the last 1/2hr on Sky last night.

[Patrick Bateman]

Thanks for typing that up.

 

I kind of agree with not bothering to send players out on loan, but ... it really does require a better U21 league or rather a proper 'B team' league. Attract the punters, get them on some obscure TV channel etc etc., I think that is all that is missing.

 

I think the only doubt in that philosophy is that some of the players just starting in the first team (i.e. Reed) and also players like Isgrove are not making the bench, so would it hurt to send them on loan for the last 3 months to be roughed up a bit and then back for a full pre-season??

[dubai_phil]

Let us not forget that the ideas started with Georges Prost.

 

Then despite the derision we had another strange part of the Journey to the Magnificent machine that Les now runs so well

 

This did not all happen on the day NC arrived

 

A 2005 article has some similarities to the detail we now see

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2005/nov/01/sport.comment

 

He identifies all the components needed to make an athlete excel, and then engages the best person available to refine each of those components

Tireless work, forensic attention to detail, a commitment to creative thinking and (are you listening, naysayers) an eagerness to learn from other disciplines. The notion that someone who succeeds in one sport cannot succeed in another should seem especially ludicrous to Southampton fans. One of the country's top racehorse trainers is Mick Channon, a former Saint and England captain.

 

try and improve every aspect of players' games, even saying he'll produce penalty-takers so accurate they'll score 100 times out of 100 - firing home off the inside of the post 99 of those times. He reckons it's just a case of identifying the right kicking action and then practising, practising, practising, until it becomes a mechanical instinct.

 

And this is not ONLY about us - this from 2012

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Ex-England-rugby-boss-Sir-Clive-Woodward-has-revolutionised-our-training-regime-says-Manchester-United-coach-article783531.html

Manchester United fitness coach Tony Strudwick credits Sir Clive Woodward with the explosion of sports science techniques that have changed the face of pre-season training.

On their recent three-week tour of the North America, there were no huge hills or lengthy runs to increase United's stamina.

Every single bit of exercise their players now do has a purpose. And Woodward was the catalyst.

"Sir Clive put a process in place for English rugby that allowed him to get the most from his players," said Strudwick.

"The advent of professionalism in rugby set a trend and football has taken some time to catch up.

"We have been accused of being prehistoric but the game is changing.

"The days of coming in at 9.30am, having a slice of toast, then jogging on to the training pitch are gone.

"It is more like a full-time job. Players are spending 45 minutes preparing for exercise and the same amount of time recovering."

Strudwick is the immediate crossover between Sir Alex Ferguson and his coaching team and the huge medical department tasked with delivering players at their peak.

It is almost like a giant computer, with every conceivable piece of data crunched into an individual formula for each member of Ferguson's squad.

[KelvinsRightGlove]

I would perhaps instinctively agree with those that suggest we should be loaning out the youngsters.

 

However, it is hard to argue with LR's point of Luke Shaw, James WP, Callum Chambers having not been out on loan. It's certainly not hurt them - they have all taken to first-team duties, at Premier League level, like fish to water. I guess it depends on the set-up behind the scenes. Which is clearly something we are doing well at the moment, both under LR and prior to that.

 

Where's our resident expert telling us LR should be "no where near a football club"?

[buctootim]

I would perhaps instinctively agree with those that suggest we should be loaning out the youngsters.

 

Its obviously a very different philosophy to the traditional approach - but its very hard to argue it isnt working very well for us.

[The9]

He might get a "sniff", but any player's learning curve needs more than that. He'd have had plenty of training with internationals, so why not mix it up a bit with a 6 month loan. I'm sure Schneiderlin has talked about how the lower leagues toughened him up. Plenty of people would have written off Lambert when he was younger, he just needed to develop in reality. The point is I think there must be some players that would benefit from the competitive environment of first team football, but aren't yet ready to do a job for us.

 

That's missing the point a bit - Schneiderlin's development was due to him remaining with Saints as much as having to play against L1 players, and it's also difficult to credit Lambert's development into a Prem player to anything other than his efforts within Saints' system when he'd spent 10 years in the bottom 2 divisions not getting anywhere. The whole discussion is about the benefits of remaining with Saints as opposed to going to another club's system - though admittedly there's a difference with established first teamers (though Schneiderlin was 18 when he joined us, mostly keeping him in the side through the rough patches was a remarkable piece of foresight).

[Verbal]

Its obviously a very different philosophy to the traditional approach - but its very hard to argue it isnt working very well for us.

 

Exactly so - it's a different philosophy. Different, that is, to the philosophy (if that's the word) that's produced a staggeringly poor quality of footballer in England compared with the production lines in Spain, Germany, Holland, Brazil, Argentina, and many more. It's a measure of how stubborn this lame 'loan-'em-out-to-toughen-'em-up' mantra is that it gets trotted out on this thread, on this forum, at this club.

[KelvinsRightGlove]

Exactly so - it's a different philosophy. Different, that is, to the philosophy (if that's the word) that's produced a staggeringly poor quality of footballer in England compared with the production lines in Spain, Germany, Holland, Brazil, Argentina, and many more. It's a measure of how stubborn this lame 'loan-'em-out-to-toughen-'em-up' mantra is that it gets trotted out on this thread, on this forum, at this club.

 

I think it demonstrates how conservative football is.

 

This is how things are done, because they have always been done like that and therefore always should be.

 

Any hint at challenging this, or doing something different is met with scepticism.

[Matthew Le God]

Short video and article...

 

http://www1.skysports.com/watch/tv-shows/footballers-football-show/news/9207235/footballers-football-show-les-reed-reveals-secret-behind-southamptons-youth-success

 

And a podcast of the entire 47 minute show...

 

http://podcasts.skysports.com/podcasts/SkySportsFootballersFootballShow/FFS_SKYGO_100314.mp3

Edited 11 March, 2014 by Matthew Le God

[lifeintheslowlane]

I think it demonstrates how conservative football is.

 

This is how things are done, because they have always been done like that and therefore always should be.

 

Any hint at challenging this, or doing something different is met with scepticism.

 

Spot on...now let me think...how did the "usual suspects" here react to the appointment of Ralph Krueger. http://www.saintsweb.co.uk/showthread.php?49196-Ralph-Krueger-upcoming-appointment#.Ux74n_l_u3s

[trousers]

I appreciate this will possibly take the thread in the wrong direction but, to me, one can see how important the cup games are for contributing to the "first team experience as early as possible in their development" philosophy that Reed talks about. If we're not going to do it in cup games then what's the alternative...? (yes, I know the stock answer is "in league games in the latter part of the season once we're safe from relegation" but between August and March cup games are surely the right vehicle to assist the development of our younger players.)