Development/Youth Squads 2021/2022 Thread

[ALC Fox]

Not getting carried away or over the top at all but this all just points to us having our own version of the Class of '92 within the next few years 

[sacreblueits442]

38 minutes ago, davieG said:

On it, he is a big advocate of street football, with many games at Man United played in 'cages', like you may see on some urban streets.

A mix of age groups would often come together to play 13 vs 13 games in the cage at United's Carrington training ground.

....very good idea, I  would suggest trying to emulate the street football played in France where a diverse and predominantly African, Hispanic and Moroccan players seek to dominate with outrageous skills where games are almost life or death situations, depending if they win or lose.

  Mahrez was part of this, and we do need to be looking in this area for players who we can develop. 

  These street footballers are not at clubs, most likely not at school and are drifting through life with only one real outlet being, to play the game, with the opportunity to express themselves in a way, no other avenues in their lives, would allow them to.

[BKLFox]

Sidnei most be kicking himself, it’s great to have belief in your own abilities but if coaches are telling you your not ready you have to listen at that age.

Not played a single minute for Porto B let alone their senior’s and looking like they moving him on in January.

[Ric Flair]

2 hours ago, davieG said:

https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/leicester-city-academy-paul-mcguinness-6371508

 

How Leicester City have lifted their academy to 'another level'
Leicester City hired a former Manchester United coach to an important role in their successful academy

ByLuke PawleyMidlands Football Writer
07:00, 21 DEC 2021
SPORT

Leicester City's academy continues to go from strength to strength.

We are seeing that more than ever, with Harvey Barnes, Luke Thomas, Hamza Choudhury and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall establishing themselves in the first team.

The club has always produced youngsters, from Julian Joachim to Emile Heskey, Matt Piper to Andy King, Jeff Schlupp to Ben Chilwell. It's something City fans have always, even in the bleakest of times, been proud of.

Last week, the club made another huge step forward with the appointment of Paul McGuinness as their new Head of Academy Player Development.

McGuinness spent 23 years as a coach at Man United, with much of it spent managing their under-18 side, including the famous 2011 FA Youth Cup winning squad including Paul Pogba and Ravel Morrison.

He also worked with former City players Danny Drinkwater, Matty James, Ritchie de Laet, Danny Simpson and Tom Lawrence.

During his time with the Red Devils, the 55-year-old saw 86 academy graduates make their first team debuts, with 23 becoming senior internationals.

Upon his exit from Manchester United in February 2016, McGuinness said: “It has been an honour and a privilege to follow in my father Wilf’s footsteps and to serve Manchester United in a variety of roles for a total of 28 years.

“I have dedicated my life to each job, from player to education and welfare officer, to Centre of Excellence director and scout, assistant academy director for under-9s to under-16s and later under-17s to under-21s, head coach for the professional development phase and finally youth-team coach.

“I will be forever grateful to Sir Alex Ferguson for making my dreams come true and inviting me to represent Manchester United as a player and for the last 23 years as a proud member of staff.”

Seven months after leaving United, he set up a football consultancy business and, the following year, became a National Coach Developer with the Football Association.

During four years with the FA, McGuinness worked with countless coaches across the football pyramid and was involved in devising a new coaching model which is now widely used across the country.

When the opportunity at Leicester came calling, he was lured away from the FA as he missed the day-to-day work of coaching and building relationships with players and other coaches at a professional club.

At City, he will have overall responsibility for the development of players from the ages of eight to 18 and will be tasked with preparing them for the transitions to under-23 and first team football.

McGuinness is widely respected as one of the best youth coaches in the game and has a key set of beliefs he will likely bring to Leicester.

Off the pitch, he insists on implementing and reinforcing high standards until they become a 'way of life', shaping what players do and who they are as people.

On it, he is a big advocate of street football, with many games at Man United played in 'cages', like you may see on some urban streets.

A mix of age groups would often come together to play 13 vs 13 games in the cage at United's Carrington training ground. The younger players always learned from playing with their elders - who themselves reinforced their own learning through coaching their younger clubmates.

These games are the most natural and effective way for young players to learn, McGuiness believes. It encourages players to play at high speed and improve, read the game and react to it quicker.

What's more, these games can forge a brotherly bond between players who would not otherwise mix. When Marcus Rashford famously dived against Man City in the infancy of his United breakthrough, Jesse Lingard ran to protect his teammate from the backlash.

Rashford is six years younger than Lingard, but those famous games in the cage at Carrington are credited for their bond on and off the pitch.

McGuinness' arrival at Leicester City is the latest in a number of moves which have made other clubs sit up and pay even more attention to the way Leicester are running their academy.

Sources at other Category One academies say Leicester have taken their academy on to "another level" and other clubs are looking at City "more seriously than ever" as inspiration for how it should be done.

The future will be bright for City's young talent and the tree has already borne fruit with the likes of Harvey Barnes, Luke Thomas, Hamza Choudhury and now Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall establishing themselves in the first team squad.

Down the age groups, there is a huge crop of exciting talent who McGuinness and his colleagues have the pleasure of working with.

Leicester have a trio of regulars in the England under-18 squad: Ben Nelson, who is currently with the first team; Kian Pennant, nephew of former Liverpool winger Jermaine; and Sammy Braybrooke, who captained the national side during the last international break.

Pennant has scored 10 goals in 10 Under-18 Premier League games this season after netting 19 in 22 last term.

His strike partner Chris Popov, signed from Man United at the end of last season, has scored nine in 11.

A host of other young players have been called up for England under-15 and under-16 training camps over the past two years and there are high hopes for them all internally.

City are also casting their eyes on players even younger, and are looking across the Midlands. The club has development centres in Birmingham, Nottingham, Derby, Coventry, Northampton and Corby.

Every player on the club's books has an exciting future, with top coaches guiding them at each age group and McGuinness ultimately responsible for their development.

They will also see clearer opportunities to progress, with under-23 football and loan deals now available to them from a younger age since Brendan Rodgers shifted the club's outlook on the development squad.

The club has already come a long way since Rodgers' arrival in February 2019 and it will only go from strength to strength in the years ahead.

This is genuinely one of the most inspired things our club may have ever done. It's huge.

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

47 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

This is genuinely one of the most inspired things our club may have ever done. It's huge.

I did tell you that were sorting things out 👍

[filbertway]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

This is genuinely one of the most inspired things our club may have ever done. It's huge.

Absolutely buzzing that we're finally getting this sorted, if we get this right it's just another weapon we can use to continue our attempts to compete at the right end of the league.

 

It's mad that clubs are willing to invest tens of millions on average players but don't have the foresight to spend much less on a top quality academy programme that will benefit the club long term.

[Ric Flair]

26 minutes ago, filbertway said:

Absolutely buzzing that we're finally getting this sorted, if we get this right it's just another weapon we can use to continue our attempts to compete at the right end of the league.

 

It's mad that clubs are willing to invest tens of millions on average players but don't have the foresight to spend much less on a top quality academy programme that will benefit the club long term.

Yeah, fascinated to see who we employ as the U23 head coach. We seem to be taking our time to get the man we want.

[st albans fox]

Another plus for the new TG

 

I’m sure he wouldn’t have come if we were still at belvoir drive 

[filbertway]

1 minute ago, Ric Flair said:

Yeah, fascinated to see who we employ as the U23 head coach. We seem to be taking our time to get the man we want.

I assume the plan is to make the u23s a genuine pathway to first team football, whereas at the minute, pathway has been a loan or skip the u23s and straight into the first team.

 

I find the u23s to be a bit of a waste of time tbh as a player in the 20-23 bracket should be playing first team football somewhere. Whether that means dropping down the leages on loan or getting chances for their own first team.

 

I'd be interested to see if someone is able to think outside the box and turn the u23s into a genuinely useful age bracket.

[sacreblueits442]

1 hour ago, filbertway said:

I assume the plan is to make the u23s a genuine pathway to first team football, whereas at the minute, pathway has been a loan or skip the u23s and straight into the first team.

 

I find the u23s to be a bit of a waste of time tbh as a player in the 20-23 bracket should be playing first team football somewhere. Whether that means dropping down the leages on loan or getting chances for their own first team.

 

I'd be interested to see if someone is able to think outside the box and turn the u23s into a genuinely useful age bracket.

...the age group is a bit of a misnomer!!!

  We have significantly lowered the age of the academy players taking part.

  Any players at 20 years old should be in a loan contract and getting the feel of the realities of his career choice.

  There was a suggestion that Beaglehole would have been allocated the role of placement and the management of the individual students career as their are times when you have to say goodbye, as they have failed to make the grade.

[Foxxed]

5 hours ago, filbertway said:

I assume the plan is to make the u23s a genuine pathway to first team football, whereas at the minute, pathway has been a loan or skip the u23s and straight into the first team.

 

I find the u23s to be a bit of a waste of time tbh as a player in the 20-23 bracket should be playing first team football somewhere. Whether that means dropping down the leages on loan or getting chances for their own first team.

 

I'd be interested to see if someone is able to think outside the box and turn the u23s into a genuinely useful age bracket.

There was a Spurs fan here a while back saying their academy (or perhaps Poch at that time) likes to put the players straight into the first team, and be in full control of their development, rather than go on a potentially unsuccessful loan for a year or so. If we're going to put players into the first team we'll need a manager who's fully on board with that. It did happen with Luke Thomas of course.

[moore_94]

Club are currently advertising for new academy scouts in addition to the Lead Academy Scout in Scotland

 

Also looks like they are looking for people to run a Pre-Academy Regional Development Centre in Tamworth/Birmingham and Corby

 

Academy Scouts - any location

 

National Academy Scout - Scotland

 

Development Centre Lead Co-ordinators

 

Development Centre Assistant Co-ordinators

 

Development Centre Coaches

 

Pre-Academy Casual Goalkeeping Coach

Edited 23 December 2021 by moore_94

[moore_94]

Suengchitthawon off at half time for Thailand who are currently beating Vietnam 2-0 with 60 minutes gone in the 1st leg of the Semi Final

 

Involved in the 1st goal, he is number 12, plays the pass that the defender messes up trying to defend

 

 

[Foxxed]

I’m not sure how ready Nelson is but I’d love to give a potential centre half some game time soon. I’m sick of so many defensive problems. I’d love to see the academy help.

[coolhandfox]

10 minutes ago, Foxxed said:

I’m not sure how ready Nelson is but I’d love to give a potential centre half some game time soon. I’m sick of so many defensive problems. I’d love to see the academy help.

Personal think he's a little young at 17.

 

The judgements should be made on what's best for he's development.

 

Chucking him in during a crisis may not be the best idea, against the likes of Man City and Liverpool.

 

[UniFox21]

On 23/12/2021 at 12:48, moore_94 said:

Club are currently advertising for new academy scouts in addition to the Lead Academy Scout in Scotland

 

Also looks like they are looking for people to run a Pre-Academy Regional Development Centre in Tamworth/Birmingham and Corby

 

Academy Scouts - any location

 

National Academy Scout - Scotland

 

Development Centre Lead Co-ordinators

 

Development Centre Assistant Co-ordinators

 

Development Centre Coaches

 

Pre-Academy Casual Goalkeeping Coach

"We are looking for FA Level 2 qualified coaches to join our teams in the following locations: Nottingham, Northampton, Coventry, Corby, Derby, Leicester and Tamworth/Birmingham."

 

Looks like we're really pushing to expand our scouting locally to take much more of the local areas from rivals. 

Coventry, Derby, Notts and Northampton is a great place to grow into given our current position compared to the clubs in those areas. 

Birmingham/Tamworth I'd assume we're trying to begin treading on the toes of Villa and Brum. 

[moore_94]

Suengchitthawon came on half time for Thailand as they drew 0-0 with Vietnam in the 2nd leg of the semi final

 

A 2-0 win on aggregate and are now through to the final where they will play Indonesia on Friday

[Foxxed]

Fantastic to see the academy boys victorious against the Premier League's best tonight. They gave their all. I hope they stay and are joined by a few of this current up-and-coming lot. It's a special kind of feeling to see kids who grew up and are growing up locally succeed. A fair few already have under 18 England experience, as did Barnes and Hamza and Thomas, so it looks fairly hopeful that they'll break through. The current lot are fairly young but I hope they get a few minutes for some experience before the end of the season.

[moore_94]

Suengchitthawon is on the bench for Thailand who after 30 minutes are currently 1-0 up against Indonesia in the 1st leg of the Final

[moore_94]

No game time for Suengchitthawon in the 1st leg as Thailand beat Indonesia 4-0

 

With such a convincing win, hopefully they will rotate for the 2nd leg and Suengchitthawon should get some good game time

[lcfc sheff]

When’s next u21s game? feels like forever since they’ve played 

[moore_94]

3 minutes ago, lcfc sheff said:

When’s next u21s game? feels like forever since they’ve played 

Chelsea away on Monday 10th January

 

Wont have played since 3rd December against Leeds

Edited 29 December 2021 by moore_94

[lcfc sheff]

Nelson and vestergaard will have to start the cup game you’d think? Unless he puts Timmy and soumare at the back ahead of them 😂

[Ric Flair]

1 hour ago, lcfc sheff said:

Nelson and vestergaard will have to start the cup game you’d think? Unless he puts Timmy and soumare at the back ahead of them 😂

Fingers crossed Nelson is available for it. There were rumours that he was set to start vs Spurs and it got called off.

[Lesta2014]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

Fingers crossed Nelson is available for it. There were rumours that he was set to start vs Spurs and it got called off.

Him and mcateer seem to be the two we are willing to Chuck in with regular bench appearances. Do we think mcateer inclusion is for his versatility? Hasn’t he played in about 5 positions for the u23s?