Jeff Schlupp

[crazylegs1984]

my point exactly if he does enough im sure he will be given the chance but in all honestly he has never played a professional game and would you risk that in a game we have to well in .

If we was 5-0 up and twenty minutes to go then yeah throw him in the mix but in the position we are in when we need every single point why risk a nurturing talent who may or may not hit the back of the net the fact of the matter is we dont know how he will play and if he was ready im sure Sven would give him the chance .

and like you said everyone is allowed a opinion and that was mine!

[Zingari]

I just want to be able to sing the, 'One Jeff Schlupp' chant.

I just want to be able to sing

"Ahhh Schulluppa ya face "

[B52]

If we was 5-0 up and twenty minutes to go then yeah throw him in the mix but in the position we are in when we need every single point......

We are seven points behind playoffs and 75 points left to play for. No need for drama...... I don't believe we can touch QP and one of the rest but the playoffs is a done deal.

Get him in action now because later we have strengthen the squad and it will be tougher to defend such a desicion.

Cunningham is nearly as young, born 91, so can we allow him to play?

[bettso]

I just want to be able to sing

"Ahhh Schulluppa ya face "

[davieG]

my point exactly if he does enough im sure he will be given the chance but in all honestly he has never played a professional game and would you risk that in a game we have to well in .

If we was 5-0 up and twenty minutes to go then yeah throw him in the mix but in the position we are in when we need every single point why risk a nurturing talent who may or may not hit the back of the net the fact of the matter is we dont know how he will play and if he was ready im sure Sven would give him the chance .

and like you said everyone is allowed a opinion and that was mine!

They can't be thrown on it they're never on the bench, and we'll always be after points be it trying to avoid relegation or with an outside chance of the play-offs.

To maintain their development beyond Academy level they need to be playing with better players very few get the chance because of the reasons you give.

That's not to say I think Schlupp should be in the 1st team squad just that I don't think the reasons you give are valid. But it's all opinions and nothing on here will ever change any team selection.

[Guest Basildon Fox]

Out of interest. How many goals has he scored for the youth team this season?

Also I am sure that Jon Rudkin has said that the youth teamers have been training with the first team a lot more since SGE became managerwhich can only be good for them. I would imagine that if they are showing up well in training then sooner or later they will be given a chance. I agree though that it would be better for all of the youngsters if there was a reserve team.

[crazylegs1984]

@ b52 yes cunningham should play and will because he is proven at club level and international and comparing cunningham to schlupp is bizarre

[surrifox]

I dont see our record on promoting or producing home grown players as much better or worse than pretty much any other side in the prem or championship. Given that all prem sides have very well developed academies and their scouting resources reach out across the world to bring promising youngsters to their clubs the default transfer policy for most of them still appears to be signing journeymen pros and other foreign based players . very few if any have constructed the nucleus of a squad around home grown players. The Man united youth team of 20 odd years ago produced Butt, Beckham, Scholes, savage , Giggs etc but they have done very little since to bring on first team regulars . No mananger can be blamed for chasing results at the expense of extended trials for promising youngsters in the first team - thats the whole ethos of modern day football- the reason that King is a regular is because he is worth his place the others get what they deserve commensurate with their ability which is a regular wage with a conference, league one or two side with the opportunity to be recognised and promoted if they are late developers

[Bugg]

Dodds didn't get a chance here either because we preferred spent forces like Horsfield and Cadamarteri. Dodds may not be Ronaldo but he's scored plenty of goals from midfield at Port Vale and a hell of a lot more than those who kept him out at City have done.

Have you even see Dodds play in anything other than the academy? I've been to a few Port Vale games this season and he really isn't anything to write home about. He only comes on in about the 70th minute and goals aside, he doesn't really make much impact on the game.

[CosbehFox]

Do you want me to name all the expensive or speculative wkrs who have been signed or loaned from outside who haven't made it here either?

And while you're bemoaning all the flops why not mention those who have done well or at least respectably well.

Kee didn't get a chance here because of injuries in the main. Chambers was the same.

Dodds didn't get a chance here either because we preferred spent forces like Horsfield and Cadamarteri. Dodds may not be Ronaldo but he's scored plenty of goals from midfield at Port Vale and a hell of a lot more than those who kept him out at City have done.

Why not mention Gradel who seems to have scored a lot more regularly than any of the wingers we've used and for a team who have climbed far higher up the league than we have and on a lot less money. Or Kingy.

Even now look at the return from Waghorn at £2m plus and Vassell so far. I honestly reckon Chris O'Grady would have scored more for us than Waghorn but one cost nothing and got next to no chance and much of that out of position, while the other costs stacks, has had lots of chances and struggles.

Yes and these players you mention....only Gradel is on the same level as us.

Kee's currently can't break in the Torquay side, Chambers looks to have finally found his level, Dodds is a bit part player for Port Vale, O'Grady has struggled this year in League 1 and then the same applies to the beloved Sheehan also in League 1.

[B52]

@ b52 yes cunningham should play and will because he is proven at club level and international and comparing cunningham to schlupp is bizarre

Yes it's bizarre. Cunningham comes from PL(2 games) and plays internationals with Ireland.

If Schlupp had been with a PL-team noone would have argued if he came down to play as regular in this league.

Guidetti from Man City currently with Burnley is one example, 18 years.

At the academy we have three players(at least) playing internationals beside Schlupp.

It's a golden oppurtunity to develop the Academy. To show the youngsters everything goes.

[Thracian]

TRANSLATION:

Chambers didn't make it, Kee didn't make it, Dodds didn't make it, O'Grady didn't make it, despite scoring for fun in the Academy.

CONCLUSION:

Academy football is not a good measure of a professional's ability.

SECONDARY CONCLUSION:

Professional, experienced football managers know more than Thracian.

Predictable reaction but one which, as usual, ignores the realities.

a) That we have probably signed or borrowed more poor quality professionals at our club since Mickey Adams departure than at any time previously.

b) That our "professional managers" have presided over us slipping to the worst position in our history.

c) That countless promises about what we are going to achieve tomorrow, this season, in the next whatever years have not even looked like coming to fruition.

d) The no-one ever said Academy football was a measure of anything.

e) That some of us lamented the disappearance of our competitive reserves which served as the next measure of a player's ability.

f) For Gradel (conveniently omitted by Finnegan) Dodds and O'Grady read the likes of N'Guessan, Horsfield, Cadamarteri, Laczko, Bori and many more we could have done without and saved the money).

As it happens today's managerial incumbent may deliver the Holy Grail that gets us to the Premiership - and so he should with the resources he's being given - but even now I'm not completely convinced, at least not this season.

Already we've sacrificed far too many points against mediocre opposition and there seems little doubt that some of the reasons concern:-

(a) The constant changes in personnel both in the team and in the broader squad,

(b) Contract players being unhappy at being replaced by loanees almost en bloc.

and....

© the owners demands putting unhelpful pressures on both the players and manager.

There are other reasons too and, while none of them disprove Finnegan's final point, that statement is really more by way of a cheap insult aimed at me than any kind of compliment to our professional managers who have collectively performed indifferently or even abysmally to date (post Adams) with the qualified exception of Pearson, and the acceptance that Sven has so much to change and improve that he's bound to need time.

[Thracian]

Yes and these players you mention....only Gradel is on the same level as us.

Kee's currently can't break in the Torquay side, Chambers looks to have finally found his level, Dodds is a bit part player for Port Vale, O'Grady has struggled this year in League 1 and then the same applies to the beloved Sheehan also in League 1.

Quite apart from Gradel.

a) I have never once mentioned Kee as serious first team material - I simply referred the fact that he never got in the running for a chance because of injuries. Indeed I said many times that his injuries wouild be his downfall and also said exactly the same about Chambers.

b) My point about O'Grady was the same as Dodds. It was not about believing either of them to be potential first choice strikers for us - not once did I ever even suggest that about either. I said they were a better option than the tossers who stepped in above them. And so it proved.

c) As we were talking about strikers i didn't mention Sheehan but he didn't "struggle" with Swndon last time (and they seemed keen enough to re-sign him) and, having only recently joined them, his start to the season's campaign has been disturbed again by suspension. Constant suspensions have done him no good at all -especially at Leeds - but even now we've never found anyone to replace his creativity from left back or his dead ball deliveries. How long is it since we've scored from a corner? That doesn't make a case for Sheehan's brilliance or otherwise at left-back (although he was offered a new contract by us), it makes a statement about who we've used instead. And, for me, they haven't been very good.'

None of the above has anything to do with Schlupp who always struck me as an excellent prospect but who I've not seen this season to judge whether he should be on the first team bench.

But, I'd sooner see him on the bench than someone who's set to leave in January. At least it might serve some purpose.

[The Doctor]

Quite apart from Gradel.

a) I have never once mentioned Kee as serious first team material - I simply referred the fact that he never got in the running for a chance because of injuries. Indeed I said many times that his injuries wouild be his downfall and also said exactly the same about Chambers.

b) My point about O'Grady was the same as Dodds. It was not about believing either of them to be potential first choice strikers for us - not once did I ever even suggest that about either. I said they were a better option than the tossers who stepped in above them. And so it proved.

c) As we were talking about strikers i didn't mention Sheehan but he didn't "struggle" with Swndon last time (and they seemed keen enough to re-sign him) and, having only recently joined them, his start to the season's campaign has been disturbed again by suspension. Constant suspensions have done him no good at all -especially at Leeds - but even now we've never found anyone to replace his creativity from left back or his dead ball deliveries. How long is it since we've scored from a corner? That doesn't make a case for Sheehan's brilliance or otherwise at left-back (although he was offered a new contract by us), it makes a statement about who we've used instead. And, for me, they haven't been very good.'

b) Surely by saying they should be played instead of "the tossers who stepped in above them" you're saying they should have been our first choice strikers?

c) So because we haven't scored from a corner this season (last goal from a corner, king v cardiff back in may) we've got a problem at left back?

utter rubbish, left-backs aren't there to take the corners, they're there to defend and on occasion offer options out-wide during attacks.

edit: I'm not saying we shouldn't look to introduce youth-teamers, but we shouldn't introduce them for the sake of introducing them, rather only if they have the talent and the attitude to play better than those in the first team.

[CloudFox]

Just to clear something up, do we, or do we not, have a Reserve Team, and if so, is it competing in Reserve competitions? The OS occasionally posts post-match reports and claim they're for 'Reserve' matches, but to my knowledge there has never been an announcement of us having one or competing with one?

(Bear in mind that for the sake of the argument/question, I'm ignoring the fact that the OS is unreliable and inaccurate more often than not)

If we do, and Schlupp is playing against at least some half-decent opposition, then I reckon he's worth a shot

[crazylegs1984]

We are not entered in a reserves league but we do organise the odd reserve game I think that's about right

[CloudFox]

We are not entered in a reserves league but we do organise the odd reserve game I think that's about right

Hmm. See, that's what I'm afraid of--that they are essentially glorified Friendlies If that's the case, then there's no real consistency to judge him by in terms of his ability to compete at Championship level. I'm sure he's a great prospect, and he certainly seems to be doing well in the U18s, but arguably it's not fair to throw the lad in at the deep end at this moment in time. Let him progress as is, and if Sven thinks he's good enough for a First Team appearance soon, then I'm sure Sven will give him one. Otherwise we're just expecting too much too soon

[Heskey2011]

Hmm. See, that's what I'm afraid of--that they are essentially glorified Friendlies If that's the case, then there's no real consistency to judge him by in terms of his ability to compete at Championship level. I'm sure he's a great prospect, and he certainly seems to be doing well in the U18s, but arguably it's not fair to throw the lad in at the deep end at this moment in time. Let him progress as is, and if Sven thinks he's good enough for a First Team appearance soon, then I'm sure Sven will give him one. Otherwise we're just expecting too much too soon

The lack of a reserve team playing competitive matches i think is a massive problem for the development of the squad. I remember NP having a few run ins with MM over this issue, promised us entry into the reserve league if we won promotion from L1 and didn't, nor the season after, and was one of the reasons behind Shakspeare leaving with NP.

I just don't get how we (or the backroom staff) can judge a players ability when they are not being tested in a competitive environment week in week out.

One of the major things i noticed this season from early on was Wealos poor form, and the subsequent, nervous, unprepared goal keeping displays from Logan, i think Logan could be decent but bricks it at important moments when games are won and lost, if he doesn't get to practise playing 90 mins against unknown strikers every week, how will he get a chance to impress or even learn?

It's bollocks and needs sorting, guessing we can't join this year now but we have to come next season....please Sven do a job

[Finnegan]

Predictable reaction but one which, as usual, ignores the realities.

a) That we have probably signed or borrowed more poor quality professionals at our club since Mickey Adams departure than at any time previously.

Not relevant.

b) That our "professional managers" have presided over us slipping to the worst position in our history.

Not relevant.

c) That countless promises about what we are going to achieve tomorrow, this season, in the next whatever years have not even looked like coming to fruition.

Not relevant.

d) The no-one ever said Academy football was a measure of anything.

I would suggest you've been heavily implying it for years..

e) That some of us lamented the disappearance of our competitive reserves which served as the next measure of a player's ability.

Not relevant.

f) For Gradel (conveniently omitted by Finnegan) Dodds and O'Grady read the likes of N'Guessan, Horsfield, Cadamarteri, Laczko, Bori and many more we could have done without and saved the money).

Gradel is a sub-standard Championship player / solid League One star. He isn't a regular at Leeds and he frustrates their fans as much as ours. Besides, he DID break into our first team and get chances.

As it happens today's managerial incumbent may deliver the Holy Grail that gets us to the Premiership - and so he should with the resources he's being given - but even now I'm not completely convinced, at least not this season.

Not relevant.

Already we've sacrificed far too many points against mediocre opposition and there seems little doubt that some of the reasons concern:-

(a) The constant changes in personnel both in the team and in the broader squad,

Not relevant.

(b) Contract players being unhappy at being replaced by loanees almost en bloc.

and....

© the owners demands putting unhelpful pressures on both the players and manager.

Not relevant.

There are other reasons too and, while none of them disprove Finnegan's final point, that statement is really more by way of a cheap insult aimed at me than any kind of compliment to our professional managers who have collectively performed indifferently or even abysmally to date (post Adams) with the qualified exception of Pearson, and the acceptance that Sven has so much to change and improve that he's bound to need time.

Not relevant.

RELEVANT:

Louis Dodds: Mid-table League Two side.

Billy Kee: Mid-table League Two side.

Ashley Chambers: Loaned halfway around the country and never stuck, current in the BS.

Chris O'Grady: Mid-table League One side.

Alan Sheehan: League One.

They have all found their levels - none of which are par with us.

You're essentially a footballing Nostradamus. If you rave about enough of our academy talent then eventually you'll get lucky with one or two of them and they'll slip their way in, a la Andy King. Even the best academies around the country will only ever produce an Andy King once every few years. And even then, for the most part, they earn their stripes by being passed out on loan to lower levels to try and prove their worth.

Stearman wasn't, Mattock wasn't, King wasn't. Why? Because they were good enough, because we had managers that saw promise in them and gave them exposure to the senior team. It does happen when they're good enough.

You just want it to happen for a whole bunch of lads who evidently aren't good enough. They can't all be Wayne Rooney, Thracian. Most won't make it at this level - that's why they're trialled at lower ones first and why most of them stick there.

[crazylegs1984]

Which is exactly what i said essentailly when he is ready he will make 1st team

[Christoph]

The only reason i've heard of this guy is because of Fifa

[Bettsj2]

The lack of a reserve team playing competitive matches i think is a massive problem for the development of the squad. I remember NP having a few run ins with MM over this issue, promised us entry into the reserve league if we won promotion from L1 and didn't, nor the season after, and was one of the reasons behind Shakspeare leaving with NP.

I just don't get how we (or the backroom staff) can judge a players ability when they are not being tested in a competitive environment week in week out.

One of the major things i noticed this season from early on was Wealos poor form, and the subsequent, nervous, unprepared goal keeping displays from Logan, i think Logan could be decent but bricks it at important moments when games are won and lost, if he doesn't get to practise playing 90 mins against unknown strikers every week, how will he get a chance to impress or even learn?

It's bollocks and needs sorting, guessing we can't join this year now but we have to come next season....please Sven do a job

A reserve team is good for match fitness but competitive? I remember FNF and the standard wasn't particularly great. What you had was fringe players looking to get match fit but commitment wasnt exactly at the forefront of any reserve. In fact, I remember one game at Filbert Street where Andy Impey pulled out of a challenge and at the same time the opponent did the same thing. The ball went out for a throw in and they both looked at each other, laughed, high fived and then jogged off back into formation.

Main point being, much as some of you love to over emphasise the importance of something in order to do what Leicester fans do best (moan about anything!), please dont try and pass off a reserve league as competitive action as they are nothing more than fitness exercises, much like pre-season friendlies.

And on the point of pre-season friendlies, it's a fooking outrage that the club are thinking of a pre-season tour to Sweden. It's just a publicity stunt. God it makes me mad.

[Finnegan]

Whats wrong with a publicity stunt? Why not promote ourselves in Sweden instead of Slovenia or wherever?

[Ambitious]

Send him out on loan to a Club in League One or League Two for the rest of the season to give him first team experience, then gradually bring him into the first team.

[Bettsj2]

Whats wrong with a publicity stunt? Why not promote ourselves in Sweden instead of Slovenia or wherever?

I was being sarcastic.