Could be a courtesy thing like Lesniak. give him a match or two so he can find a professional contract elsewhere.
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Who’s the best academy player that’s never made it that you’ve all seen for spurs?
Spurs u16's are playing in a tournament in Latvia, video below of first game
Video: LFF Neatkarības kauss U16 futbolā. Banik Ostrava - Tottenham Hotspur. Spēles ieraksts
This appears to be the squad we have taken, most of whom I recognise but a few new names to me such as Oliver Turner, Holub Denis et al and one or two typos :
http://turniir.ee/lffcup/teams/8185/players
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Spurs U16's won the tournament beating Berlin 2-0 (Siziba, Rachi scorers ) in final.
Full match
http://sportacentrs.com/futbols/cit...018-ff_neatkaribas_kauss_u16_futbola_hertha_
Spurs U16 coach Mehmet Ali gave an interview :
Firstly, Lesniak was a very decent little busy cunt, who I thought was very capable of doing a squad job at a time when we weren’t overly blessed in the busy cunt dept. He was technically fine, read the game pretty well and used the ball simply but effectively.
Secondly, how does this tally with Poch’s meritocracy or needing to be 8/9's not 7's. And I really don't think any potential buyer is going to read much into a 10 minute cameo in a shitty friendly.
Others can answer this much better than I ever could, there are some here who must have watched a ton of Academy matches and highlights.
In the distant past, I remember a lad from Northern Ireland, Mahon. Maybe El Tel's time. Supposedly the new George Best. He would probably have been the most hyped. Have no idea where he landed up. I hope not an alcoholic with someone else's liver.
I'll throw out a similar question - who in the past never made it, but with the current professional set up you think might well have? Bostock? Parrett? Rory Allen/Neale Fenn?
I have heard that the Academy in the past was very amateurish. A guy who was in both Spurs and Palace youth systems said Palace's was way, way better. Levy has played an absolute blinder with the new one. As Mr. Bus says, we now need Poch to match that with equivalent boldness and trust. The £60-70m that we've blown on some recent buys where we could have tried the yoof, well that's Zaha (although I have high hopes for Moura).
WindyCOYS
The Fighting Cock
Good question!
I'd probably say Yaser Kasim (now at Northampton) is up there for me. I'll ponder on it!
Terry Dixon all day long...
By all accounts, not only was he the NEXT Wayne Rooney, he was apparently better at 15 than Rooney was in his prime!!
Then he snapped his leg in 3, his attitude went the same way, and he ended up
Real shame.
Always seems to be injuries or attitude that ruins them. I don’t see a lot of the academy but for me Phil ifil looked good everytime I seen him for spurs and England youth but I think he got injured and dropped through the leagues
Ray Lo's report on the recent pre-season u19 tournament, put together from OS reports and reports on tournament web sites.
Spurs Odyssey - Summary of U-19 tournament in Oberndorf, Germany - August 2018
Squad - De Bie, Freeman, Hinds, Cirkin, Duncan, Walcott, Lyons-Foster, Okendina, White, Tainio, Pochettino, A. Shashoua, Thorpe, Mukendi, Roles, Bennett, Markanday, Clarke and Parrott.
Included three of the first year Academy players - striker Parrott (perhaps expected after looking good at being played up a year or two), winger Bennett (played a lot for u18's last season) and LB Cirkin and u16 CB Walcott. Also good to see one or two players like Thorpe who didn't feature much last season.
Spurs Odyssey - Summary of U-19 tournament in Oberndorf, Germany - August 2018
Squad - De Bie, Freeman, Hinds, Cirkin, Duncan, Walcott, Lyons-Foster, Okendina, White, Tainio, Pochettino, A. Shashoua, Thorpe, Mukendi, Roles, Bennett, Markanday, Clarke and Parrott.
Included three of the first year Academy players - striker Parrott (perhaps expected after looking good at being played up a year or two), winger Bennett (played a lot for u18's last season) and LB Cirkin and u16 CB Walcott. Also good to see one or two players like Thorpe who didn't feature much last season.
Around 2000 Spurs bought Michael Malcolm (u16 CB) and Owen Price (a very talented right winger (think he was circa £400k so not cheap) hoping that both might make it through to Spurs first team - Price was a contemporary of Wayne Rooney in England youth teams. Both part of a Spurs team that won the u17 title for Spurs in about 2002, and were possibly its two biggest 'stars'.
Alas Malcolm was released around 2005 by Martin Jol and joined (I think) Stockport before dropping into non -league whilst Price got injured and was released at about the same time and amusingly (in some respects) a couple of years later both became team mates for a season or two at a non league club, Price I think then made a career as a part timer in Finland.
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Looking back, the one that we let go - Graeme Souness. So frustrating. Can you imagine him and Hoddle in the same MF from 1975. We'd probably never had those awful wilderness years and relegation.
Losing Roy Keane (a big Spurs fan too) from Cobh Rangers to Forest because Scolar's ineptitude meant we couldn't afford the £30k fee. Urgh!!!!
Losing Roy Keane (a big Spurs fan too) from Cobh Rangers to Forest because Scolar's ineptitude meant we couldn't afford the £30k fee. Urgh!!!!
Wasn't Noto also highly rated in that squad? Whatever happened to him?
Another one along the same lines - Peter Crouch. When Sugar refused to pay Gerry Francis much (if any) compensation when sacking him as Manager, it was agreed Francis could take Crouch and a 'sell on fee structure agreed'
Unfortunately Crouch went to Portsmouth who went bust (thus negating the sell on deal).......Crouch moved clubs several times before Spurs bought him for £10m.
Turned out to be rather an expensive payoff - exact opposite of what Sugar had tried to avoid.
Yes - none of that team made a top career, in fact I think all ended up in non league football.
Noto I think ended his career and is now coaching
Yeates I imagine was probably the most successful of the bunch. Do you think any of them COULD have made it? I remember reading about Santini being high on a few of them but then he got sacked and Jol did his own thing.
I rather recall Santini giving out long term contracts to several, including Owen Price, but as you say Jol was not that impressed.
Difficult to say whether any of them could have made it - but it was in 2005 Ley hired John McDermott to totally overhaul the youth coaching set up, so maybe had they been around a little later thety might have benefited ?
But Yeates was a decent prospect who has never been an outstanding player anywhere else, so maybe its just none of they really developed (football wise) after the age of 17, it happens !
Good question.
I played for our U15's through to U18's. (At least I think it was that age group but can't be 100% certain, it was also very sporadic in terms of game time etc. and I couldn't give a shit about playing for Spurs then, nothing to do with supporting them just that the football experience was shite. Also the answer to why I don't know exactly the age groups is a tad complicated on my side and Spurs side but can be simplified as purely not really engaging with the youth set-up at all, IMO it was shit, poorly run and organised with little in the way of training and development). Anyway, for reference and time frame, I was in the group that had Steve Sedgley, Paul Moran and David Howels, so approx 1983-1986(??). All of us and a bunch of others all played for our respective school sides (most in the Enfield Borough) and then the County. At this age we were also playing for a Saturday or Sunday league side too, so basically we would be playing with each other or against each other several times a month. This group was also extended by the Woolwich academy intake as well, you were either Woolwich or Tottenham.
Anyway there was this kid called Kyriakides (christ I hope I have his name right, it's all some time ago). My word, he was the greatest footballer I have ever seen! YES, I mean this. We are talking Messi levels of brilliance. When playing for his school or Saturday/Sunday league football (he was in several of the Saturday/Sunday league teams as me and the others) all you had to do was give him the ball and he will dribble around the entire oppo side and score. He played (actually kicked a ball) for Spurs about as much as me, infuriatingly not that often, but when he did, he would dribble around the entire oppo team too, so even against a higher calibre of player he could do it. He was the standout player in the Borough team but to my knowledge I don't recall him playing for the County. As a Woolwich supporter and combined with the shit show at Spurs academy, he ended up at Woolwich.
The main reason I name drop the above players is because I am fairly certain if you ask this question to them they will mention his name. Anyone that played football in this era and played at a reasonable level (best player at their school, involved with Tottenham or Woolwich academy, played Borough or County level) will mention his name. I'm still mates with a couple of pals from back then and after a couple of beers reminiscing about our youth, as sure as eggs are eggs, he will come up in conversation.
He had one major flaw though, he got into beer, fags and girls and enjoying the nights out (as we all did but he was on another level, he was off his head). He was never there for the start of any game, always turning up about half time. As he got older this just got worse and worse. Absolutely no one knows (in my circle) what happened to him but easily the biggest waste of talent I have ever seen. I could probably list another 7 or 8 players from that era who were all far superior players to those that made it (Howells, Moran and Sedgely for Spurs and Campbell & Rocastle for Woolwich). Moran was so, so shit (shit for his school, Albany) I don't know where to start but unlike almost all of us he had his heart set on being a footballer and fair play to him because that's exactly what he achieved.
fascinating!
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