Player News

[sussexdiamond]

Hi tech vests, nutrition expert etc are all positives. If we are to develop young players they need access to modern technical and nutritional Info. If you had been able to attend the AGM you would have heard Andy explaining all this.

[GreekDiamond]

Hi tech vests, nutrition expert etc are all positives. If we are to develop young players they need access to modern technical and nutritional Info. If you had been able to attend the AGM you would have heard Andy explaining all this.

I heard Andy explain it all thank you. They are positive if you have the budget to afford it but with our already very low budget as everyone keeps repeating it doesn’t seem to me to be the wisest way to use it.

When did our mens first team become the youth development squad… we are gambling and putting all the pressure on these youngsters whilst hoping and dreaming they’re the next vardy so we can get our return on investment (as long as they’re not loan players already)

[mattparker]

Hi tech vests, nutrition expert etc are all positives. If we are to develop young players they need access to modern technical and nutritional Info. If you had been able to attend the AGM you would have heard Andy explaining all this.

When did our mens first team become the youth development squad… we are gambling and putting all the pressure on these youngsters whilst hoping and dreaming they’re the next vardy

Its in the Club Mission statement,"to aid and promote the development of talented football players from the local area and provide a sensible playing pathway for young children through to adults"
https://www.afcdiamonds.com/mission-statement

[GreekDiamond]

If this is true and we’ve spent playing budget on bloody tech vests and other technology which are not needed at this level. Then it is highly irresponsible when we have hardly got a full team and over half of the players we do have are youth players making their first real steps in mens football.

Tech vests aren’t scoring 15 goals a season and are just not a priority for a team in such a large rebuild. We have only signed 4 players from last season and only 1 new player who I wouldn’t consider a youth player. These youngsters shouldn’t be on the same wage as any senior player we had last season so SURELY the budget for more senior, experienced and quality players is there. Not to mention the sizeable part of the fund that can be used like sussex also mentions.

Depends whether you want a short term fix on higher player wages, who clear off whenever they want (almost), or a long term plan to bring players through a pathway to develop and (hopefully) sell on. It's all about return of investment.

I don’t believe we have that luxury to choose, I’m not asking to blowing the clubs whole bank balance on players, we need a mix. Because If performances are bad, attendances drop. This is the mens first team we are talking about, a bad season can’t be put down as a learning curve and everyone forgets about it.

[Ricky330]

If this is true and we’ve spent playing budget on bloody tech vests and other technology which are not needed at this level. Then it is highly irresponsible when we have hardly got a full team and over half of the players we do have are youth players making their first real steps in mens football.

Tech vests aren’t scoring 15 goals a season and are just not a priority for a team in such a large rebuild. We have only signed 4 players from last season and only 1 new player who I wouldn’t consider a youth player. These youngsters shouldn’t be on the same wage as any senior player we had last season so SURELY the budget for more senior, experienced and quality players is there. Not to mention the sizeable part of the fund that can be used like sussex also mentions.

Depends whether you want a short term fix on higher player wages, who clear off whenever they want (almost), or a long term plan to bring players through a pathway to develop and (hopefully) sell on. It's all about return of investment.

And hopefully staying in the league at this level?

[GreekDiamond]

Hi tech vests, nutrition expert etc are all positives. If we are to develop young players they need access to modern technical and nutritional Info. If you had been able to attend the AGM you would have heard Andy explaining all this.

When did our mens first team become the youth development squad… we are gambling and putting all the pressure on these youngsters whilst hoping and dreaming they’re the next vardy

Its in the Club Mission statement,"to aid and promote the development of talented football players from the local area and provide a sensible playing pathway for young children through to adults"
https://www.afcdiamonds.com/mission-statement

That’s for the club as a whole and in my mind is the point of the U23s, U21s and large amount of community teams we have, not the primary focus of the first team which will be what many of the fans attending games only care about. If they are good enough they could get a chance to play in the first team, but they have to be as good or better than the players in that first team. And right now we are rebuilding it completely and the majority of that team should not be youth players making their first steps into step 3 football. Just my opinion…

[mattparker]

I don’t particularly want to get into another ‘who cares about the community’ debate but creating a pathway into the first team has been an ambition of the club since we reformed, ‘one fan one vote one community one club’

[Jazzy_10]

I don’t particularly want to get into another ‘who cares about the community’ debate but creating a pathway into the first team has been an ambition of the club since we reformed, ‘one fan one vote one community one club’

Not really about ambition though is it? The club (or manager in our case) can promote whoever they like into the first team. So there’s always a pathway there - I think it’s more about the quantity being pushed through at a time where we’ve only just about got a full team.

Promoting youth players should be a supplement to an existing strong and more senior squad, not the foundations of one.

[mattparker]

Promoting youth players should be a supplement to an existing strong and more senior squad, not the foundations of one.

Agree with that of course

[Olly]

After seeing club announcement today about the younger signings which is great news but it will be interesting how many of them play this season or is it we need to keep budget down or is it to get enough players signed in time for league deadline?I hope it’s because they good enough as I like the look of corden & the way he attacks space & players

Regarding keeping the budget down. Andy pointed out recently he is using part of the playing budget on GPS vests and other technology and the fitness coach guy. He does however have a reasonable amount in the Lottery fund unused.

Yeah, I was away for the AGM but did notice the thing about GPS technology in the programme and don't know how to feel about it, especially if the player lottery money that we as fans fund, should the members or those who put onto the fund not have been consulted on this?

My worry is that we can evidently barely afford to put together a squad together without having to promote academy players to make up numbers, so is investing in luxuries like fancy pro technology really a good use of limited resources? I pray I'm proven wrong and will be delighted if I am, but I just think without a quality standard of team in place, all this analysis and technology will be wasted.