The unofficial AFC Rushden & Diamonds messageboard

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 804894.stm

Paul Hall new head of Youth at Mansfield, wish we could have got him to be ours!

Of course we might not have wanted him, believed him good enough or had the funds to get him.


Missed an opportunity? hardly.

It wasn't a serious title, I know there are lots of reasons why he wouldnt become Head of Youth here, I just think he's a Diamonds legend!

His job didn't last long

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/footbal ... 898683.stm

Its a real shame that so many clubs have had to scrap their Youth development programs.. How can you build for the future to find the next England Star if the players are not given the coaching and training to develop..

European clubs spend millions financing youth programs and then get a massive return when they sell the players on to top Clubs, surely the FA should be helping to fund these programs even at non league level, Does the fundingfor our youth system come from sponsership alone ?

DiamondsR4ever wrote:Its a real shame that so many clubs have had to scrap their Youth development programs.. How can you build for the future to find the next England Star if the players are not given the coaching and training to develop..

European clubs spend millions financing youth programs and then get a massive return when they sell the players on to top Clubs, surely the FA should be helping to fund these programs even at non league level, Does the fundingfor our youth system come from sponsership alone ?

We've had this discussion before but the problem in a nutshell is that you can only get funding if you are in the Footballl League (who are entitled to up to £180k to run a youth team). In addition you get none of the player protection, meaning until a player signs a proffessional contract another club can come in and pick him up for nothing with no consultation to us about it.

Having being a direct victim of this, I find it also appauling! Rushden have had one of the best youth set-ups in the South East Alliance. In our age group, we used to be one the top teams in our league every year beating teams such as QPR, Leyton Orient, Brighton, and always caining Northampton, yet now we have been kicked out of the u18s league, depriving our Youth of the quality of football they need to improve sufficiently, and kicking out the funding which results in sponsorship needed! Its a complete utter joke.

Good article here on the problem than non-league clubs have in funding their youth development programmes.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010 ... investment