If those players are the best we have got then god help us. Centre back pairing were very poor as was most of the team, particuarly the defence, no communication between them, not talking to each other. Richards spent most of the night effing and blinding, body language of the players was poor, management team lack charisma. Looked as though they didn't want to be there. Only highlight a well taken goal from Boagey.

Great facilities at Consetts new ground, catering,bar,toilets all spot on. Nice pub Grey Horse before game and an old favourite The Victoria in Durham on way back. As usual result got in the way of a good day/night out.

Is the Vic Inn the one opposite the Swan and Three Sicknotes Mr.H?

Thanks for the report and I admire you for getting that worked up about a reserve/youth game in the Durham Cup!

I'd lack charisma at Consett on a Wednesday night in January.

Fair point Chip, just was expecting a bit more thats all, even from the kids. I'm from an age when you would have had the odd oldie in the reserve team ( Collins for instance) and thats what was maybe needed last night, but in these days of squads, the Waltons and Sweeneys of this world will rarely play in these games.

Blood pressure back to normal now

No Dan! it is up the road from the Half Moon/City pubs heading uphill towards Dunelm House (Students Union place) ( do you remember some of the top bands that used to play there in the late 70s/early 80s?) The road forks at the top, take the one on the left, past the jobcentre and you will see the Vic, a fine pub.

Think you are thinking of the Half Moon opposite the Swan

Whatever! at least there are no more cups to be knocked out of this season! are there?

When you see those kids v Consett it sometimes seems like men against boys. Makes you wonder if they would be better being toughened up in the NL rather than wrapped in cotton wool.
Was talking to Paul Baker at the game. He was saying how the better NL players like Rae and Henderson are on a good thing with contracts and 500 quid a week wages + their clubs would want a fee, so even if they wanted to come to pools and they may not, pools probably wouldn't think it was worth the risk.Strange days indeed. In the past players would of took a pay cut for the prestige of playing league footy. Baker said he was on more in the shipyards/playing for Bishop than what he got at Southampton

Rae and Henderson aren't good enough to play for Pools. If Liam Henderson is one of the best players at Northern League level then it speaks volumes.

The fact is of the kids at Pools maybe a couple at best will end up playing League Football. The rest will either drift out of the game altogether or get a proper job and get a few quid got playing in the Northern League. Where are more ex Pools youth team players playing now, at League clubs or in the Northern League? It's hardly strange times it's been that way for years, in the past the likes of Paul Pitman were probably earning twice as much all told than some the lads at Pools!

I never said Rae and Henderson were good enough to play for pools and for your information I don't think Rae is, Henderson maybe. As for Paul Pitman was he ever offered a chance of league football? and we know miners were on decent money

Henderson was at Pools on loan from Watford and looked totally out of his depth, granted that was a few years ago now.

I thought Pitman nearly came to Pools a few times? He was an absolute goal machine at that level though .

Agree, Henderson was poor, but only about 18, players sometimes need to bulk up, grow up and then come back. Personally though I wouldn't take the risk.

Be interested to see the Man U sheet, was the likes of Nardiello not playing then or was he a little old or already released ?

Is it then for clubs like pools worth bothering with youth set ups? or best just pick up cast offs from bigger clubs, for example Dolan and Burgess or players from non league. Takes us back to the 1970s.

I think the true value of a youth set up is it creates as you have said links with the community, any parent with a kid playing for the academy say as an under 10 could possibly feel some sort of attachment to the club, therefore maybe attend games and increase revenue. Of course that 9 or 10 year needs to have something to aspire to, ie the Youth team that produced James, Boyd etc, if not the whole thing would fall flat on its face. So I can see the point of a youth system in that respect. However I don't know if it has any value in terms of how few players the youth team produces for the first team compared to the many who just fritter away in non league obscurity. I would say probably not,as the same players could be signed from say the Boro, after they have done the hard work and incurred the financial cost or players who start at a young age at a league club academy, get binned, go into non league football, do well, then bounce back, possibly Baldwin and Duckworth followed this path. An interesting topic with probably no real answer as to whether it is good or bad, unless you are the exception like Crewe or Boro who have produced good players in the past. The example you gave of Boyd,Miller, Sweeney, Brown is a valid one, though it did come in probably the clubs most successful period in history, don't see anyone coming through at the moment.Real shame about Brown as if he had realised his potential the argument for a youth system would of been won as he would of went for a lot of money had he stayed clear of injury, the most promising young player I have seen in pools shirt.The real reason for me of a youth system seems to be the one of been able to connect with the community in order to increase revenue.

Was Walker a product of ours? I am not sure.My opinion is and obviously I may be wrong, I usually am, is that Walker is over hyped. I would be very surprised if either him or James are playing above League 1 level 2 years from now.

Walkers came through our youth system, let go by the boro at about 14 n we picked him up n give him YTS n then pro forms.

Very hard to judge how far he'll go. you'd hope at his age he'd still be in the youth team learning his trade n then push onto the first team at 18/19 but obviously we have an area of the pitch where he is needed so he's learning his trade infront of the mill house n in what I'd say is an experimental team, not ideal. You'd just ideally wanna dip his toe in the water now n again.

James looks champ standard 1 week then quiet the next, again he's been in the team since 16 n a bit like walker you'd normally not be exposing him to so much so young ideally.

Walker is only 17 now I'm not sure who else he's had time to play for!

Walker and James were both excellent yesterday, our best two players, if you can't see the potential then I question what you are watching. Walker drifts past players like they aren't there, his first touch always seems to create time and space he is an enormous prospect, I'd go as far as saying in terms of technical ability he's the most talented youngster I've ever seen at Pools.

Pools academy system IS shit.

I could list many people, obviously I wont, that also think Pools academy system is shit.

Pools have released one under 16 game, who coaches at boro were amazed at, because he was deemed too small..........despite him being there since he was 7 years old.

TOO SMALL.

Oh, and that WAS the reason given.

Aye, you can understand that cant you. I mean Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Suerez etc are massive arent they?

Only in England. Or Worse....Hartlepool.

The people I could list include scouts from Sunderland and Middlesbrough, as well as school teachers in Hartlepool.

I knew they'd release him too .. Clueless is not the word how about releasing a lad that is currently in the last 32 for English Schools.. It said before and said again they'd rather pick up boro Newcastle or Sunderland rejects and release kids that have been in their "superb" system since they where 7or8 .. Pathetic and clueless just about sums them up!

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What you mean rejects like Luke James and Brad Walker?

Well thats proving itself to be a disastrous ploy......

Yawn here we go again .. The system that's good we have to rely on other teams rejects .. Talk about disappearing up your own arsehole..

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Oh and release players picked up by league one teams ...

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PJ do you actually know what you are talking about ? Using your model we can save money by disbanding the "academy" (I use these words loosely) and just run teams from u16 level..

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Obviously not as much as football genius like yourself but at some point wasn't James a 'reject' of Newcastle's system and Walker the same at Boro.

If that's the case I don't really see a problem in our interest in these kids.

Of course thats not disastrous. But thats not what we are talking about.

If they came in to compliment Pools own home grown talent, that would be great.

But it seems thats not what happens. Infact I know its not what happens.

Pools academy is like a toy for a few people to play with and be employed. And they are failing.

Then when the lads get to 16, they get dumped, and Pools replace them with lads dumped by Newcastle, Sland and boro.

That cant be right can it?

Kids get dumped or don't get taken on because they are not good enough?

At 16, should they not have to compete against kids released by other clubs? - of course they should.

Of course they should have to compete.

But from what I can see, they dont compete, they get replaced.

So why bother with the academy before U16? Let the kids enjoy playing with their mates for the school , the town and the tjfa teams. Don't have them and their parents getting up at 7am on Sunday and trailing all over Notts and South Yorkshire. Finally don't fill them full of false hope just to keep a couple of blokes in a job.

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thats it, in a nutshell.

Who gives them false hope though? trying to make it as a footballer is brutally tough and the vast majority (nearly all of them) at some point are going to become 'rejects' If my son was involved in the future I'd be making sure he realised football wasn't the be all and end all and realistically at the end of it all he probably won't end up 'making it' Do everything you can to do so by all means but it's tough. Some kids faces just don't fit while others do and out two with similar ability one might get an opportunity while the other never does.

Kids develop at different ages so to favour a kid just because he's been at the club since he was 7 over a kid they've picked up at say 14 is ridiculous. I was talking to someone about Brad Walker and he by all accounts has improved beyond recognition in the last year. Before that the feeling was he had no chance.

It hard and as I said brutal but the bottom line is finding first team players it doesn't really matter about how and the route before hand.

PJ I understand all of that but I think you are missing the point.

The kids are given false hope. You only have to see them train at Dyke House, from the age of around 7, all dressed in Pools kit.

I have seen so many kids lost to the game from a ridiculous ly early age because they were dumped by Pools.

Also, when kids join academies they cannot play local football for the whole of that season. That cant be right either.

How wrong is it that kids sign contracts at 9 year old for example? Which basically ban them from playing football.

They release kids a Christmas means that they can't play until next season .. This can't be right I know it happened to several u16s last year.. It's so wrong.. And no matter how clever or confident your child is giving such a kicking at the age of 15 is so wrong.

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It's the system that's wrong all of these things aren't exclusive to Pools it happens everywhere.

I was talking to Mick Tait the other week at Newcastle and he works for Newcastle's and there's lots about the academy system he doesn't like and the chances of him finding someone who will play for Newcastle are virtually nil.

You answer your own question.

Maybe Luke James is the exception to the rule?

Or maybe you want to claim he proves Pools academy works?

You draw your own conclusion.

When did Luke James join Pools?

Your last two questions are too daft to answer.

I've got a baby due in May, i might sign him up to the pools youth system now so we can give pools some credit for devolping youth talent/fetus.

Chip during your youth years there were no academies.

Not sure the telephone had been invented.

Maybe you can only understand these things when you are involved with it.

Oh, and there is a rumour going round that the academy is under pressure, from above, due to their lack of success.

Its the talk of the local junior football clubs.

Like I said though, just a rumour.

You've said nothing in all this that is exclusive to Pools.

really?

Let's face it if it was a business it would not be operating. For the outlay they've produced not very much for years.

So what's wrong with the system? Maybe its the system itself..maybe it people pulling good players out of local league teams and single handedly destroying them as players..

Chip far from arguing for only allowing pro football adg is arguing for local football and not filling kids heads with delusions of grandeur.. .

Finally I do like to think I know what I'm talking about having been involved with junior football for over ten years in one way or another .

Apart from the obvious specifics no. It's generic stuff that could be said about the entire academy system.

As I say I was talking to Mick Tait and feels at times that his job is almost pointless and he spends more time trying to get kids fixed up after they've been eventually been binned by Newcastle. Also the 'big three' North East clubs are snapping up all the best kids at the age of SIX!? None of them agree with but know if they don't somebody else will. It's ridiculous.

I think they are going the wrong way around.. My experience says that these academies and club is that these clubs should be part of the local tjfa set up ..

No need for a special academy with its associated costs at all
..Develop these kids in their own teams teach them to love the game for what it is ..a game..

When they get to 16 if they're good enough (and if they're interested) offer them a scholarship then..

Its not rocket science is it..and there would be massive advantages for all involved . Most of all the kids themselves


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Thats not what I am saying at all.

I am saying that Pools, if anything, take on the wrong kids in the academies. Proven by how few of them actually make it.

Someone said earlier that sometimes its whether your face fits etc, and there is a lot of that goes on.

Put it this way, I wouldnt pay to watch any of the kids given scholarships this year. I know exactly how good they are. And my opinion of them is mirrored by most others throughout the local leagues.

Remember that video I put up from the Amsterdam tournament in May?

None of that squad is at Pools now.

The video from the year before has a grand total of one and one of them is at Carlisle...

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What chance do we have when Man U and Palace as Chip showed also take on the wrong kids?

Its not exclusive to our club. Crewe knock a few good young uns out but I cant think of many other lower league clubs doing it?

are any of them at other clubs?

If they are good enough they will make it....if they aren't they won't!!!!

Gloves and Offshore....how many players from the teams you are/were involved with have made it????

Just sounds like sour grapes to me like!!!!