who do you like, from the current crop of youngsters?

[winchester_royal]

For me Siggy is a cut above the rest in terms of natural talent and technique, but at the moment he and Karacan are probably at the same level. Both very effective in the Champ. Pearce is talented but inconsistent. When Ivar gets back I'd probably have Ingi and Mills as first choice. Hal could be good, but needs another year or two before he can regularly start for us, same with Henry and Hamer. Davies doesn't excite me as much as the others. He has a bullet shot but can't pass the ball, which is a worry given the style of football we're going for. Church needs to go out on loan for a year.

[SCIAG]

Pearce is brilliant and will play in the top flight for at least a few years. He might even end up being as good as an Upson or a Lescott, on the fringes of the national side.

Karacan also strikes me as one who'll play top flight football. He is very similar to Sidwell, tackles strongly, shoots erratically, passing is so-so. However, he's even quicker than Sidwell was. I think he could be an England international, but only if he turns down Turkey, which he won't.

Henry clearly has the technical ability, but does he have the mentality? For years, he's been the "go-to man" in the youth and reserve sides- if all else fails, knock it to Henry, he'll do something. At senior level, he doesn't have the awareness to play that role. I think BR obviously had an influence on him from when he was young, certain facets of his game show that. But unlike Pearce, his role has suddenly shifted to the polar opposite. Under Coppell/McDermott (both wingers remember) he played a traditional wide role. Now he has to cut inside more instead of getting to the byline and crossing.

Bignall is quick, not sure if he has enough ability though. Church is a great finisher, but is he quick enough or strong enough to get enough chances?

HRK has similar problems to Henry, except I think this style might be closer to his natural one. It will be a while before he's ready, but I'm confident he'll be a Championship player at his best.

Davies/Sigurdsson- I'm not convinced. Their games are less rounded than Karacan's. Maybe they'll be Championship players, maybe not.

Who have I missed? Kelly. His attacking game is more rounded than he's been able to show for the first team. Defensively, the jury's out. He's done a good job on Jarvis...

How about some who haven't played? I really rate ABB, Walcott and Taylor. Mitchell Bryant is another one. Oliver Bozanic could be a useful player but probably not a regular. However, I don't know if we're good enough at bringing through defenders. Kelly is an attacking full back, Pearce is the only one really. Clovis Kamdjo probably won't make it. Jonny Mullins is in League 2 iirc, Castle, Osano and Ujah are all playing non-league football. Louis Soares is now a winger.

[londinium]

Pearce is brilliant and will play in the top flight for at least a few years. He might even end up being as good as an Upson or a Lescott, on the fringes of the national side.

Karacan also strikes me as one who'll play top flight football. He is very similar to Sidwell, tackles strongly, shoots erratically, passing is so-so. However, he's even quicker than Sidwell was. I think he could be an England international, but only if he turns down Turkey, which he won't.

Henry clearly has the technical ability, but does he have the mentality? For years, he's been the "go-to man" in the youth and reserve sides- if all else fails, knock it to Henry, he'll do something. At senior level, he doesn't have the awareness to play that role. I think BR obviously had an influence on him from when he was young, certain facets of his game show that. But unlike Pearce, his role has suddenly shifted to the polar opposite. Under Coppell/McDermott (both wingers remember) he played a traditional wide role. Now he has to cut inside more instead of getting to the byline and crossing.

Bignall is quick, not sure if he has enough ability though. Church is a great finisher, but is he quick enough or strong enough to get enough chances?

HRK has similar problems to Henry, except I think this style might be closer to his natural one. It will be a while before he's ready, but I'm confident he'll be a Championship player at his best.

Davies/Sigurdsson- I'm not convinced. Their games are less rounded than Karacan's. Maybe they'll be Championship players, maybe not.

Who have I missed? Kelly. His attacking game is more rounded than he's been able to show for the first team. Defensively, the jury's out. He's done a good job on Jarvis...

How about some who haven't played? I really rate ABB, Walcott and Taylor. Mitchell Bryant is another one. Oliver Bozanic could be a useful player but probably not a regular. However, I don't know if we're good enough at bringing through defenders. Kelly is an attacking full back, Pearce is the only one really. Clovis Kamdjo probably won't make it. Jonny Mullins is in League 2 iirc, Castle, Osano and Ujah are all playing non-league football. Louis Soares is now a winger.

I can only assume you are in some sort of time warp and are talking about Stuart Pearce and not the guy we have at centre back who has been at fault for more of our goals this season than any other player.

Don't get me wrong, I like the guy and he has potential but based on his short career so far you cannot say he is 'brilliant' , far from it.

[Tony Le Mesmer]

Pearce is brilliant and will play in the top flight for at least a few years. He might even end up being as good as an Upson or a Lescott, on the fringes of the national side.

Comedy Genius.

[westendgirl]

And that, in a nutshell, is our problem - as soon as we get a player who's a little bit handy, we sell them on for big bucks.

What a load of rubbish - we kept Doyle for a year when we went down and chose to sell the rest. We don't HAVE to sell anyone.

Well, firstly, yes we do - Rodgers was told we had to sell before he could buy and secondly, even if that WERE true, why DO we sell on if we don't HAVE to??

From following what is said on here about the selling of players this year I think you are all concentrating on the transfer fees too much when talking money. I don't think we have sold to get the transfer money (though it helps) but to reduce the wages. I understand that although there was a wage (why do we call them wages when they are such obscene amounts?) reduction on relegation it was not too a level commensurate with income at Championship level, so the players on high wages had to move on to bring in other players and they will be on Championship wages not a level between Championship and Premiership.

So this talk of cashing in on our good players is the wrong emphasis - it is to stop the players cashing in on RFC.

[Rex]

Most players who come in and catch the eye of a higher league club will always be sold on. They perform well for us, get enticed by other clubs, and we up the wages and contractual terms and conditions to keep that prospect with us for as long as is feasable. This works well when the club is riding the crest. When a club dips, then these players will turn to the open market and wait with a for sale sign on them. The players do this and the club hopes to maximise profit and reduce the wage outgoings.

It can strip a club of the tallent and success until another rich blend is found.

We all know this is a profit related business if conducted correctly in the short term but is ultimately a cash cow of a business in the long term.

[Focher]

Pearce is brilliant and will play in the top flight for at least a few years. He might even end up being as good as an Upson or a Lescott, on the fringes of the national side.

possibly the funniest statement ever to go on hob knob

[Jeffers217]

Pearce is brilliant and will play in the top flight for at least a few years. He might even end up being as good as an Upson or a Lescott, on the fringes of the national side.

possibly the funniest statement ever to go on hob knob

Well the joke will be on you then son as he will play for Scotland and is a great player.

I've always said it but....Karacan

[Ian Royal]

Pearce is brilliant and will play in the top flight for at least a few years. He might even end up being as good as an Upson or a Lescott, on the fringes of the national side.

possibly the funniest statement ever to go on hob knob

Well the joke will be on you then son as he will play for Scotland and is a great player.

I've always said it but....Karacan

England >>>> Scotland

Playing for Scotland =/= being good enough to be on the fringes of the England team.

[Ryn]

I don't know what SCIAG is on but I wish all that was true.

Pearce lacks the concentration to be a good centre back. I haven't seen Karacan make a hard tackle yet, certainly not a Sidwell or a Parky, he's far too lightweight, more suited to being a winger in my opinion.

Apart from Gylfi none of the others have shown any sort of promise at all.

What about Antonio? He looked pretty useful at the weekend.

[Plymouth_Royal]

I don't know what Ryn is on but I wish all that was true.

Pearce lacks the concentration to be a good centre back. I haven't seen Karacan make a hard tackle yet, certainly not a Sidwell or a Parky, he's far too lightweight, more suited to being a winger in my opinion.

Apart from Gylfi none of the others have shown any sort of promise at all.


What about Antonio? He looked pretty useful at the weekend.

Karacan and Gylfi have both played very well so far or at least been more consistent than the other CMs.

[Ryn]

I didn't say that they hadn't played well. SCIAG is making them out to be world class players, which they aren't. They are doing a job for us at the moment though and I'm not getting on their backs.

[Pablo]

You lot must have some serious quality in your stiffs if Gylfi Sigurdsson can't get a game. The boy really is some player!

He hardly has any first team experience, and CM is our strongest position.

He'll be in our team in 2 years I reckon. Out of all our 19 year olds I think he is the 1 who has the potential to become the best.

winchester_royal wrote this on 20 Oct 2008 so he seems to have got it spot on with The Sig!

[Royalwaster]

I didn't say that they hadn't played well. SCIAG is making them out to be world class players, which they aren't. They are doing a job for us at the moment though and I'm not getting on their backs.

Agreed - until they have completely dominated several games in the Championship against one of the better teams (not Barnsley) like WBA, Boro or Cardiff, there's no point coming out with this kind of gash of them being future England stars. What you have to remember is that even these teams, that seem like the big fish in the Championship are teams that got relegated from the PL and with their current squads would be dead cert relegation candidates. On current evidence, any of our squad would be pissed upon in the Premiership ....

[Sun Tzu]

On current evidence, any of our squad would be pissed upon in the Premiership ....

Absolute nonsense !

There is no evidence of this at all.

The best you could claim is that there is no evidence that any of them are ready for the Prem but based on 2 or 3 games you cannot hope to be able to assess how they would do in the Prem, especially as none of them are going to be playing there for a year or more.

A season in the Championhsip will tellus a lot more, but you are jumpingthe gun massively at this stage.

It's also nonsense to say they have to dominate games against 'big' clubs before they can be considered good players. Even if we had a poor season this season it's still perfectly possible that Sigardsson, Hamer, Pearce, Karajan would still be quite capable of playing at a higher level.

[winchester_royal]

You lot must have some serious quality in your stiffs if Gylfi Sigurdsson can't get a game. The boy really is some player!

He hardly has any first team experience, and CM is our strongest position.

He'll be in our team in 2 years I reckon. Out of all our 19 year olds I think he is the 1 who has the potential to become the best.

winchester_royal wrote this on 20 Oct 2008 so he seems to have got it spot on with The Sig!

[Ian Royal]

2 years from 20 Oct 2008 is 20 Oct 2010 isn't it?

Overly pessimistic. Shame on you W_R

[winchester_royal]

2 years from 20 Oct 2008 is 20 Oct 2010 isn't it?

Overly pessimistic. Shame on you W_R

That time frame was based on Coppell still being at the helm.

[Maguire]

TBF you could've picked any of the main academy kids to say that about and it'd still have been true.

[Ian Royal]

2 years from 20 Oct 2008 is 20 Oct 2010 isn't it?

Overly pessimistic. Shame on you W_R

That time frame was based on Coppell still being at the helm.

Touche