forkboy Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 18 hours ago, Pete the Jakey said: Wasn’t good enough I’m afraid. Our conversion from Academy to Starting XI is atrocious. It's honestly pretty bleak. My inclination is always to be pretty charitable to our own academy kids but there's not a lot in the last 20 years to get excited about. Alex Cooper & Mark Ridgers both got sold before they could really have much impact & have gone on to have alright journeyman careers, I had hopes for Tony Dingwall but that never really amounted to much, & Greg Morrison is in a similar basket. Ross MacIver is at least playing regular football even if it's at League One level, but did he is near the top scorers there with 9 this season. You obviously hope Josh Reid & Dylan Smith come good but it's fair grasping at straws when you're looking at Ross MacIver as one of the ones closest to a success story, & I don't think he ever actually started a game for County. Is the problem that there's some fatal flaw with the youth academy that means it only attracts rubbish? Because I'd have though just statistically the odds were we'd have fluked into someone who makes the grade at some point in the last 2 decades. Is it a reluctance to just give guys first time playing time because so often we're either in a relegation scrap or a promotion fight? I have no answers, but it's a real bummer whatever the answer is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Henry Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 Not sure Josh Reid is going to make it either. Moving to Coventry was a terrible move and I’m not sure he received great advice then or since. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneThrowAway Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 2 hours ago, Savage Henry said: Not sure Josh Reid is going to make it either. Moving to Coventry was a terrible move and I’m not sure he received great advice then or since. To be fair, he wasn't great before he went to Coventry either... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forfinn Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 3 hours ago, forkboy said: It's honestly pretty bleak. My inclination is always to be pretty charitable to our own academy kids but there's not a lot in the last 20 years to get excited about. Alex Cooper & Mark Ridgers both got sold before they could really have much impact & have gone on to have alright journeyman careers, I had hopes for Tony Dingwall but that never really amounted to much, & Greg Morrison is in a similar basket. Ross MacIver is at least playing regular football even if it's at League One level, but did he is near the top scorers there with 9 this season. You obviously hope Josh Reid & Dylan Smith come good but it's fair grasping at straws when you're looking at Ross MacIver as one of the ones closest to a success story, & I don't think he ever actually started a game for County. Is the problem that there's some fatal flaw with the youth academy that means it only attracts rubbish? Because I'd have though just statistically the odds were we'd have fluked into someone who makes the grade at some point in the last 2 decades. Is it a reluctance to just give guys first time playing time because so often we're either in a relegation scrap or a promotion fight? I have no answers, but it's a real bummer whatever the answer is. I think we're on a bit of a hiding to nothing with our youth system, tbh. It's a great thing to have and almost something of a public service, but the odds are against it being successful (if we measure success by the number of top quality players it produces, although I appreciate that's not the only possible metric). We have a relatively small talent pool available to us and amongst of the lowest population density in Europe, so the geography is challenging. Anyone who shows real promise is likely to be tempted away by more money at bigger teams before they can make an impact - although Josh Reid should act as a cautionary tale against that. It would probably be a more effective use of money to scrap the youth system and focus on signing rough diamonds released by the Old Firm or teams down south. Get them on 2 or 3 year deals and sell them with a year left. We've historically had much more success with that sort of signing than with our own homegrown players. That's what Brentford did a few years ago, recognising they couldn't compete with the bigger London clubs. I'm not advocating that approach - I want some homegrown stars as much as the next fan, but we've got to be realistic about these things. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Comrie Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 Another central midfielder. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UAE1929 Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 And not a particularly useful one by reports. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Carrella Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 Next contestant... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Henry Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 36 minutes ago, UAE1929 said: And not a particularly useful one by reports. He’s needed though with Allerdice out for the season. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staggie_93 Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 Getting a guy in and out of the team bottom of the EFL doesn’t fill me with much hope but he surely can’t be any worse than Loturi or Sheaf. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derry Alli Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 Looks like Mr Murray is on his way out the door. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete the Jakey Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 2 minutes ago, Derry Alli said: Looks like Mr Murray is on his way out the door. Be a massive U turn if true: https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/sport/murray-apologises-to-ross-county-fans-and-says-he-isnt-go-339670/ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staggie_93 Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 Another centre half in, Loick Ayina on loan from Huddersfield. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derry Alli Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 33 minutes ago, Pete the Jakey said: Be a massive U turn if true: https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/sport/murray-apologises-to-ross-county-fans-and-says-he-isnt-go-339670/ That's a very flattering picture of our Si. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Carrella Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 5 minutes ago, Staggie_93 said: Another centre half in, Loick Ayina on loan from Huddersfield. That's the guy who was at Dundee United last year! Help ma boab... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete the Jakey Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 12 minutes ago, Derry Alli said: That's a very flattering picture of our Si. Would 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Henry Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 3 minutes ago, Pete the Jakey said: Would What about the girl in the advert? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete the Jakey Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 4 minutes ago, Savage Henry said: What about the girl in the advert? Have you converted to the way of the Murray yet? He’s certainly improved a lot. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunglebonce Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 44 minutes ago, Steve Carrella said: That's the guy who was at Dundee United last year! Help ma boab... A bit erratic but he struck me as someone with a lot of potential. He wasn’t shy in making forward runs. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savage Henry Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 1 hour ago, Pete the Jakey said: Have you converted to the way of the Murray yet? He’s certainly improved a lot. I’d say we don’t have anyone else nearly as reliable so yes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StoneThrowAway Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 Never heard of either. Risking sounding overly negative, but these signings fill me with 0 confidence/excitement… 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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