A lot is being made of our recent signings being recruited on a national basis rather than a local one and quite a few posters seem to be concerned that our team seems to be increasingly 'foreign'

 

I have just read an article here: http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/inverness/228510-how-does-the-spl-compare-to-europe-in-blooding-under-21s/ which thrown up some very interesting figures on how we compare to other SPL teams and indeed how we compare to other leagues in Europe for homegrown and domestic U21 players

 

I'm reasonably surprised to see us doing  well compared to others on playing a reasonably high percentage of Scottish U21s. Our homegrown figure is pretty low but considering that 4 of the top 5 finish teams have figures of less than 6% then it seems to suggest that playing homegrown talent does not guarantee success in the SPL. Motherwell seem to be the only team bucking the trend.

 

Very low homegrown and Scottish U21 figures from our neighbours across the bridge despite claims at the beginning of last season saying how they wanted to sign/play local players.

 

Whilst its almost universally known that most big teams (Barcelona and a couple of others excluded) make their teams up from a multitude of nationalities it is interesting to see that the averages for playing homegrown U21s for countries like England, Spain and Germany all are less than 7%. A lot lower than i would have expected.

 

Personally I am of the opinion that while it would be great to have a team made up of 11 loyal talented local lads playing for their hometown club, realistically this will never happen given that Inverness and surrounding areas have never historically been particularly affluent when it comes to producing footballers capable of playing at the highest levels. Whilst I do not mean this to be disrespectful, I do realise there have been many talented players to be born,bred, raised in the area but the amount of players reaching the upper echelons of the football world have been limited.

 

For that reason I fully understand and back the idea that we will be a club who will recruit wherever necessary to entice players North to play and succeed for us. I feel that discriminating players on the basis of them not being local would be a huge mistake and if we did then the club would probably settle in a position somewhere in the lower divisions.

 

 

Homegrown Players (teams shown in order they finished the 12/13 SPL season)

The definition of 'homegrown' we are going with is a player (of any age) who made their first ever club appearance at their current team.

 

Team                      Homegrown

Celtic                     5%

Motherwell         27%

St Johnstone       5%

Inverness             5%

Ross County        3%

Dundee Utd        28%

Hibernian             26%

Aberdeen           34%

Kilmarnock         21%

Hearts                    29%

St Mirren              26%

Dundee                 9%

 

Scottish under 21s in the SPL (teams shown alphabetically)

The definition of "an under 21" that we are using here is a player who was no older than 21 years old at the start of the 2012/13 season. They may have turned 22 during the season, but they started the campaign eligible for the under 21s.

 

Team                     U21 %

Aberdeen           16%

Celtic                    7%

Dundee                17%

Dundee Utd       16%

Hearts                   29%

Hibernian            14%

Inverness            14%

Kilmarnock         10%

Motherwell        11%

Ross County       3%

St Johnstone      2%

St Mirren             10%

 

Views? opinions?

Edited June 13, 201312 yr by Libero

What I'd be keen to see in addition is how those figures stack up against how much the club spends on youth development and facilities. Can think of one or two that produce a shockingly poor return.

I blame the high schools. They have failed to embrace any real sporting competitiveness. And teachers, who years before would give up their free time, and drive/coach a team, be it footie, volleyball, whatever, are long gone. That's where the battle is won or lost. cotland must be one of the worst for organized high school sport, certainly in the highlands. Know any good football tournaments between schools?

Personally i am quite happy if the majority are British or from Ireland, you'd like to think you can at least find a decent squad from the home nations + ROI. It is obviously nice to have more homegrown or Scottish lads in the squad and that is definitely the preference for me but in our case you can only **** with the.....

 

The figures themselves don't look that bad for us in comparison with everyone else, you do have to be realistic with your expectations and we are in line with St J and RC. Shows you how much Celtics youth system does for them.

Holy smokes batman we signed a player who doesn't use aye right enough as a term of agreement, hold the front page. I demand we return to the highland league immediately and demand to see a signing policy where by all players are required to produce a family tree showing unbroken inbreeding and a propensity to say here eh at least 100 times a day before they are considered for a game.

I'd much prefer a situation, as in some countries, where the majority of players (or even a significant minority) have to be from the country (which would include the rest of the UK and Ireland - the integration is just too deep).  So, I voted for option 2 as an ideal but I doubt Barcelona and Chelsea will sign up to that ideal, so why should we be disadvantaged?

This is not about ICT - it is about the future if Scottish football - we need to put up boundaries or we will go down and down the rankings. We - ICT - appear to jettison local potential for the inclusion of loan signings.

Wouldn't it be amazing if we could find one little homegrown gem and sell him to a club in the Premiership. It'll surely happen one day, I mean Matthew Kennedy was only 17 and played only about 3 games of the season for Killie then went to Everton so there's one name I can think off but still it would be pretty spectacular.

The better youth dont want to stay. They would rather the bench at Bournemouth, Derby, Fulham etc, than competing for cups or Europe, as it brings in extra pounds.

Wouldn't it be amazing if we could find one little homegrown gem and sell him to a club in the Premiership. It'll surely happen one day, I mean Matthew Kennedy was only 17 and played only about 3 games of the season for Killie then went to Everton so there's one name I can think off but still it would be pretty spectacular.

James MacArthur and James Mccarthy spring to mind as decent deals for their club Hamilton. Mathew Kennedys deal for Kilmarnock was terrible. 3 games out of a potential star before he chose to go and sit in the Everton reserves for alot less money too is painful.

The better youth dont want to stay. They would rather the bench at Bournemouth, Derby, Fulham etc, than competing for cups or Europe, as it brings in extra pounds.

 

That's only the Aberdeen youth !!

And that's normally because the Aberdeen youth players are the only ones who are any good.

ICTFC matters more than the national team.

I think ICT have a pretty good balance right now will the majority of players from the uk/ireland with only a couple of true foreign players. I would like to see 1 or 2 more scottish/local players especially younger players but aknowledge the fact not all will be a similar quality to your Grahame Shinnie and Terry and his team are doing a great job

I think ICT have a pretty good balance right now will the majority of players from the uk/ireland with only a couple of true foreign players.

 

Who do you have in mind as being foreign? I don't think we have any since Reguero left.

ICTFC matters more than the national team.

Not for me.

if we are doing well then we can get a better youth set-up so as long as we keep doing well the youth SHOULD be getting better `

Our youth set up is not the problem. The problem lies in the fact there are no truly talented players being found in the region. The same applies at other clubs. Look at the clubs with the high percentages now and compare that with a season or two ago and I'll bet they're vastly different. Those clubs have been forced into using their own youth because of budget cuts. Cuts brought about by the demise of an ugly twin.

 

Kirishima hits the nail on the head. Lack of support from schools and teaching staff holds some blame for our current situation. Couple that with the majority who prefer to sit in front of some electronic device rather than get out and about and kick a ball. Add in parents who encourage the latter because they themselves are too lazy to give their kids proper care and upbringing. So much easier to send them to their room with a video game or DVD than it is to actually bring them up in a healthy, balanced environment.

I wonder (not negatively or biased) what folks here consider to be homegrown, having in mind the National teams of Germany and Switzerland with about 50% immigrant offspring, players like Ozil, Podolski, Gomez or Shaqiri. Most of those were already born in Germany or Switzerland and definitely all of them came through the youth systems of those countries.

Is that Lukas Podolski who was born in Gliwise, Poland? Or the Albanian born Xherdan Shaqiri?

Exactly. But their first teams as boys were Bergheim 07 near Cologne respectively FC Augst near Basel as both left their places of birth within the first two years of their lives.

People need to remember what homegrown means, my mate Sorin (plays for Farul in Romania), is Moldovan born but moved to constanta in Romania aged 2 and joined there academy aged 11. Making him homegrown

Whether it is football or any other aspect of life, we are better off embracing people of all nationalaties, races and creeds.  Stick us all into the same melting pot and what comes out is a much richer mix than the individual components.

Depends if you get the mixing bowl or the salad plate.  Have a look at Newham or Bradford to see how well it works with only blind optimism...but we get off the point.  Let's stick to football.

Our youth set up is not the problem. The problem lies in the fact there are no truly talented players being found in the region. The same applies at other clubs. Look at the clubs with the high percentages now and compare that with a season or two ago and I'll bet they're vastly different. Those clubs have been forced into using their own youth because of budget cuts. Cuts brought about by the demise of an ugly twin.

 

Kirishima hits the nail on the head. Lack of support from schools and teaching staff holds some blame for our current situation. Couple that with the majority who prefer to sit in front of some electronic device rather than get out and about and kick a ball. Add in parents who encourage the latter because they themselves are too lazy to give their kids proper care and upbringing. So much easier to send them to their room with a video game or DVD than it is to actually bring them up in a healthy, balanced environment.

You blame the lack of support from schools and teaching staff - but you are once again barking up the wrong tree Alex! Tell me - why should schools and teaching staff help senior clubs when they do not allow their players play for their school team?

When I was a boy all the major clubs in England had several very talented top International players from Scotland

Names like Bobby Collins, Denis Law,  Dave McKay ,  Alan Gilzean ,  Kenny Dalglish . I am reminded of the Liverpool team who won the European cup, with a team  made up totally of Scottish and Irish players, ( from memory) .

 

There were scores  more mostly born in Glasgow or around Glasgow. Even my own boyhood team Bury had Roy McLaren in goal two Scots at fullback Robertson and Conroy centre forward Bill Calder , and Jimmy Hubbard signed from Rangers on the wing.

Now to see that Celtic has  only 5% of young Glasgow talent in its ranks is very disturbing. No wonder Scotland under 21s lose to teams like Iceland. Hardly a bastion of population.  Maybe all the Youngsters are playing for Rangers. It was nice to see so many youngsters turning out for the Gers last season. Where as all this talent gone? It is not just Scotland England's shocking performance in the Under 21 world cup only highlighted how poor the young footballers are right across the British Isles. I don't know the answers , you really can't blame the schools, My own son now 44 was a first class goalkeeper, 6'4 and captain of London University, when he went to Layton Orient and asked for a trial he was told to get lost, it was down to the club to spot talent , not for players to put themselves forward.  I only mention this because a lot of clubs can't be arsed finding players they let other clubs do that and get them on short term contracts, ( like we do), usually when the top clubs don't want them anymore.