I know it's probably too early to discuss this as a) the window is closed and b) we need to wait for the club to be sold/bought but I was just interested to guage opinions on the 8-8-8 formula that Charlie Christie mentioned in the open meeting 2-3wks ago and seems keen to see implemented.

We have a very good core squad of about 21 but I am not really sure of who is under contract next season (are 8 players even under contract 😱).

I also don't really know much about the players in the academy but I am sure CC is confident of getting at least 4 through the academy otherwise he wouldn't have mentioned this formula 🤷.

And finally, I am interested to guage how much Highland League players would cost because we certainly haven't signed anyone for a fee ever as far as I know. As has been stated before, no HL club is just going to GIVE us players, it's only right that we put bids in for the ones we could be after (I presume Scott will know of some from his playing days at Nairn etc).

I really think the formula could be a viable option so I am interested to guage you guys opinions on this 🔴🔵.

8 hours ago, CaleyTennis85 said:

I know it's probably too early to discuss this as a) the window is closed and b) we need to wait for the club to be sold/bought but I was just interested to guage opinions on the 8-8-8 formula that Charlie Christie mentioned in the open meeting 2-3wks ago and seems keen to see implemented.

We have a very good core squad of about 21 but I am not really sure of who is under contract next season (are 8 players even under contract 😱).

I also don't really know much about the players in the academy but I am sure CC is confident of getting at least 4 through the academy otherwise he wouldn't have mentioned this formula 🤷.

And finally, I am interested to guage how much Highland League players would cost because we certainly haven't signed anyone for a fee ever as far as I know. As has been stated before, no HL club is just going to GIVE us players, it's only right that we put bids in for the ones we could be after (I presume Scott will know of some from his playing days at Nairn etc).

I really think the formula could be a viable option so I am interested to guage you guys opinions on this 🔴🔵.

There are 25 players still in the team and two of them are out on loan at highland league clubs. 

11 hours ago, CaleyTennis85 said:

 because we certainly haven't signed anyone for a fee ever as far as I know.

that not correct, however we wont be signing anyone for a fee or otherwise until the club exits administration

To answer the question a mix of experience (journeymen), youth and either developing or early-mid career players is the only way we can proceed. However we have the challenge of contract duration to consider - too long and we carry burdens we possibly cannot afford if declines continue but not long enough and good talent leaves for free.

The bigger decision (when) around players is whether we retain FT status or otherwise, however I suspect that moving forwards regardless of L1 or L2 it'll be hybrid at best

Edited October 29, 20241 yr by bdu98196

North of Scotland beat Glasgow 5-4 in the Scottish Schools Cup to progress to the semi final. Hope these young lads are at least on the fringes of ICT’s radar!

Unfortunately all 5 North of Scotland goals were scored by County players.   

 

On 1/28/2025 at 9:03 AM, ymip said:

Unfortunately all 5 North of Scotland goals were scored by County players.   

A great spot ymip. It goes to show how well County’s scouting network is functioning!

A lad to watch - 17yo George Ewing of Wick Academy, who is a forward. He scored 27 goals for the U18s and played most of the last 10 games for the senior team with 14 appearances in total and 2 goals. Currently under contract at Wick for next season.
 

 

And a bit on the North of Scotland team winning the Scottish Cup

https://www.inverness-courier.co.uk/sport/north-of-scotland-back-with-a-bang-after-ending-47-year-wa-379714/

 

6 hours ago, Northern_jaggie said:

A lad to watch - 17yo George Ewing of Wick Academy, who is a forward.

Get the boy down for a look over. How I hate the Coonty being the first to soak up any talent in the highlands while we yak on about our youth squad. 

bc

Edited April 24, 20251 yr by big cherly

4 hours ago, big cherly said:

Get the boy down for a look over. How I hate the Coonty being the first to soak up any talent in the highlands while we yak on about our youth squad. 

bc

The county setup is superb. Not saying ict is bad.

I have 3 grandkids in their academy. U14, u11 and u10. The coaching  is every Tuesday and Thursday. Winter inside the HFA. Mostly every 2nd wednesday there is a festival in Alness v ict, muir of ord, Tain, Dingwall soccer 7 etc, even under the lights in winter. 
when they get to u11 they play home and away against teams like, st Johnstone, Livingston ( main pitch and they open one of their food stalls for bacon rolls for the adults) partick thistle, Dunfermline, Dundee, Ayr Utd, morton, kilmarnock. I have watched them against the elite teams, Aberdeen, Dundee Utd, that was an eye opener.
Few weeks back I travelled to Dundee performance centre to watch u11 grandson v Dundee, what a facility that is. Wee fellow hurt his shoulder in a tackle and there was an on-site physio who checked him over before we headed home.

county have boys playing from Stornoway, ft William, Thurso, wick. That is some commitment for the parents.

I go back to the late 60’s early 70’s when all that was on the go was street league. I remember to this day Alex and Marion urquhart stopping in a car by the bught and saying we a starting a new league called “ street league”. Get a team together and a name and we will be back next week. Then John Beaton and Jackie Sutherland coaching on the bught shinty pitch on a Friday night, and travelling around Scotland in their cars for BB 5 a side Scottish finals, winners, and to Birmingham for the UK finals only to come 2nd. Or to Elgin to play for Inverness youth league select. A home game at one of the Inverness highland league grounds. 
Thought they were great days but OH to be an 11 year old in 2025.

Bishbashbosh & big cherly,

You both wax lyrical about the RC scouting and youth training schedules. Do you have any idea what the training set up is at your club ICT? Where the U11s & U12s are coached 3 times weekly in excellent facilities with fully qualified coaches? As are the U13s, U14s, U16s and U18s. 
I would also ask the both of you to name the last player from the RC Academy to start 20+ games for the first team in the past 10 years? Surely the ultimate proof of the pudding in a club’s academy system? 
Meanwhile I would give you - Polworth, Christie, Mackay, Macgregor, Harper, Bray and I have probably missed others. Doesn’t fit your agenda that RC are doing great on the youth development front whilst ICT lag behind but you both may prove me wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

On 4/24/2025 at 8:50 AM, big cherly said:

Get the boy down for a look over. How I hate the Coonty being the first to soak up any talent in the highlands while we yak on about our youth squad. 

On 4/24/2025 at 2:42 PM, bishbashbosh said:

The county setup is superb. Not saying ict is bad.

 

With Charlie as CEO and Savage in the hot seat, I think youth will once again regain and perhaps surpass its former position at ICT and that is a great thing as it will mean we not only develop local talent, but we also might just make a few quid when they go on to bigger things. 

Savage was prepared to fund/subsidise the youth system even when the previous CEO was still in place so I think that tells you how important it is to him and Charlie is a believer too especially as his own son came through it and look at how successful Ryan has been in recent years. Arguably the single most successful ICT player ever. With them at the helm, I am sure it is in safe hands and will hopefully go on an upward trend to further success. 

That success rubs off on other youth who want to be the next Ryan Christie, Cammy Harper or Keith Bray. If they see that the youth system gives them a pathway to professional football and they see that the club are once again interested in taking it seriously, then that in itself attracts youngsters and the process slowly builds momentum. Its not instant and thats where I think we all get impatient. It could take 10 years or more to get another decent crop of youngsters ...   Sounds like ICT are doing their part with training 3 times per week and qualified coaches so here's hoping it pays off for us. 

 

As an aside - My own son is going through the Canadian equivalent at his club, training 3 nights a week, all year round (indoors in winter, outdoors again starting next week) and playing a competitive game on the weekend in either tier 1, 2 or 3. He started at tier 3, which is entry level for those selected for the competitive program, worked his way into the tier 2 team where he is now one of two or three rotating captains, and is knocking on the door of a regular spot in the tier 1 (elite) team for his age group (U12) after coming in to cover injuries and absences over winter. He has reached that level because he wants to do it but also because he has good professional coaches and a structure in place to develop youth. From U14 he hopes to get selected for the elite province wide system called OPDL which sees every club follow the same training processes (Ontario Professional Development League) and then onwards to Canada wide programs. All so he can realise his dream of emulating Ryan Christie in a Scotland shirt one day! Although he wants the #3 shirt. All that inspiration came from meeting Ryan at the stadium, training with the players on an open day and being mascot one time ... 

 

 

4 hours ago, razor said:

Bishbashbosh & big cherly,

You both wax lyrical about the RC scouting and youth training schedules. Do you have any idea what the training set up is at your club ICT? Where the U11s & U12s are coached 3 times weekly in excellent facilities with fully qualified coaches? As are the U13s, U14s, U16s and U18s. 
I would also ask the both of you to name the last player from the RC Academy to start 20+ games for the first team in the past 10 years? Surely the ultimate proof of the pudding in a club’s academy system? 
Meanwhile I would give you - Polworth, Christie, Mackay, Macgregor, Harper, Bray and I have probably missed others. Doesn’t fit your agenda that RC are doing great on the youth development front whilst ICT lag behind but you both may prove me wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

Think I might have an idea, I have another grandkid in the ICT setup. That's why I said       " not saying ict is bad"

I have spent the last couple of years taking him/watching him at the festivals in alness on a Wednesday night freezing my nuts off in the winter. And at Charleston pitches at the weekend when games are on. Easiest time for me is when I have 2 at alness at the same time  1 ict , 1 rc.

Maybe I am a bit biased as the ratio is 3:1 rc.

I think I heard that next season they are scrapping the under 18's league and making it u19's and a team can play 3 first teams players in games. That's going to reduce game time for some youngsters.

PS...

I also have a granddaughter who plays in the ict set up and I have been to her training on a Sunday, to see what the coaches are doing so I can replicate in the garden to help her. And also watching her recently at her festivals at Milburn. 

Who said retirement was a walk in the park. And don't get me started on my tennis playing granddaughter,  the travelling to her tournaments are mega.

Oops.. forgot about the rugby and basketball grandkids I watch also. 

That's me done, off to my scratcher I have golf early in morning.

Sport, what would I do without it

Edited April 25, 20251 yr by bishbashbosh

Razor, Josh Reid. Looks like he came through the rc academy. He is 22 now so was at County since 7 years old

Youth career
2010–2020	Ross County
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2020–2021	Ross County	20	(0)
2021–2023	Coventry City	0	(0)
2023	→ Stevenage (loan)	1	(0)
2023–	Ross County	25	(0)
2025–	→ Partick Thistle (loan)	9	(0)
International career‡
2022–	Scotland U21	3	(0)

Edited April 25, 20251 yr by bishbashbosh

This whole discussion about the academy has been had time and again with many, including me, harbouring romantic notions of a system that churns out enough players to make up the majority of a first team squad.

The number of things that need to align to make that happen on any consistent basis is impossible.

We hit a bit of a sweet spot between about 2010 and 2015 when a number if our best prospects came through from the academy to be solid first team players, and the club had the means to stop them being instantly drawn away by those willing/able to offer better deals....and that's the crux of it.

We don't have the resources to hold onto the best of our academy, heck we don't have the draw or resources to keep a good few talented players IN the academy, with them being poached by other clubs.

For a club of our means, we probably get a better return than many others from our academy, but it's highly unlikely it will ever provide a positive financial return.  It's not a problem with how we run things, the quality of the coaching, or the availability of talent.  It's that the whole player development system in this country (and many others) is flawed.

That's not to say that I think it should be scrapped. There are social/community benefits beyond the £ signs that are important.  However, it's delusional to think that an extra £100/£200k per year is going to turn it into a reliable source of players (who will stay here) or income for the club.

As a slight aside, I also find it rather uncomfortable to be talking about kids as if they are a tradable asset, and the academy being a means to exploit that.

Apart from being well bankrolled for the past decade or two, the County system had decent preparation for the time ultimately when the kid was told they're not going to make it, they used to have education programmes in place so when the County starlets failed to break through ( highly likely) then the transition path to highland league was already there.

Not sure what we had/have in place but I know of a lot of unhappy endings in regards to players in the system for ten years just getting shown the door. And this wasnt a recent thing, this was in the 'glory' years under Sutherland and Fraser.

In reality the County system is more of a community engagement vehicle, as they buy in all their players so the chances are less than slim for the youths.

We, on the other hand have a more realistic pathway below Premier level so should and have had more success than them. Being skint all the time contributes to this as well, of course.

17 hours ago, razor said:

Bishbashbosh & big cherly,

You both wax lyrical about the RC scouting and youth training schedules. Do you have any idea what the training set up is at your club ICT? Where the U11s & U12s are coached 3 times weekly in excellent facilities with fully qualified coaches? As are the U13s, U14s, U16s and U18s. 
I would also ask the both of you to name the last player from the RC Academy to start 20+ games for the first team in the past 10 years? Surely the ultimate proof of the pudding in a club’s academy system? 
Meanwhile I would give you - Polworth, Christie, Mackay, Macgregor, Harper, Bray and I have probably missed others. Doesn’t fit your agenda that RC are doing great on the youth development front whilst ICT lag behind but you both may prove me wrong.

 

 

 

 

 

Aye, the youth squad has served the highland league well for the last decade hasn’t it! 
bc

Can't speak for any firsthand knowledge since start of 2018, but there was definitely academic education programmes etc. that ran alongside the football. In fact, it may have been a prerequisite of our academy programme that kids remained in school and/or were enrolled to some other kind of college type programme.

We had a 3 tier type setup.  There was the youth setup overseen by Charlie, then the 'academy' was the transition phase...Duncan Shearer was the last person overseeing that part...before (hopefully) moving to first team squad.

I know that any who made it to the 16/17/18 kinda age who weren't going to progress were given assistance if they wanted to consider Highland League or the like....and there's a good few who did.

Ultimately, below that age, there's not too much a club can offer and the system for letting players go is much the same across the whole country, and at all levels.

I was responding to another thread when I was reminded that I had meant to post a little more about my son's training. 

As i noted above, he does it three times a week, plus we have him in a dedicated 'striker school' for the next 8 weeks, with one or sometimes two games during the week so he could potentially be playing or training 5-6 days a week in May and June. However, this is at a local (grass roots) club rather than the professional team (TFC).  

He was with "TFC Juniors" from age 5, which is the starting pathway to the professional academy, but they mothballed that program at the start of COVID and when they re-opened the youth training, the TFC academy now starts at age 14 with nothing below that. They recommend you go to a local grass roots club and the one we are at is affiliated to and has close ties with TFC but is not TFC.  They all follow the same national training curriculum, and his club employs professional coaches, but this is where I think ICT actually do better than people give them credit for. The structure, framework and dedication of individuals is there, it just needs a bit more attention and maybe some resources to hopefully take it up a notch. Many teams are shutting down youth systems as a cost cutting measure but I am glad we are not one of them.