Youth Players

[Oddquine]

Nick Ross and Greame Shinnie signed new 1 year deals in March/April

Hope Shinnie and Ross get games this season coming :D

Only in the cup if not we will bounce down :004:

See that is why I get hacked off on this forum with many ICT "supporters"...because they are not prepared to give people a chance. Watched it on here from the day I joined.....I challenge any one of you to come up with a team of players of which you have unequivocally approved, who would have won this league, and got us back into the SPL. Seen complaints about just about everybody in the squad, to date.

Why on earth do ICT bother to have a youth squad at all, if there are those who think, as so many ignorant Scots appear to do, that homegrown and club brought up means they are sh1te...because they have not cost silly money.

I have posted in other threads to comment on the fact that ICT management would be idiots to play young homegrown players simply in order for those who think if they come from the Highlands or environs they have got to be useless to trash and demolarise them...and the above post proves that in spades. Much better, as far as some are concerned, to sell on....because kids who are good enough for Rangers, Celtic, Dundee United, Hearts et al...are not good enough for ICT.....because we have not paid for them.

Think about it, people...............do you know how many of the ICT youth squad have/will have had the opportunity to go elsewhere to the likes of the OF and decided to remain with a team which could possibly offer first team football much earlier....and because they are loyal to the club which has allowed them to realise their dream?

I read this forum, and ninety percent of the time, I do not think that ICT supporters live in the real world........at least not in the real world that I do.

And to refer to another post.....just how the hell does anybody know how Kyle Allison would perform, if it came to the crunch.......given he has never been tried?

Edited May 4, 2010 by Oddquine

[CaleyD]

With the return of the U19's proper, we will at least have a platform where the younger guys have an opportunity for more regular football without the need/pressure to be bringing them in to the first team squad (unless of course they are deemed capable and ready).

Comments from those such as Pedz4king indicate their attendance at games is about as regular as their visits to the forum (i.e. not often) because if they had seen how those named have performed when given the opportunity then they might be a little less prone to embarrassing bouts of forum flatulence.

What bugs me more is not the statements themselves, everyone is entitled to an opinion, but the fact that they don't substantiate their comments with any kind of reason.....which is why I generally ignore them.

Fortunately, we have in Butcher a Manager who is not afraid of giving young talent a chance on the larger stage. Lads like Nick Ross have grabbed the opportunity given with both hands and proven their worth and although I may not see them as regular starters (yet), I would have no worries at all with seeing their name on the team sheet on match days.

[old caley girl]

I do think in the past we have been guilty of not using youth players and sometimes getting rid too early having spent the time and effort bringing these players through the youth system.

However, the current management team seem not to be afraid to use the young players when appropriate but these occasions may be fewer in the spl.

i have seen Kyle play a few times. The only time I was nervous for him was in the north cup final when he himself appeared nervous and unsure at times but we still managed to win so he did fine in the end.I would worry about not having an experienced no 2 keeper to Esson (asuming he stays).This is not a reflection on Kyles ability just as Oddquine states we dont know how he would perform if called upon.

[The Fly]

Much the same as when Ike was understudy to Mark Brown.

[Guest Mahonio]

I agree with you 100% Old Caley Girl .

I believe that if we tried our youngsters more often then we would do ok as they will be dedicated to us as they were taught and coached here and may well be loyal to us.

[BornCaley]

We love you Oddquine!!

I agree with old caley girl too, its too easy to leave youth players to the reserves etc etc and only bring them in to cover injuries etc etc. However we must admit that at that age, knowledge and experiance of the game is everything, with the odd exceptional youth player who is born with talent.

I hate to use a FM2010 thing, but youth players are usually hooked up with a first team player to train with and gain experiance/knowlegde. Do we know if any of our youth players are linked with a first team player?

[Sorted]

The test for me will always be what someone who has failed to make the grade at ICT goes on to achieve. Using that as a benchmark it is pretty fair to say that any youth player that has been allowed to leave has, to date, not proven the decision to be anything other than correct.

Rory is probably the most successful, scoring barrowloads of goals at his level. One or two are playing 3rd division football and plenty now play in the Highland League.

I would absolutely love us to be able to produce from home but is really difficult at this level. Much bigger clubs have exactly the same problem.

Basically, if anyone can give me an example of a success story from our ranks that has come back to haunt us I will stand corrected. Closest I can think of is Vigurs but that barely caused a dent despite my previous misgivings.

Name anyone?

[Oddquine]

The test for me will always be what someone who has failed to make the grade at ICT goes on to achieve. Using that as a benchmark it is pretty fair to say that any youth player that has been allowed to leave has, to date, not proven the decision to be anything other than correct.

Rory is probably the most successful, scoring barrowloads of goals at his level. One or two are playing 3rd division football and plenty now play in the Highland League.

I would absolutely love us to be able to produce from home but is really difficult at this level. Much bigger clubs have exactly the same problem.

Basically, if anyone can give me an example of a success story from our ranks that has come back to haunt us I will stand corrected. Closest I can think of is Vigurs but that barely caused a dent despite my previous misgivings.

Name anyone?

Can't find many who are purely a product of ICT's youth system, but possibly Gavin Morrison and Nick Ross, were (and if not, why not?)? McAllister came in from Aberdeen youth, didn't he.......and Vigurs from Aberdeen via Celtic? Not really a product of the ICT youth system.

Correct me if I'm wrong...but, for clubs who trawl the world for the best players at youth level, do the OF not sign relatively few of those to the main squad, compared to the numbers who are in the system?

It is completely illogical that some are more than happy to sign the rejects from other club's youth systems, and re-sign them once they have had a chance to grow and adapt to our game.....as a fair few from elsewhere did for ICT this season........yet do not credit ICT brought up players with any of the same ability as those players other clubs did not rate enough to keep.

Have to say, I have no idea when the ICT youth system was set up as a formal entity. I'd assume when ICT went into the SPL, at least, though happy to be corrected regarding that.....and if so, we are possibly looking at the demise of the under 19s last season as being the first time there was any requirement not to lose decent homegrown u-19 players worth a shot.

Given the catchment area, and the inability, economics-wise, to sign youth players from overseas.......I'd have said that two homegrowns, and two acquired, signed to the main squad, out of the ICT system is a pretty good average...given that, last season (I think), Rangers only signed four out of around forty u-19s of all nationalities...and Celtic's u-19s did not fare any better.

The problem, imo, is not in the will of managers like TB and others in Scottish Football to give kids a chance.......the problem lies more in the rantings of those fans who think you have to pay for "class"..because, in our case, if you are Highland area born, and ICT brought up, you do not have any because we, in the highlands do not have any class, do we!!!! :021:

Jeez, I do hate the "Here's tae us, wha's like us?.....Anybody from anywhere outside the local area if they cost us money...because costing us money means they have ability" attitude. Excuse me if I borrow an expression used by all my grandkids........DUH! :angry:

Has Dundee, this season, not proven that you can't buy a team?

[bauhaus]

Always remember being told that for every 50 players trialed maybe one is good enough, so to make up a squad of 15 youth players ( and were talking under 10s ) it takes a very keen eye to spot some promising talent, although a few will stand out from the crowd.

Then as they get proper coaching, from the guys that go out and do their coaching badges - not the know alls at the side of the pitch who lambast every decision. They are specifically trained to nurture the best out of the talent they have, and often finding the position to best suit the player.

Every year players will be dropped, moved on for different reasons, with others coming in. It would be pretty rare that any player spotted at 7 or 8 years old is still at a club at 18 -19. As all the distractions that come along add pressure to these guys. Careers, money, social life, wine women and song as it were, can change the youngsteras attitude.

So I would say that if any youth player makes it all the way through the ranks and plays for the first team, it must be an incredibly proud moment for the Youth trainers to see, always hoping they can then make it to become a regular in the squad.

I know that at the moment the youth players at the club are amongst the best they have ever produced. Liam Polworth being a shinning example having been picked for Scotland youth squads, played, scored, and not ever looked out of place.

However, a danger sometimes is some exceptional players never achieve at the top level having peaked too early, or burnt them selves out. And its the players that have just hung in there who do make good professionals at top clubs.

Over the years Inverness and the surrounding area has had few exceptional players, most likely due to the level of football in the area with the Highland league ( which harboured many a player who were good enough to play at a much higher level ). I personally think that as ICT has grown in stature so has our standard of youth teams, Training and players. Out of the 15s and 17s at the moment a good dozen to fifteen have a very good chance of going on to have a career in full time football, with many of these unrecognised at national level, probably purely because other clubs have better players in their squads at the moment. That doesnt mean thay are not real talents. However the longer we are at the summit of Scottish football the better the standards become, and the more consistant levels of player we will produce.

In Terry Butcher and Maurice Malpas I also think we have two men of football intelligence who know when to blood promising players, without harming their progress. Hope Im proven right, as I think they had a very good track record of this at Motherwell, and our good promising guys will get a shout if they show they are capable.

The future is bright

[Oddquine]

Always remember being told that for every 50 players trialed maybe one is good enough, so to make up a squad of 15 youth players ( and were talking under 10s ) it takes a very keen eye to spot some promising talent, although a few will stand out from the crowd.

Then as they get proper coaching, from the guys that go out and do their coaching badges - not the know alls at the side of the pitch who lambast every decision. They are specifically trained to nurture the best out of the talent they have, and often finding the position to best suit the player.

Every year players will be dropped, moved on for different reasons, with others coming in. It would be pretty rare that any player spotted at 7 or 8 years old is still at a club at 18 -19. As all the distractions that come along add pressure to these guys. Careers, money, social life, wine women and song as it were, can change the youngsteras attitude.

So I would say that if any youth player makes it all the way through the ranks and plays for the first team, it must be an incredibly proud moment for the Youth trainers to see, always hoping they can then make it to become a regular in the squad.

I know that at the moment the youth players at the club are amongst the best they have ever produced. Liam Polworth being a shinning example having been picked for Scotland youth squads, played, scored, and not ever looked out of place.

However, a danger sometimes is some exceptional players never achieve at the top level having peaked too early, or burnt them selves out. And its the players that have just hung in there who do make good professionals at top clubs.

Over the years Inverness and the surrounding area has had few exceptional players, most likely due to the level of football in the area with the Highland league ( which harboured many a player who were good enough to play at a much higher level ). I personally think that as ICT has grown in stature so has our standard of youth teams, Training and players. Out of the 15s and 17s at the moment a good dozen to fifteen have a very good chance of going on to have a career in full time football, with many of these unrecognised at national level, probably purely because other clubs have better players in their squads at the moment. That doesnt mean thay are not real talents. However the longer we are at the summit of Scottish football the better the standards become, and the more consistant levels of player we will produce.

In Terry Butcher and Maurice Malpas I also think we have two men of football intelligence who know when to blood promising players, without harming their progress. Hope Im proven right, as I think they had a very good track record of this at Motherwell, and our good promising guys will get a shout if they show they are capable.

The future is bright.

Disagree with none of that, bauhaus.

My redirected into its own thread OP was not a pop at the ICT system...but at one individual poster (but not the only one on here) who is happy to allow other teams' youth rejects to re-sign for us, because they have been given a chance by us, and proven their worth......yet proceed to dismiss the homegrown ICT youth signings as not being worth a place even on the bench in the SPL (or SFL, come to that).

That level of Uriah Heep style forelock-tugging frankly makes me spew.

No HOY in any team is any better than ours......no system is any better than ours, going by the numbers of youths released annually from all of them.......and if our management think that any of our youth system kids are worth their chance...why on earth do we not encourage them and be proud of them...rather than whine and assume they will be crap because they are local.

It appears that some in the Highlands, who post here, tend to prove the biblical rule......Mark 6:4 "But Jesus, said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house."

[Sorted]

I repeat:

Name me a single product of the ICT Youth system that has been released and gone on to be successful at a level of significance?

No one disagrees with your sentiments but most posters are realistic enough to recognise that we have to trawl considerable areas to find emerging young players. It is naive in the extreme to think that the entire population of the Highlands (circa 220,00) over a geopraphical area the size of Belgium will be able to produce enough to sustain a top flight football team.

Equally it is sensible to consider recruiting youngsters who have been in the youth systems of other much bigger clubs and been released for whatever reason. The likelehood is that these clubs, with much bigger numbers to choose from, get it wrong sometimes and those released may have potential. Young Shinnie is a prime example and, if he makes it, will be in no small measure, due to the ICT Youth set up.

[Oddquine]

I repeat:

Name me a single product of the ICT Youth system that has been released and gone on to be successful at a level of significance?

No one disagrees with your sentiments but most posters are realistic enough to recognise that we have to trawl considerable areas to find emerging young players. It is naive in the extreme to think that the entire population of the Highlands (circa 220,00) over a geopraphical area the size of Belgium will be able to produce enough to sustain a top flight football team.

Equally it is sensible to consider recruiting youngsters who have been in the youth systems of other much bigger clubs and been released for whatever reason. The likelehood is that these clubs, with much bigger numbers to choose from, get it wrong sometimes and those released may have potential. Young Shinnie is a prime example and, if he makes it, will be in no small measure, due to the ICT Youth set up.

And, I repeat, I don't know, because I have no idea when the youth system started, who has come out of it and where they are now.

I'm not saying that is not the case. :ph34r:

However, if you care to check back to the OP (which was never meant as a thread starter anyway)......you will see that it was a response to someone who was rather sneering about ICT youth system products, whatever their origins.

I should think, given we are going to have to find an U-19 squad pdq, that we will be trawling for players.....do we have someone at the SPL exit trials today, btw?

All I was saying was that, just because they are homegrown, does not mean they are useless because, logically, if they were.....they would not have been signed in the first place, and certainly not given another year. Strikes me if Terry thinks they are worth signing, then they have potential. It may not be realised in the end.....but they deserve as much of a chance as any youth player from any other club.

[Renegade]

What about Michael Fraser? He came through the ICT youth system (I think) and was playing in the SPL just last week.

[Sorted]

What about Michael Fraser? He came through the ICT youth system (I think) and was playing in the SPL just last week.

Was thinking more of players the club released, not left through choice or transfered. I also saw that game !