Any decent youngsters?

[EricSabin]

Anyone down here got any decent youngsters coming through?

We seem to be in a good spot academy wise, seems to be a fair few coming through at the moment.

Shaun McWilliams: This kid will go places. 19, central midfielder, got the lot. Loves a tackle and decent on the ball. Won a handful of MOTM awards in League 1 last year which made it even more baffling why Hasselbaink continuously left him, and a full season in League 2 will hopefully see him come on further.

Jay Williams: 17 year old centre half. Impressed enough in training to go on the pre season tour to Spain, think he'll be the fourth centre half this year. Has been getting good reviews in pre season and coped well with James Wilson last night against a Man United eleven.

Also got Camron McWilliams (Shaun's younger brother), Morgan Roberts and Sean Whaler (both just signed pro contracts and both involved a lot in pre season), and also James Goff the keeper who's also got some minutes in the friendlies.

Really good to see 5/6 Northampton born youngsters pushing for first team places, and credit to Dean Austin for giving them chances.

Any other decent prospects knocking about?

 

[Indian Dan]

We’ve got Twine (striker) and Romanski (defender) very close to the first XI. Made debuts last season and should get more game time this.

The young lad Alzate who we have from Brighton looks the dogs and will rip L2 up this season.

 

[KeithH]

We have a good few but expect them to be sold before we see too much of them.
Watch out for Saul Shotton.

 

[EricSabin]

We have a good few but expect them to be sold before we see too much of them.
Watch out for Saul Shotton.

What about Sunday

 

[AFaceInTheCrowd]

Dondra He looks a bright prospect for us.

 

[KeithH]

What about Sunday

Wont play on a Saturday!!
Still there but seems too lightweight for my liking.

 

[UTS]

Callum Styles, 18 and played a lot in L1 for us last season and was a stand out player in an abysmal side.

Tsun Dai looks fairly promising, same age as Styles and also got game time but still looks a bit lightweight.

Scott Burgess is a youngster who spent last season on loan at Macclesfield but I’ve never seen him play

That’s about it for us at the moment.

 

[Spanishstag]

Flitcrofts giving a couple of our young guns a run out ,lets see

 

[GTFCfish]

Macclesfield have got Danny Whitaker.

 

[Luke Imp]

We generally lose ours at 13/14 to the likes of Leicester/Forest/Villa/Birmingham and when you've spent a few years in the NL, it takes a while to build the Academy side back-up and see some promising ones coming through anyway.

Currently have Ellis Chapman at the minute who we sold to Leicester when he was 13 or so, but he asked to leave Leicester and was signed back on here.

He's been training with the first team since the beginning of last season when he was 16 and has been involved heavily in pre-season.

Down the years, we've had tonnes who've been given an opportunity but have had differing outcomes. We were probably guilty of giving too many a chance at times but pre-2010 our youth teams were always very successful but few of them really made the step up from U18 football. You find most of them rattling around the local PT scene at a Gainsborough, Lincoln United, Grantham Town etc.

 

[PaulHaddock]

Harry Clifton - 20, closest to solidifying a first XI spot and is a true utility player. We thought he’d play in CM but he’s all pre-season at RWB. Decent passer, fairly pace and gives his absolute all.

Max Wright- 20, winger. Not made a proper appearance yet but he has 2 years to develop. Is supposedly fast and tricky but he’s quite lightweight atm.

Akheem Rose - 19, striker. One of our weirdest signings. Brought in 18 months ago and never been allowed to play as he had a lot of permit troubles because he isn’t from this country. Has been given the all clear now. He’s incredibly fast but also very raw and needs to work on his positioning. Great potential however.

 

[EricSabin]

Be interesting to revisit this thread at the end of the season to see who stood out, if any

 

[hold'um Oldham]

Tom Hamer. Played a handful of games towards the end of last season and tipped for a big money move away this summer but he will probably stay with us for the moment at least.

This is his break through season. James tarkowski was our last big break and if he can do half as well as him he will have a great career

 

[Richard Cranium]

We’ve got 3/4.

I’ve only seen Lewis Gibbens (CB) and Jordan Graham (ST) play though and they’ve both looked good albeit only in PSF’s but both could be good players and Flitcroft is keen on using the youngsters despite what the Swindon fans think.

We’ve also got Henri Wilder who’s a left back and has been looked at by Man Utd and is meant to be a good youngster but I’m yet to see him play and then we have Keaton Ward who’s not yet around the first team but I’ve seen him play for the youth 15+ times and he looks a prospect. He also played against me in a 6 a side tournament and managed to meg me whilst my legs were shut.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Pretty much half our entire squad...

 

[UTS]

Pretty much half our entire squad...

Yeah the title said ‘decent’ mate.

 

[TrinidadsNumberOne]

Yeah the title said ‘decent’ mate.

Wouldn't be decent if they weren't in the side.

If they were shite they'd have hit the road that Callum Saunders hit a year ago...

 

[immariner]

Harry Clifton - 20, closest to solidifying a first XI spot and is a true utility player. We thought he’d play in CM but he’s all pre-season at RWB. Decent passer, fairly pace and gives his absolute all.

Max Wright- 20, winger. Not made a proper appearance yet but he has 2 years to develop. Is supposedly fast and tricky but he’s quite lightweight atm.

Akheem Rose - 19, striker. One of our weirdest signings. Brought in 18 months ago and never been allowed to play as he had a lot of permit troubles because he isn’t from this country. Has been given the all clear now. He’s incredibly fast but also very raw and needs to work on his positioning. Great potential however.

The OP asks about 'decent' youngsters, not just youngsters. Harry Clifton is the only one for us that fits that bill. I think Max Wright and Ahkeem Rose have only the potential to be decent youngsters, as we don't really know for certaiin (Max is 20, has been used sparingly in preseason and doesn't look like makimg the bench for us). I think they need some first team game time before we could describe them as decent. Hope they both go out on loan. Max Wright needs to build on his positive loan at Scarborough at a higher level, at least Conference N/S, and Ahkeem needs game time in men's football.

 

[PaulHaddock]

The OP asks about 'decent' youngsters, not just youngsters. Harry Clifton is the only one for us that fits that bill. I think Max Wright and Ahkeem Rose have only the potential to be decent youngsters, as we don't really know for certaiin (Max is 20, has been used sparingly in preseason and doesn't look like makimg the bench for us). I think they need some first team game time before we could describe them as decent. Hope they both go out on loan. Max Wright needs to build on his positive loan at Scarborough at a higher level, at least Conference N/S, and Ahkeem needs game time in men's football.

Fair enough about Wright but I know enough and have seen enough of Rose to think he’ll do very well. 3 different managers wouldn’t have kept him on otherwise.

 

[Habbinalan]

No, we've none, just old crocks and troublemakers. Shit management team as well.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Due to a variety of reasons, the main one being offield financial problems, we haven’t produced any quality talented youngsters for so long it’s embarrassing.

That combined with not selling a 1st team player for decent money for well over a decade, really makes a sorry combination.

Thank god for the fake Munto money to bring us a L2 Championship title

 

[jacobncfc]

Dongda He is fun for a variety of reasons. We’ve only just got a visa for him, he may actually be called Zhenyu He and he’s spent pre-season dribbling past everyone he comes up against. Hasn’t shown any end product yet but what’s not to like about a Chinese lad with two names and elastic feet.

 

[The_Viking_Magpie]

Sounds perfect for Britain’s Got Talent.

I’m all in on him.

 

[Grecian O'Grecian]

We've got a young winger called Jack Sparkes who's very talented. Played the same age group as Ampadu, made his debut early last season away at Swindon where he hit the post from 25 yards. He's got ability in abundance and I'm sure I read he had trials with Man Utd and Chelsea, as well as being called up for his England age group.

There were rumours he had an attitude problem and he found it difficult to make the squad last season because of it. This season I'd like to think we'd see a lot more of him but we're pretty well set on the wings currently so he may have to bide his time to get his opportunity.

 

[Franchisor]

Our most promising youngsters..

Dylan Asonganyi (17 year old striker) - was linked with Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal early last season. Good record at U18 level (scored 9 goals in his first 7 games for our title winning U18 side). He signed a pro deal in December but unfortunately picked up an injury that meant he was out for the rest of last season. Now fit again he'll be looking to have his breakthrough season this year.

Callum Brittain (20 year old RB/midfielder) - already capped 5 times by England U20 and impressed during those games, he had a bit of a breakthrough last season. Won the EFL Young Player of the Month award for September, and became a first team regular towards the end of the season. Hard working right back who can play anywhere in midfield and can put in a decent cross.

Liam Sole (18 year old winger) - impressed for our U18s in their title winning season and was reward with a pro contract. Quick/tricky winger who likes a stepover or two and has real pace. Has impressed in pre-season, will hopefully get his chance this season.

Also have a few players coming through at younger age groups that are being called up to England/Wales/Scotland youth teams.

 

[Si Robin]

We've got a couple of talents in the first team squad this season:

Matt Bower - CB - 19
Made his debut away at Carlisle last season and has had a few sub appearances since. Unlikely to be a starter this year, but will definitely make some more sub appearances.

George Lloyd - FW - 18
Scored over 40 goals in youth and reserve team football last season and eventually broke into the first team towards the end of the season, scoring a couple of goals against Cambridge and Crewe. Likely to be 4th choice striker this season, but if he progresses as he has done so far then there's no reason he couldn't be a starter by the end of the season.

 

[Chris FGR]

Dongda He is fun for a variety of reasons. We’ve only just got a visa for him, he may actually be called Zhenyu He and he’s spent pre-season dribbling past everyone he comes up against. Hasn’t shown any end product yet but what’s not to like about a Chinese lad with two names and elastic feet.

How did you get a Visa for him? A few years back we spent about 2 years trying to get permission from the UK Border Agency to play some Ghanaian lads and got nowhere.

 

[valefan16]

Harry Benns is meant to be decent, came on against cambridge last year to become the first post 2000 born player for us.

Got a left back who’s meant to be highly rated too who’s been around the first team squad Joe Berks I think is the one.

Aside from that after years of producing very little bar Sam Morsy we’ve had Nathan Smith break through to currently have played over 100 consecutive games from his debut at the start of the season before last and James Gibbons came through got sent off on his debut but has become first choice right wing back.

 

[UTS]

Dongda He is fun for a variety of reasons. We’ve only just got a visa for him, he may actually be called Zhenyu He and he’s spent pre-season dribbling past everyone he comes up against. Hasn’t shown any end product yet but what’s not to like about a Chinese lad with two names and elastic feet.

Dongda He vs Tsun Dai (also called Dai Wai Tsun for some reason) will be an interesting match up.

 

[EricSabin]

How have they all done then?