Thomson on trial at Raith

[polwarthjambo]

Danny

[Bordeaux 03]

He was playing last night against Morcambe, was told he was 'ok'. That's as far as the analysis went.

[Vlad-Stupid]

You had a mob forming there you rascal

[polwarthjambo]

You had a mob forming there you rascal

 

As a wise man once said...... MA HA

[jamboinglasgow]

hope he gets a loan deal there, only got a few games last year, and he is a likeable lad. Also decent attacking midfield but I fear others are overtaking him.

[Manny1874]

Could be a good experience for him if this comes off. Raith seem to be a good team to send players out on loan too, especially with a manager like John McGlynn whos had good experience of working with youngsters and bringing them on.

[Del1812]

Made his debut for the under-19s the same game as CT (and my reporting debut for the club, funnily enough) and definitely had the potential to make it. Unfortunately a serious injury robbed him of almost a year out of the game and, well, you can guess the rest.

[Ross21]

Hopefully a good move for him, seems a good lad, just not had the chances

[TheBigO]

Made his debut for the under-19s the same game as CT (and my reporting debut for the club, funnily enough) and definitely had the potential to make it. Unfortunately a serious injury robbed him of almost a year out of the game and, well, you can guess the rest.

 

Another one to fall foul of the lack of reserve league. That's 3 years worth of players now been effected by it.

[Gambo]

Hopefully a good move for him, seems a good lad, just not had the chances

 

Had the chances, just never took them.

[The Gasman]

Another one to fall foul of the lack of reserve league. That's 3 years worth of players now been effected by it.

 

This!

 

I just can't understand why some folk can't see it, and get something sorted.

[jamboinglasgow]

Another one to fall foul of the lack of reserve league. That's 3 years worth of players now been effected by it.

 

This may sound extreme but you almost feel players like Thomson should sue the clubs who scrapped the reserve league for loss of earnings from their future career. It is depressing that the SPL decided to make such short decision and spoil the long term future of many players.

[Hearts Heritage]

This may sound extreme but you almost feel players like Thomson should sue the clubs who scrapped the reserve league for loss of earnings from their future career. It is depressing that the SPL decided to make such short decision and spoil the long term future of many players.

Apart from having no legal basis ....

 

It has clearly been driven by the economics of the 'smaller' clubs. Out of all the proposals around restructure the idea of playing in Division 3 struck me as the most sensible. If the fixtures were arranged to complement the SPL fixtures I'd go along and watch.

[TheBigO]

Apart from having no legal basis ....

 

It has clearly been driven by the economics of the 'smaller' clubs. Out of all the proposals around restructure the idea of playing in Division 3 struck me as the most sensible. If the fixtures were arranged to complement the SPL fixtures I'd go along and watch.

 

Don't think he was saying there' grounds, just that it's almost tantamount to that type of thing.

 

I get that some clubs don't want to run reserve teams for financial reasons. What I hate is that in Scottish football, every proposal seems to be all or nothing. Why can't the teams who want to run second strings not do so? And why can't it be in conjunction with the SFL? The fractured beaurocratic nature of our set-up holding back the football as it has for as long as memory serves. We'd get atleast 8 teams putting in a reserve team. And whether they play each other twice or three times, that's fine.

 

Even if reserve team football isn't seen as the best option, surely keep something going until alternatives are found. This is the 3rd season without anything and it doesn't seem high on the agenda. Even the new proposals are take it or leave it. There's no reserve league involved, no mention of a change in distribution of money. On top of that, they wouldn't allow play-offs unless the 10-team league is accepted. These are all separate issues and should be treated as such. Doesn't suit some agendas though.

 

And while the SFA/SPL and the OF scratch their heads to make sure the OF aren't adversly effected and coerse all the others into submission, our young players are paying the price. It's disgusting and negligent.

 

On a footballing note, we have no time for late bloomers in this country. The concept totally passes everyone by. Some lads aren't ready at 18/19/20. But some come into their own at 21/22 and even 23. There's no problem with this. Temps was lucky in that he got a year in the reserves. What might have happened to him had he not? Only using Danny Thomson as an example but these last couple of wasted years will have knocked him back - what if he was one who could have come on to a game in his early 20s? That missed year or two might mean his stunted development doesn't allow for it, and not just Hearts but Scotland could be missing out on a future star. And it must be happening all over the country.

[Stanley_]

With the number of players who have had their failure at Hearts blamed on the lack of a reserve league we could have had an amazing 50 man squad by now.

[Justaview]

Danny is a fantastic player. U19's topman a couple of years back but as said had a bad injury along the way. JJ doesn't seem to have fancied him up to now, perhaps down to lack of exposure, but hoping John McGlynn helps get his career back on track.

[TheBigO]

With the number of players who have had their failure at Hearts blamed on the lack of a reserve league we could have had an amazing 50 man squad by now.

 

What we're saying is it leaves too many "what ifs". Let's remember that the players who don't make it in the top clubs' academies then tend to look for teams further down the ladder. Put simply the quality of these players can only be adversely effected by the lack of gametime and that means the quality of our football from the top clubs down to the bottom can only deteriorate while we amble along without any bridge between 18 years of age and first team football.

 

We use our own players as examples, nothing more. Look at Arvy. He had to stop playing 19s aged 18. He wasn't ready physically for the 1st team but was good enough to stick around as he'd get the odd appearance and be reasonably effective. But that meant his season was limited to a total of probably a couple of hundred minutes. It's ridiculous.

[Stanley_]

What we're saying is it leaves too many "what ifs". Let's remember that the players who don't make it in the top clubs' academies then tend to look for teams further down the ladder. Put simply the quality of these players can only be adversely effected by the lack of gametime and that means the quality of our football from the top clubs down to the bottom can only deteriorate while we amble along without any bridge between 18 years of age and first team football.

 

I agree that having no reserve league will have an adverse effect on players and that with some players you can say "If there had been a reserve league then this player may have made it". It just seems to be that some posts are solely blaming the lack of reserve league for a whole host of players not making it at Hearts when, even with the reserve league, very few would have made it anyway. Of course the lack of reserve league is a negative but I believe that if a player is good enough and applies himself well then he will make it regardless of there being a reserve league or not. There is also the loan option for these players and if they cannot make it at a lower division club then they will never make it at us (not aiming that at Danny Thomson but some players went out on loan last season and didn't even get a regular game and those same players probably had people saying "It's because there is no reserve league that they are getting released".

[TheBigO]

I agree that having no reserve league will have an adverse effect on players and that with some players you can say "If there had been a reserve league then this player may have made it". It just seems to be that some posts are solely blaming the lack of reserve league for a whole host of players not making it at Hearts when, even with the reserve league, very few would have made it anyway. Of course the lack of reserve league is a negative but I believe that if a player is good enough and applies himself well then he will make it regardless of there being a reserve league or not. There is also the loan option for these players and if they cannot make it at a lower division club then they will never make it at us (not aiming that at Danny Thomson but some players went out on loan last season and didn't even get a regular game and those same players probably had people saying "It's because there is no reserve league that they are getting released".

 

I totally get what you're saying and actually agree. The lack of reserve league is the tip of the iceberg of what's wrong.

 

It's a fact that the Gary Glen's and Arvydas Novikovas's in Scotland would be whole lot sharper when they're called upon for 1st team action if they were playing week-in week-out in a second string. As it is, they're having to come into a pretty tough competitive league maybe once every few weeks (not bad at that age) without any match sharpness at all and it can't help. That's not to mention the loss of time on the pitch receiving "real-time" coaching.

 

I suppose you could say it only really effects those players like Gary and Arvy who are on the edge of the 1st team anyway. It'll effect Denis and Robinson this year. They won't be 1st picks for the 1st team but will be on the edges of the squad. Match sharpness will be an issue and it'll be harder for them to prove themselves.

 

For years Scotland haven't been able to bridge that gap from promising youngster to full professional. We've generally always punched above our weight at age groups up to 20s/21s. We simply don't turn these kids into international standard players.

 

Why? Well that's a huge debate involving coaching, cultural mentality, finance and league structure. But some type of stepping stone is the least we should have and the fact we don't his terrifyingly short sighted.