The Academy/Development squads watch thread 2024/25

[Clyde1998]

Saturday 11 May at 14:00 - Reading vs Nottingham Forest - Madejski Stadium

Same situation as last time: free entry; free parking; Lower West; etc.

Everyone's reminder for today.

[Royals and Racers]

Every chance Matty Carson is playing today.

[Royals and Racers]

Boyce-Clarke
Ryan
Carson
Borgnis
Stickland
Holzman
Akande
Wellens
Wareham
Okine-Peters
John Clarke
SUBS
Collins
Paul
Senga
Tuma
Billie Clark

[Royals and Racers]

Royals U 18’s season ended today with a match at Bearwood against Crystal Palace. We lost 3-0 so end the season at the bottom of the PL U 18 South table.

[morganb]

Any news on our recent trialists? Guess they are not allowed to take part in this stage of the competition

[Royals and Racers]

Any news on our recent trialists? Guess they are not allowed to take part in this stage of the competition

Pretty sure they are not needed today with the strong bench we have named.

[Royals and Racers]

1-0 8 mins Wareham PEN
2-0 33 mins Clarke
2-1 38 mins

[Clyde1998]

Fair play to the ref for booking that Forest player (#10) who was telling him to ‘oxf*rd off’. Didn’t think he was going to do it.

[Royals and Racers]

H-T 2-1

[traff]

Every chance Matty Carson is playing today.

That left foot is very high quality.
Ryan has looked decent on the right

Their 11 has some quick feet too.

[Royals and Racers]

1st QF result Arsenal 2 Chelsea 3

[Royals and Racers]

3-1 67 mins Clarke
F-T 3-1

[Hound]

Well done lads. Big achievement this, let’s go on and win it

[Royals and Racers]

Attendance 1161 today.

[Sutekh]

Spurs v Liverpool today, winners to take on Chelsea.

Sunderlad v West Ham at 7pm on Monday 13 May. Winners to visit Reading in the semi final. Think we'd much prefer Sunderland over West Ham given West Ham finished 2nd in the normal league while Sunderland finished a place below Reading.

[tidus_mi2]

How much do we look into the success of the U21s this season? Will any of them be making the step-up to 1st team football?

It seems on the face of it to be quite impressive for a League 1 U21 team to be doing so well.

[Royals and Racers]

How much do we look into the success of the U21s this season? Will any of them be making the step-up to 1st team football?

It seems on the face of it to be quite impressive for a League 1 U21 team to be doing so well.

We have looked a much better team with the settled side we have now- getting the loan players( Holzman and Senga) back playing has helped. It will be interesting to see who is kept or released. I think Harvey Maunder will be released.

[Clyde1998]

How much do we look into the success of the U21s this season? Will any of them be making the step-up to 1st team football?

It seems on the face of it to be quite impressive for a League 1 U21 team to be doing so well.

I'm not sure how much of a correlation there is between success at youth level and success at professional level for players, as some of them will be early developers who won't push much beyond their current level (think someone like Simon Church).

I would say, especially at League One level, having a successful youth team suggests you'll have a number of players you'd want to consider for first team football. From the limited amount of action I've seen (Royals and Racers would know better), there's a number of players I'd like to see given an opportunity next season - even if it's off the bench in the early rounds of cup competitions. Adrian Akande, Jeremiah Okine-Peters and John Ryan in areas we currently lack first team depth are the ones I'd be most expecting to see early next season.

Jacob Hammond-Chambers-Borgnis has looked assured in central midfield; Michael Stickland and Louie Holzman look like a good centre-back pairing; Basil Tuma has made a couple of appearances in the league this season. Could really see anyone come through.

The most positive thing for us is that it could well reduce how many players we'll need to purchase to have a competitive squad towards the top end of the division, along with most of these players continuing to get better upon reaching first team football.

The U21 players are probably more likely to break into first team football with us than any other Category One team. The fact we're still able to compete strongly against other top academies at U21 level is a testament to the top our youth staff have done despite everything that's happened.

[Royals and Racers]

H-T Spurs 2 Liverpool 1
The Spurs goals on Tottenham Academy X

[Stranded]

Liverpool with 35 yo Jay Spearing on the bench.