Daniel Carr

[P!ssed Off]

Bloody hell. Just found out this 18 year old non-league striker that Chelsea and Liverpool are fighting over came through Reading's youth team. Not sure if this has already been discussed didn't see it anywhere.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/ ... en-1756368
Our academy has been successful over the last few years, but in terms of strikers we've lost Charlie Austin, Connor Wickham (not the club's fault, his family moved away from the area) and now this guy may be another 'one that got away'. Does anyone know why he left Reading?
Let's just make sure we keep hold of Dominic Samuel at least.

[P!ssed Off]

According to some reports we let him go last summer. Oh dear.

[Big Foot]

Yeah we let him go last season - I know a Dulwich fan who raves about him.

[maffff]

Was a winger with us IIRC?

[The Rouge]

he is a cut above the league he is playing in and maybe a couple more levels after that, but having watched the standard of football in that division, it is a million miles away from Prem/Champ.

[melonhead]

cant keep everyone.
sometimes its best for the player to move downwards, and they then go on to improve and become good enough.
this doesnt mean it was the wrong decision for th eclub

[72 bus]

cant keep everyone.
sometimes its best for the player to move downwards, and they then go on to improve and become good enough.
this doesnt mean it was the wrong decision for th eclub

Kept churchy all these years while letting a lot of good young strikers leave

[maffff]

cant keep everyone.
sometimes its best for the player to move downwards, and they then go on to improve and become good enough.
this doesnt mean it was the wrong decision for th eclub

Indeed, would Austin/Wickham/Cox/Carr have developed if they stayed?

Would Church have developed if he left?

[P!ssed Off]

cant keep everyone.
sometimes its best for the player to move downwards, and they then go on to improve and become good enough.
this doesnt mean it was the wrong decision for th eclub

Indeed, would Austin/Wickham/Cox/Carr have developed if they stayed?

Would Church have developed if he left?

I'm sorry but the club needs to be a bit more selfish. If we had kept Austin/Wickham (not really an option)/Cox/Carr surely at least one would've been successful for Reading. As it happened we let them all go, only profiting from Cox, who was sold for less than his potential.

[melonhead]

Austin/Wickham/Cox/Carr

you do realise that you still have to pay these players for ten+ years , and that training and coaching etc all costs money, and that keeping players in the reserves for years upsets players and makes them not want to stay

[Percy's Rocket]

Yes but that money spent on coaching is invesment for the future and must be sent.

This thread is about spotting the right ones to keep..

[P!ssed Off]

Austin/Wickham/Cox/Carr

you do realise that you still have to pay these players for ten+ years , and that training and coaching etc all costs money, and that keeping players in the reserves for years upsets players and makes them not want to stay

A youth contract is £55 per week. This is less than £3000 a year. Once a player is 17 he can earn real money so really the club would only be paying large wages, compared to the real world, for 2-3 years before letting a player go or incorporating them into the 1st team.

The point is about those players that we are unsure about. I'll give the academy the benefit of the doubt and assume they at least saw some potential in Carr. If we had kept him on for just 9 more months we would have seen his potential.

We could have given him a 1 year contract, £500 per week and only £25,000 a year, and sent him on a season's loan to non-league ourselves.
If he was unsuccessful let him go, we lose £25,000. If he is successful, as he clearly has been, he could be worth hundreds of thousands, if not a few million.
For every 40 players that are unsuccessful, there only needs to be one player worth £1 million to make it cost effective.

If the club really could see no potential in the likes of Austin and this Carr, then the Academy has let itself down. On the basis that our Academy has been pretty decent recently I'll wager that these players almost made the cut. For youth players the Academy is unsure about it really does make monetary sense to keep them on for an extra year or so. The costs are lowish and the rewards are massive.

[yappy]

Scoring 23 goals in the Ryman league proves absolutely nothing, it'll be a long time before we know whether letting him go was a mistake or not.

[72 bus]

Scoring 23 goals in the Ryman league proves absolutely nothing, it'll be a long time before we know whether letting him go was a mistake or not.

Simon Church might have got 23 goals in the Ryman.
Guess we will find out soon enough.

[Terminal Boardom]

Scoring 23 goals in the Ryman league proves absolutely nothing, it'll be a long time before we know whether letting him go was a mistake or not.

Robin Friday
Trevor Senior
Kerry Dixon
to a lesser extent Dave Kitson

Plus throw in the likes of Ian Wright, Chris Smalling, Stuart Pearce, Kevin Phillips, Stan Collymore, Les Ferdinand, Cyrille Regis, Chris Waddle and even Alan Pardew. There are plenty of players rejected as youngsters who have come back stronger and better for a spell in the lower leagues. That some slip through our net is no big deal and sometimes hard decisions have to be made. It is simply unrealistic to believe that every one of our youngsters will be successful. However, keeping Simon Church for so long has completely baffled me.

[melonhead]

Yes but that money spent on coaching is invesment for the future and must be sent.

This thread is about spotting the right ones to keep..

Cox still isnt good enough to get that premiere league place he thought he deserved when he went
nor is Carr.
wickham proved himself as decent championship potential before getting snapped up in the crazy world of premiere league transfers.
still wouldnt say hes "proven himself"

austin has just proven himself as a very good championship player, decades after he left.


are you really saying these players vindicate your viewpoint?



plus im pretty certain that wickham left the academy cos his family moved.
& all academys let players go who later become half decent

[The Rouge]

Scoring 23 goals in the Ryman league proves absolutely nothing, it'll be a long time before we know whether letting him go was a mistake or not.

Not even Ryman Prem, Ryman Division 1 South

[akranes]

Scoring 23 goals in the Ryman league proves absolutely nothing, it'll be a long time before we know whether letting him go was a mistake or not.

Not even Ryman Prem, Ryman Division 1 South

Where 98% of the players have hangovers.

[SCIAG]

cant keep everyone.
sometimes its best for the player to move downwards, and they then go on to improve and become good enough.
this doesnt mean it was the wrong decision for th eclub

Indeed, would Austin/Wickham/Cox/Carr have developed if they stayed?

Would Church have developed if he left?

I'm sorry but the club needs to be a bit more selfish. If we had kept Austin/Wickham (not really an option)/Cox/Carr surely at least one would've been successful for Reading. As it happened we let them all go, only profiting from Cox, who was sold for less than his potential.

We let Austin go because we had just signed Church, who at that age was much better, and Austin was surplus.

Simon Cox was fifth choice when he left. Assuming he'd stayed, this is how his standing in the side would presumably have changed:
08-09: fifth choice behind Doyle, Hunt, Long, and Lita.
January 2009: sixth choice behind the above and Dave Kitson
09-10: third choice behind Hunt and Long
10-11: second choice behind Long
11-12: first choice along with Le Fondre/Roberts

He would not have been prepared to stick around for another 2.5 years in order to displace Hunt. Now I appreciate that Hunt got injured and Rodgers didn't rate Long, but he could just as easily preferred Church/Rasiak to Cox. It is probable Cox would have run his contract down. Additionally, he would not have developed as well sat on the bench as he did playing for Swindon and West Brom. It would be similar with Scott Golboure, James Henry, Marvin Bartley, etc.

And as for Carr... seriously? Have a thought about some of the players big clubs have gone after over the years who have amounted to nothing. Obita is a much better player, as is Samuel.

The bigger bone to pick with the club is over scouting of young players. Over the years we've let the likes of Theo Walcott, Hayden Mullins, Liam Bridcutt and Tom Soares slip through our fingers.

A midfield of Bridcutt-Karacan-Henry-Sigurdsson-HRK with Walcott up front would be dreamy...

[maffff]

Historically our academy just couldn't compete with the likes of Palace, Southampton etc. Times have changed.