Reserve & Youth Teams Thread

[sooth_stander]

1 hour ago, RUL said:

He will either be 14 or 15 now as he was born in 2007. His footwork is pretty good, great turn of pace. He's a unique talent in some respects but some games he would genuinely contribute absolutely nothing. 

There's a compensation scheme in place in Scotland. He's been at Aberdeen for a number of years so Aberdeen are due something. Its not a huge amount. 

As someone said previous, the sister signed initially for celtic and the parents moved the whole family to Glasgow and tried to force a move to celtic for lancelot. 

I can only assume Aberdeen said they wanted the compensation due and celtic refused to pay it. Celtic already have some good prospects at u16s so maybe feel not worth paying? It will be nothing to clubs like Liverpool.

If lancelot grows to height of his sister I think he's going to be a powerful player. Definitely one to watch. 

He was playing for AFC U18s in the Scottish Cup v Banks o Dee as recently as November so this must all be fairly recent. Strange that his dad is prepared to uproot the whole family, at that age

[Ten Caat]

Well even if his sister kicks on and makes the Scotland team (or any other international side that she qualifies for) they won't be making vast sums of cash....just about enough to live on fairly comfortably.

Presumably they're hoping that Lancelot makes it big. Half of me now hopes he gets found out and ends up playing in the WoS juniors by the time he's 18. 

[Ernie McCracken]

1 hour ago, slippers said:

Thanks for the update RUL. Not sure how I feel about parents meddling in players careers at that age but I guess if they move to Glasgow I can borderline understand it. Just shit on the club having developed him for years. 

Dont we have plenty of youth players from Glasgow on the books. Not sure why moving to Glasgow means he has to quit AFC

 

[RUL]

11 minutes ago, Ernie McCracken said:

Dont we have plenty of youth players from Glasgow on the books. Not sure why moving to Glasgow means he has to quit AFC

 

We don't have any. Afc tried to accommodate him. 

[RUL]

1 hour ago, sooth_stander said:

He was playing for AFC U18s in the Scottish Cup v Banks o Dee as recently as November so this must all be fairly recent. Strange that his dad is prepared to uproot the whole family, at that age

I suspect his appearance was to try and encourage him to stay. 

[RUL]

Aberdeen u16s beat man utd 2 0. Some result. 

[muldwych]

On 3/15/2022 at 9:40 AM, RUL said:

He will either be 14 or 15 now as he was born in 2007. His footwork is pretty good, great turn of pace. He's a unique talent in some respects but some games he would genuinely contribute absolutely nothing. 

There's a compensation scheme in place in Scotland. He's been at Aberdeen for a number of years so Aberdeen are due something. Its not a huge amount. 

As someone said previous, the sister signed initially for celtic and the parents moved the whole family to Glasgow and tried to force a move to celtic for lancelot. 

I can only assume Aberdeen said they wanted the compensation due and celtic refused to pay it. Celtic already have some good prospects at u16s so maybe feel not worth paying? It will be nothing to clubs like Liverpool.

If lancelot grows to height of his sister I think he's going to be a powerful player. Definitely one to watch. 

Where you getting your information from, googled and found nothing?

[sooth_stander]

U18s playing Hibs at 3pm today, Cormack Park.

Strong Hibs team, who will win the league. Players are mostly at the upper age limit as opposed to our side which is littered with 16 yr olds and a good few 15 yr olds too (Bavidge and Stewart)

Really looking forward to this, haven’t seen the U18s for a few months

 

[NEM]

1 hour ago, sooth_stander said:

U18s playing Hibs at 3pm today, Cormack Park.

Strong Hibs team, who will win the league. Players are mostly at the upper age limit as opposed to our side which is littered with 16 yr olds and a good few 15 yr olds too (Bavidge and Stewart)

Really looking forward to this, haven’t seen the U18s for a few months

 

Thought Bavidge was injured?

My mates loon playing today after playing for 16's yesterday (beat the huns 3-2 at legless park).  He's 14 or maybe just turned 15

[sooth_stander]

1-0 Hibs at HT Good game but Hibs are giants compared to our lads.

Not sure if Bavidge is playing today, only recognise 3 or 4 AFC players.

[sooth_stander]

Finished 3-0 Hibs.

Maybe slightly unfair scoreline on the young Dons who battled away but really was men against boys; or youth v juveniles in this case. We never really put their defence under much pressure, mostly down to sheer lack of physicality.

Robson not there at either games this week, presume he’s succumbed to Covid 

 

[Kiriakov33]

I have no idea how the youth system operates at The Dons but is it a deliberate policy to put our better 17-18-19 year olds out to various senior teams and let the 14-15-16 year olds play in the development leagues against older and more physical players ?    Not a criticism as I have no knowledge of how player development / coaching works.  Just an observation but will putting an u16 side up against an under 18 side make our players better ?  

[Granite95]

1 hour ago, Kiriakov33 said:

I have no idea how the youth system operates at The Dons but is it a deliberate policy to put our better 17-18-19 year olds out to various senior teams and let the 14-15-16 year olds play in the development leagues against older and more physical players ?    Not a criticism as I have no knowledge of how player development / coaching works.  Just an observation but will putting an u16 side up against an under 18 side make our players better ?  

Could you not make the arguement that those 17-19 year olds aren't ready for the physicality side of things? Look at ramsay this season, he's struggled to last more than 60 minutes (understand theres various factors behind it).

I'd rather see the best rated youth prospects given a chance in senior football to get them clsoer to being first team ready should we call upon them (see Connor Barron as a brilliant example of that)

[strachanmcgheegoal]

My mate has a theory that kids are spotted by clubs precisely because they have a physical advantage over their contemporaries - usually size, sometimes speed etc.  Typically said advantage wears off which is to say the contemporaries catch up.  They’re then farmed out essentially to see if they can regain the differential ready for when they return to play their contemporaries once more.

His point is you’re asking a hell of a lot of the loons as they’re going out just when they’re starting to doubt themselves, for some for the first time in their lives (he’s into all that mental shit having had a tough go himself I believe).

[Kiriakov33]

9 minutes ago, Granite95 said:

Could you not make the arguement that those 17-19 year olds aren't ready for the physicality side of things? Look at ramsay this season, he's struggled to last more than 60 minutes (understand theres various factors behind it).

I'd rather see the best rated youth prospects given a chance in senior football to get them clsoer to being first team ready should we call upon them (see Connor Barron as a brilliant example of that)

If that was the case then we should play our 17-19 year olds against other clubs 17-19 year olds. Personally I see no real benefit i  our youngsters being beaten by a higher age group.   Again I am no expert but it’s not the first time I have read a hard luck story on the afc website about the youngsters being beaten by a far older and experienced team. 
Time will tell I suppose if these youngsters do actually benefit from it.  

[Guest milne_afc]

24 minutes ago, strachanmcgheegoal said:

My mate has a theory that kids are spotted by clubs precisely because they have a physical advantage over their contemporaries - usually size, sometimes speed etc.  Typically said advantage wears off which is to say the contemporaries catch up.  They’re then farmed out essentially to see if they can regain the differential ready for when they return to play their contemporaries once more.

His point is you’re asking a hell of a lot of the loons as they’re going out just when they’re starting to doubt themselves, for some for the first time in their lives (he’s into all that mental shit having had a tough go himself I believe).

Scouts size up the father, which is why the game is becoming more middle class.

Working class tarts send their kids to fitba and have no idea who the father is.

[minijc]

34 minutes ago, Granite95 said:

Could you not make the arguement that those 17-19 year olds aren't ready for the physicality side of things? Look at ramsay this season, he's struggled to last more than 60 minutes (understand theres various factors behind it).

I'd rather see the best rated youth prospects given a chance in senior football to get them clsoer to being first team ready should we call upon them (see Connor Barron as a brilliant example of that)

Played 60+ minutes 24 times for us this season.

[Kiriakov33]

Ramsay has been the one shining light in a utterly shite season.  I think my point was coming around to whether our youth system is actually any good?  I don’t know what benchmarks they have, If any, to progress a certain amount of youngsters through to 1st team squad per season?   A few years back the national squads of all levels had a fair few Dons players, now it seems to be 1 or 2 per squad if any.   

[Granite95]

1 hour ago, minijc said:

Played 60+ minutes 24 times for us this season.

He's also looked dead on his feet in those games. See Rangers at home in Janaury

[NEM]

2 hours ago, minijc said:

Played 60+ minutes 24 times for us this season.

Imagine repeating a myth peddled by millermong! ?

[mutant]

1 hour ago, Kiriakov33 said:

Ramsay has been the one shining light in a utterly shite season.  I think my point was coming around to whether our youth system is actually any good?  I don’t know what benchmarks they have, If any, to progress a certain amount of youngsters through to 1st team squad per season?   A few years back the national squads of all levels had a fair few Dons players, now it seems to be 1 or 2 per squad if any.   

I’d say Barron has been up there aswell since he came back from Kelty. 

[Millertime]

11 hours ago, Kiriakov33 said:

If that was the case then we should play our 17-19 year olds against other clubs 17-19 year olds. Personally I see no real benefit i  our youngsters being beaten by a higher age group.   Again I am no expert but it’s not the first time I have read a hard luck story on the afc website about the youngsters being beaten by a far older and experienced team. 
Time will tell I suppose if these youngsters do actually benefit from it.  

Well Barron certainly seems to have

I absolutely love that tiny little guy

[Kiriakov33]

11 hours ago, mutant said:

I’d say Barron has been up there aswell since he came back from Kelty. 

Jeez.  Completely forgot about him.  Barron is a big success story who has clearly developed going out on loan.  Hopefully a few others can have same impact.  

[aberdeen1970]

Ryan Duncan on the scoresheet for Peterheid. 

[RUL]

On 4/15/2022 at 7:22 PM, Kiriakov33 said:

I have no idea how the youth system operates at The Dons but is it a deliberate policy to put our better 17-18-19 year olds out to various senior teams and let the 14-15-16 year olds play in the development leagues against older and more physical players ?    Not a criticism as I have no knowledge of how player development / coaching works.  Just an observation but will putting an u16 side up against an under 18 side make our players better ?  

I think our 2004 age group is mainly strong powerful boys, they feel can play Highland league or higher, and learn, Ryan Duncan.

The chat is the 2005 group will not go on loan as it's a more technical group so they will benefit playing U18's. 

U18's beat Motherwell 5-2 last night, great result. I think U18's will do pretty well next season. I believe Bavidge is injured but he's regarded highly and has signed a 3 year deal.

[Granite95]

35 minutes ago, RUL said:

I believe Bavidge is injured but he's regarded highly and has signed a 3 year deal.

Are him and Liam Harvey not highly thought of strikers coming through? 

Think I'd seen Goodwin saying some of the younger lads were training with the first team

[RUL]

1 minute ago, Granite95 said:

Are him and Liam Harvey not highly thought of strikers coming through? 

Think I'd seen Goodwin saying some of the younger lads were training with the first team

Yeah, both are good forwards, I would say Harvey is more of a traditional goalscorer,, we've also got Adam Emslie, a wide player, very good too. Think they've all had training sessions with the first team at times. That's just the U18 group, but the U16's are near the top of their league and I think 4 or 5 of them played celtic last month with the U18's, so there's a very good level of youngster at Aberdeen.

For all though it's just about potential, it's about crossing the boundary to first team level that is the biggest challenge but also the club showing faith and taking a risk at times, to allow them to fulfil that potential, by giving them game time.

[sooth_stander]

47 minutes ago, Granite95 said:

Are him and Liam Harvey not highly thought of strikers coming through? 

Think I'd seen Goodwin saying some of the younger lads were training with the first team

I watched the U18s last Friday v a strong Hibs team and I didn’t think Harvey was anywhere near 1st team level but maybe a year out on loan next season and he’ll be ready in 12 months time.

[Granite95]

Good to hear, think it'll be a case of managing the guys and developing them in such a way that allows them to fit into the first team in the next 2-3 years. Both Ramsay/Barron are examples of throwing them in at the deep end and giving them experience on loan.

Think a mix of the two will be benefitial but always tough to judge if a good youth player will make the step up to the first team

[Jackp]

Huns and Liverpool after one of our youths, first time I’ve ever heard of him, six figure fee been quoted