That’s what struck me - it’s so impersonal and could have been posted on literally any other EFL club site.
It would have taken no longer than 30 mins to write an actual genuine statement and put someone’s name to it, instead as always it was a case of ‘that’ll do’ from ChatGPT and then posted.
Can’t imagine it’s a particularly fun time to be in the Media team at present.
I want to produce and develop our own young players as much as anyone, but Jack Grimmer was the standout of the last few months of our season, would i have started Jasper instead of him, even given Jasper’s great mid season form? I’m not sure.
Declan Skura is a great prospect, but would i have started him instead of Caleb Taylor or Sonny Bradley? Would i have had him on the bench ahead of Joe Low. I don’t know.
I tend to agree with this to be honest. If we want to challenge at the top of this division sadly I don’t think either will be part of the squad. Wouldn’t surprise me if Dec ended up at Gillingham, which I think would be a great move for him.
Did he play much under Ainsworth? I think of him more as a Bloomfield player than an Ainsworth one.
You’re assuming “we” want to be challenging at the top of the league. Maybe you and I do, but possibly not the ownership group. Their stated aim is to develop the academy and bring through talent that can be sold for profit.
For that reason it’s entirely possible we might be seeing the likes of Skura and Pattenden next season
Feels slightly harsh on Pattenden to put him in the same bracket with Skura. To me Pattenden feels like he’s made some level of breakthrough to the first team, or at least positioned himself solidly as the back up to Grimmer. I might be wrong but I feel like Pattenden had got a surprisingly high number of MOTM votes from the games he played?
Love Jasper. And as @micra said on this thread or another, he has a level of maturity that could one day lead to Captaining this club of ours.
Honestly,
Id love for the LD team to put out a 5 year plan.
IE if its get to CAT3 in the next 5 years with a growth of talent through the youth system, whilst remaining a L1 team then awesome. That we can understand as a fan base and get behind the youngsters as they come in and then get farmed off to richer clubs.
But the lukewarm focus this year on options in January meaning Kone was shattered for the 2nd half of the season.
I assume their plan was - park the bus for 2nd half so that we didnt go up to championship and potentially snuck in via playoffs.
Management and ownership come and go but to me Wycombe is our family of supporters, the history of somehow punching above our weight and the basic decency that most of us have and my pride in that is undiminished.
Whilst accepting it’s what we all do as supporters, it’s more the disappointment in seeing how the careers of two young players were being so well managed by Matt Bloomfield and how they now face uncertain futures.
It’s difficult to argue we’re punching above our weight now that we’re owned by the 598th wealthiest person in the world.
Even Matt Bloomfield could only name 11 starters and seven subs.
Creating an academy might be good but the intentions behind it from what I’ve heard aren’t for the good of the club, but just got to wait and sees who gets signed into the academy first to confirm it what I’ve heard in the last couple of weeks.
Also feel its just something rice wants on his CV, to say he’s created an academy. I said from the first announcement it’s a pipe dream, we won’t be a cat 1 academy unless we get to the prem it’s quite closed shop and this nonsense about doing it differently, if there was a different better way it would of been done already by people alot better than who they have hired. I hope I’m well and truly wrong and people are able to call me out for for being so
The likes of Reading, Blackburn, Derby and Norwich have category 1 Academies, so why couldn’t we if enough money is thrown at it?
All built and ratified when they were in the premier league I imagine,
You don’t have to be in the Premiership to have Cat 1. As long as you meet the criteria set out by the FA eg. coaching, facilities, resources, any club , including Champoinship or lower can go for Cat 1 status.
But there’s no need to unless you’re a huge club. There’s just no way Wycombe needs a Cat 1 academy. It costs a fortune, massively disproportionate to the needs of a League One team.
And just look at how the training ground became a blocker on the sale of Reading.
I know you don’t have to be, but there will be a reason why
Yes, how much it costs to establish and run. It’s not a closed shop as you suggest. If you’ve got enough money ( which I think we may have) it can be done regardless where we are in the league.
You can but you shouldn’t