CITY U18 3 v 0 BURNLEY

[Guest]

Appreciate some info was posted on the u21 discussion, but thought the U18s deserved their own topic, unless I’ve already missed it.

I went last night and there was a decent crowd to watch a very entertaining game.

Thought I’d give my eye witness view on our boys.

I’m no expert or coach, just an interested fan, so be kind if you decide to continue reading.

Joe Duncan goalkeeper, quite tall but slightly built in the image of Max. Saved a penalty in the last minute(and the follow up shot) to keep a clean sheet, very competent display, left footed with a kick like a mule, interestingly he often kicked high and wide to the full backs who were high up the pitch (Pring and McCrorie?).

Joseph James, first team game to his name, got beaten a couple of times by the Burnley winger who was extra quick, but didn’t have an end product. JJ stuck to his task and got forward well.

Taine Anderson, believe he has trained with the first team, tough no nonsense full back, good first touch, like JJ got forward well.

Josh Campbell-Slowey, CB, quick, decent in the air, seemed to have plenty of time when in possession.

Archie Taylor CB, not as quick as Josh but very much a front foot CB, decent distribution, good in the air, not captain but you could hear him talking a lot.

Calum Hewlett, son of Matt, which in itself tells you about his DNA, scored the first from the spot, always available for a pass, went about his work without any fuss.

Jed Meerholz, partnered Calum, midfield enforcer, puts his foot in when required, calm, good distribution, good engine.

Billy Philips, I’m not the best at formation reading, but I think he was what’s now called the 10. Quick feet, slight in stature but willing to get involved physically with bigger opponents, liked him a lot.

Raekwan Nelson, another who’s been involved at first team level, tricky and quick with a decent delivery, not easily intimidated, although Burnley tried.

Ephraim Yeboah, don’t know what to make of Ephraim, obviously NP liked him, he’s a tough little cookie, but didn’t get a lot of change out of the Burnley defence, switched positions in the second half so obviously versatile, and perhaps we’ve yet to decide his best position.

Elijah Morrison, like all good books the last bit is the best, scored two cracking goals, the first coming in from the right wing curled a left footer into the top corner, the second a right foot shot from outside the box, has been involved with the first team I believe, like Ray Nelson he is very quick and again his best position WB or wide in a midfield three remains to be seen.

Brandon Bak, Zach Ali and Henry Kasvosve had sub cameos, Bak is a big unit, traditional CF type, Ali midfielder, calm in possession, Kasvosve is another big lad who battled well and looked to be pretty quick.

Dare I say the team is very much in the image of the coach Micky Bell, tough when required but no little talent spread around the side.

Would be interested in others view (if you were there), and any corrections if I’ve got anything wrong.

A thoroughly good evening watching the future unfold.

[Davefevs]

You missed it!!!

 

[Sheltons Army]

Excellent , thankyou

Always good to hear people’s thoughts and overview of the up and coming And Well done the lads - good win and no mean achievement to get to ? 1/4 finals ?

 

Mods ( @phantom ?)

would it be possible to consider either a ‘Age groups / Academy’ pinned thread where some of these excellent posts and overviews like @petehintonand @TomSutton and others have compiled recently about the up and coming age groups, could be added  - Always find them interesting and help fill a knowledge or understanding gap of mine , and probably many others)

Sometimes you want to go back and reread them when a name comes up or appears in first team squad and it’s not easy to relocate them (And that the effort that’s gone into them , the information , eventually gets lost and wasted as such)

Any post in any thread that gives good information , overviews , about any of the age groups could be quoted to link them at least  on the pinned thread and it would be an interesting read and source of anyone interested and an interesting read back as their careers evolve ? 

Edited February 8 by Sheltons Army

[reddogkev]

Countryfile, damn good post, enjoyed reading that.  Where was the game played?  

[Northern Red]

11 minutes ago, reddogkev said:

Countryfile, damn good post, enjoyed reading that.  Where was the game played?  

The HPC.

[2015]

Swindon in the Quarter finals? Local derby.

[Back of the Dolman]

1 minute ago, 2015 said:

Swindon in the Quarter finals? Local derby.

Swindon have beaten Luton, Sunderland and Manchester United in the competition.

I believe the quarter final has to be staged at the clubs first team stadium 

[2015]

1 minute ago, Back of the Dolman said:

Swindon have beaten Luton, Sunderland and Manchester United in the competition.

I believe the quarter final has to be staged at the clubs first team stadium 

Hopefully. Surely would get a bit of interest from both club's fans. Swindon would like to get one up on us in some way or another.

[Galley is our king]

2 minutes ago, 2015 said:

Hopefully. Surely would get a bit of interest from both club's fans. Swindon would like to get one up on us in some way or another.

They won't, it's not November...

[TomSutton]

5 minutes ago, Back of the Dolman said:

Swindon have beaten Luton, Sunderland and Manchester United in the competition.

I believe the quarter final has to be staged at the clubs first team stadium 

swindon have a really strong academy. Twine potentially the strongest to come out in recent years but they’ve had many cases of 17-18 year olds moving on to a CAT 1 academy such as Southampton.

Its catchment area is huge hence why they do have many good young players for them, saying that this is the most talented age group of 18 year olds we’ve had in a long time Morrison being back is a huge bonus if you get a chance see his goals yesterday. 
 

Unless we were to get to the semi final which is a distinct possibility I can’t see us hosting it at AG as good as it would be although the demand to watch our 18s is rising massively with the last three YAYC games being sold out.

 

[Natchfever]

12 minutes ago, Back of the Dolman said:

Swindon have beaten Luton, Sunderland and Manchester United in the competition.

I believe the quarter final has to be staged at the clubs first team stadium 

Good thing too, would encourage more to attend.

Edited February 8 by Natchfever

[View from the Dolman]

13 minutes ago, Back of the Dolman said:

Swindon have beaten Luton, Sunderland and Manchester United in the competition.

I believe the quarter final has to be staged at the clubs first team stadium 

I can't see any sign of that in the competition rules: https://www.thefa.com/-/media/thefacom-new/files/competitions/2023-24/fayc/rules-of-the-fa-youth-challenge-cup-2023-24.ashx

[TomSutton]

1 hour ago, Countryfile said:

Appreciate some info was posted on the u21 discussion, but thought the U18s deserved their own topic, unless I’ve already missed it.

I went last night and there was a decent crowd to watch a very entertaining game.

Thought I’d give my eye witness view on our boys.

I’m no expert or coach, just an interested fan, so be kind if you decide to continue reading.

Joe Duncan goalkeeper, quite tall but slightly built in the image of Max. Saved a penalty in the last minute(and the follow up shot) to keep a clean sheet, very competent display, left footed with a kick like a mule, interestingly he often kicked high and wide to the full backs who were high up the pitch (Pring and McCrorie?).

Joseph James, first team game to his name, got beaten a couple of times by the Burnley winger who was extra quick, but didn’t have an end product. JJ stuck to his task and got forward well.

Taine Anderson, believe he has trained with the first team, tough no nonsense full back, good first touch, like JJ got forward well.

Josh Campbell-Slowey, CB, quick, decent in the air, seemed to have plenty of time when in possession.

Archie Taylor CB, not as quick as Josh but very much a front foot CB, decent distribution, good in the air, not captain but you could hear him talking a lot.

Calum Hewlett, son of Matt, which in itself tells you about his DNA, scored the first from the spot, always available for a pass, went about his work without any fuss.

Jed Meerholz, partnered Calum, midfield enforcer, puts his foot in when required, calm, good distribution, good engine.

Billy Philips, I’m not the best at formation reading, but I think he was what’s now called the 10. Quick feet, slight in stature but willing to get involved physically with bigger opponents, liked him a lot.

Raekwan Nelson, another who’s been involved at first team level, tricky and quick with a decent delivery, not easily intimidated, although Burnley tried.

Ephraim Yeboah, don’t know what to make of Ephraim, obviously NP liked him, he’s a tough little cookie, but didn’t get a lot of change out of the Burnley defence, switched positions in the second half so obviously versatile, and perhaps we’ve yet to decide his best position.

Elijah Morrison, like all good books the last bit is the best, scored two cracking goals, the first coming in from the right wing curled a left footer into the top corner, the second a right foot shot from outside the box, has been involved with the first team I believe, like Ray Nelson he is very quick and again his best position WB or wide in a midfield three remains to be seen.

Brandon Bak, Zach Ali and Henry Kasvosve had sub cameos, Bak is a big unit, traditional CF type, Ali midfielder, calm in possession, Kasvosve is another big lad who battled well and looked to be pretty quick.

Dare I say the team is very much in the image of the coach Micky Bell, tough when required but no little talent spread around the side.

Would be interested in others view (if you were there), and any corrections if I’ve got anything wrong.

A thoroughly good evening watching the future unfold.

Great post. Tough to see Yeboah through the middle not sure that’s his best position, like you say Morrison superb which is great to see as he’s just coming back from a serious knee injury and numerous other knocks. 
Would be interested in your take on Bak I really rate him hasn’t come up in the traditional youth system I remember playing him when he was Weston Super Mare. Broke into their first team start of this season (National League South) and scored. Was soon signed up from city, you see plenty of these players get hardened through the non league system who go into thrive due to their physical nature at academy level which while more technical is typically no where near the physical level. 
 

Like all the team still so young but he will only grow into his frame we just have to hope he doesn’t become another Louie Britton who showed all the promise but when push came to shove didn’t have it and now applies his trade and Maldon and Tiptree after failed moves in the Irish Premier League and being moved on from Marine in his second season.

[phantom]

1 hour ago, Sheltons Army said:

Excellent , thankyou

Always good to hear people’s thoughts and overview of the up and coming And Well done the lads - good win and no mean achievement to get to ? 1/4 finals ?

 

Mods ( @phantom ?)

would it be possible to consider either a ‘Age groups / Academy’ pinned thread where some of these excellent posts and overviews like @petehintonand @TomSutton and others have compiled recently about the up and coming age groups, could be added  - Always find them interesting and help fill a knowledge or understanding gap of mine , and probably many others)

Sometimes you want to go back and reread them when a name comes up or appears in first team squad and it’s not easy to relocate them (And that the effort that’s gone into them , the information , eventually gets lost and wasted as such)

Any post in any thread that gives good information , overviews , about any of the age groups could be quoted to link them at least  on the pinned thread and it would be an interesting read and source of anyone interested and an interesting read back as their careers evolve ? 

It is certainly possible, the only concern is when we had a number of pinned posts in the past people mentioned that they often missed them

[Back of the Dolman]

20 minutes ago, View from the Dolman said:

I can't see any sign of that in the competition rules: https://www.thefa.com/-/media/thefacom-new/files/competitions/2023-24/fayc/rules-of-the-fa-youth-challenge-cup-2023-24.ashx

I had some of the Burnley staff behind me and it was something they were saying.

I wasn’t listening to their conversation but I heard the odd bit and that’s what I thought they said

[Guest]

36 minutes ago, TomSutton said:

Great post. Tough to see Yeboah through the middle not sure that’s his best position, like you say Morrison superb which is great to see as he’s just coming back from a serious knee injury and numerous other knocks. 
Would be interested in your take on Bak I really rate him hasn’t come up in the traditional youth system I remember playing him when he was Weston Super Mare. Broke into their first team start of this season (National League South) and scored. Was soon signed up from city, you see plenty of these players get hardened through the non league system who go into thrive due to their physical nature at academy level which while more technical is typically no where near the physical level. 
 

Like all the team still so young but he will only grow into his frame we just have to hope he doesn’t become another Louie Britton who showed all the promise but when push came to shove didn’t have it and now applies his trade and Maldon and Tiptree after failed moves in the Irish Premier League and being moved on from Marine in his second season.

Bak is a bit of a rough diamond, as you say he’s pretty much there already physically, unlike say Seb PH who is only now filling out, and showing some great promise.

Bak scored the winner I think in the last round with his first touch, definitely a handful in the box, only saw a bit of him last night, tried to hold the ball up and lay it off, not always successful but the bones are definitely there to work on, one worry for me would be is he getting coached by a former forward such as Jason Euell, who could give him some real one on one stuff, I think it shows that he hasn’t come through the Academy system and that would be the worry, like as you say Britton. Don’t think he is  going to get much game time now Yeboah has dropped down.

[Sheltons Army]

31 minutes ago, phantom said:

It is certainly possible, the only concern is when we had a number of pinned posts in the past people mentioned that they often missed them

Sure

Was just thinking it's a subject thread never out of date as it’s about the future and a little about now

without creating another sub forum where the informative posts may still get lost I was thinking more a pinned thread where , for example last nights report or a Pete Hinton or Tom Sutton type overview could be reposted / quoted or whichever on the pinned thread , either by the op or someone else seeing value in it ,for a bit of a evolving overview archive / of the up and coming age groups

 

And it would be interesting to look back at over the seasons to come !

 

Just an idea and dependent on others and of course mostly mod views

Edited February 8 by Sheltons Army

[Tony Tootle]

1 hour ago, TomSutton said:

this is the most talented age group of 18 year olds we’ve had in a long time Morrison being back is a huge bonus if you get a chance see his goals yesterday.

 

I'd love to if the club would oblige and stick them up on YouTube. Perhaps it's still a bit early and I imagine they will as they did for the previous round against Charlton. 

[REDOXO]

When is the draw?

Edit 

The draw

1 Leeds United v Liverpool 
2 Millwall v Crystal Palace or Chelsea
3 Manchester City or Reading v Tottenham Hotspur 
4 Bristol City v Swindon Town

Edited February 8 by REDOXO

[Back of the Dolman]

2 minutes ago, REDOXO said:

When is the draw?

It’s already done, Swindon at home 

[Davefevs]

2 hours ago, Back of the Dolman said:

I had some of the Burnley staff behind me and it was something they were saying.

I wasn’t listening to their conversation but I heard the odd bit and that’s what I thought they said

Did one of them have a West Country accent and know a fair bit about Bristol City?

[Back of the Dolman]

Just now, Davefevs said:

Did one of them have a West Country accent and know a fair bit about Bristol City?

There was a guy who seemed very well informed on the City squad with regards their training and contact with the first team 

[Davefevs]

5 minutes ago, Back of the Dolman said:

There was a guy who seemed very well informed on the City squad with regards their training and contact with the first team 

I think he lurks on OTIB

[Back of the Dolman]

3 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

I think he lurks on OTIB

Ah right maybe you can tell me if the quarter final will be at Ashton Gate

[Davefevs]

2 minutes ago, Back of the Dolman said:

Ah right maybe you can tell me if the quarter final will be at Ashton Gate

Not it’s not me….haha

++++

 

[Back of the Dolman]

1 minute ago, Davefevs said:

Not it’s not me….haha

++++

 

I’m easily confused

[Tony Tootle]

16 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Not it’s not me….haha

++++

 

2:57 'Good ball son...ooff...oh you ****' 

Definitely some good performances there and the future looks bright!

[REDOXO]

35 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Not it’s not me….haha

++++

 

Was the match broadcast live?

if not if ever it was worth letting the club know of the interest in the 1/4 final. 
 

With fifth round proper ties still to be concluded in early February, sixth round games will then be scheduled to take place before Saturday 9 March.

 

Edited February 8 by REDOXO

[GrahamC]

3 hours ago, TomSutton said:

swindon have a really strong academy. Twine potentially the strongest to come out in recent years but they’ve had many cases of 17-18 year olds moving on to a CAT 1 academy such as Southampton.

Its catchment area is huge hence why they do have many good young players for them, saying that this is the most talented age group of 18 year olds we’ve had in a long time Morrison being back is a huge bonus if you get a chance see his goals yesterday. 
 

Unless we were to get to the semi final which is a distinct possibility I can’t see us hosting it at AG as good as it would be although the demand to watch our 18s is rising massively with the last three YAYC games being sold out.

 

That’s very interesting & something we should definitely be keeping an eye on.

Behind the scenes Swindon are currently in a total mess, if any of their youngsters is really impressive then we should be keeping tabs.

[COYR's]

4 hours ago, TomSutton said:

swindon have a really strong academy. Twine potentially the strongest to come out in recent years but they’ve had many cases of 17-18 year olds moving on to a CAT 1 academy such as Southampton.

Its catchment area is huge hence why they do have many good young players for them, saying that this is the most talented age group of 18 year olds we’ve had in a long time Morrison being back is a huge bonus if you get a chance see his goals yesterday. 
 

Unless we were to get to the semi final which is a distinct possibility I can’t see us hosting it at AG as good as it would be although the demand to watch our 18s is rising massively with the last three YAYC games being sold out.

 

Totally agree, it's no fluke Swindon have reached the 1/4 final their u18's side is very strong. Will be a tough game and pretty sure this will be at AG.

[2015]

3 minutes ago, COYR's said:

Totally agree, it's no fluke Swindon have reached the 1/4 final their u18's side is very strong. Will be a tough game and pretty sure this will be at AG.

They have good youngsters, and have recently beat Manchester United.

[Guest]

3 hours ago, REDOXO said:

When is the draw?

Edit 

The draw

1 Leeds United v Liverpool 
2 Millwall v Crystal Palace or Chelsea
3 Manchester City or Reading v Tottenham Hotspur 
4 Bristol City v Swindon Town

Any bets on the last four?
Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and ?
That would be some semi final to reach.

[Lrrr]

6 hours ago, TomSutton said:

saying that this is the most talented age group of 18 year olds we’ve had in a long time

I’d say 19/20 season would have had a stronger squad. Conway, Bell, Pearson, Low, Towler etc Benarous only on the bench. 

[Lrrr]

27 minutes ago, Countryfile said:

Any bets on the last four?
Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and ?
That would be some semi final to reach.

Never take any guesses like that on youth football, cat 1 clubs can often struggle against Cat 2 & 3 when they choose to press them high and aggressively, you often see them fall because they don’t yet have the clam head and ability to play out under the pressure like they’re instructed to. Cat 1 football is almost like a different sport to Cat 2 & 3

[Guest]

11 minutes ago, Lrrr said:

Never take any guesses like that on youth football, cat 1 clubs can often struggle against Cat 2 & 3 when they choose to press them high and aggressively, you often see them fall because they don’t yet have the clam head and ability to play out under the pressure like they’re instructed to. Cat 1 football is almost like a different sport to Cat 2 & 3

Sorry didn’t mean to appear that I know anything about youth football, just a wild guess from a fan without your knowledge.

Mind you having a clam head can’t be an advantage can it.

 

(sorry couldn’t resist)

[Davefevs]

[Guest]

Recent winners
 

[TomSutton]

31 minutes ago, Lrrr said:

I’d say 19/20 season would have had a stronger squad. Conway, Bell, Pearson, Low, Towler etc Benarous only on the bench. 

Benarous was superb too. Potentially you have a point, I must say though for an u18 squad this is the most well rounded team I remember us having. 
Kasakove at 16 has all the attributes to be special and with his frame I’m in no shock prem clubs are after him.

Could make points around the whole team (Morrison,Meerholz,Anderson etc). While that 19/20 squad did have a few real quality players the way this current crop doesn’t have one player below bar and the strength on the bench we have in the likes of Ali to come on we have so much to be positive around. 
When a lot of this team make the transition into u21 football next season I hope many take that next extra step towards to first team spot. 
 

[TomSutton]

46 minutes ago, Lrrr said:

Never take any guesses like that on youth football, cat 1 clubs can often struggle against Cat 2 & 3 when they choose to press them high and aggressively, you often see them fall because they don’t yet have the clam head and ability to play out under the pressure like they’re instructed to. Cat 1 football is almost like a different sport to Cat 2 & 3

Having played for a Cat 2 like academy I have to agree it has that real cup final moment feel against a cat 1 or a quality cat 2 as like with us currently on paper we have a cat 1 quality academy in terms of production and talent but the cost is substantial of running it.

to my knowledge, one of the key reasons we are not Cat 1 is due to the fact that we do not have a full sized dedicated indoor training pitch.

Personally, I feel the whole Cat system is a judgement on how good the facilities are rather than the talent production as evidenced by the fact we have the most “club trained” players getting minutes for the first team despite not being a cat 1.

the lure of playing for those academies are the facilities of course and you’re sold a dream. One of those I know is at Chelsea now having played for the youth teams at city on a pro deal and the figures he earns for a teenager are frightening and in truth I don’t believe beneficial to the teens at all.

We have all been 17-18 and know how nice it is to show your mates your new clothes or shoes or bike but to have thousands of pounds pumped in (not including sponsorships too) it must take your mind off the football.

 

Edited February 8 by TomSutton

[Lrrr]

53 minutes ago, TomSutton said:

Having played for a Cat 2 like academy I have to agree it has that real cup final moment feel against a cat 1 or a quality cat 2 as like with us currently on paper we have a cat 1 quality academy in terms of production and talent but the cost is substantial of running it.

to my knowledge, one of the key reasons we are not Cat 1 is due to the fact that we do not have a full sized dedicated indoor training pitch.

Personally, I feel the whole Cat system is a judgement on how good the facilities are rather than the talent production as evidenced by the fact we have the most “club trained” players getting minutes for the first team despite not being a cat 1.

the lure of playing for those academies are the facilities of course and you’re sold a dream. One of those I know is at Chelsea now having played for the youth teams at city on a pro deal and the figures he earns for a teenager are frightening and in truth I don’t believe beneficial to the teens at all.

We have all been 17-18 and know how nice it is to show your mates your new clothes or shoes or bike but to have thousands of pounds pumped in (not including sponsorships too) it must take your mind off the football.

 

The reason why City aren't a Cat 1 is frankly because we don't want to be, with the building of the new training ground if we had serious plans to be Cat 1 we'd have ticked every box doing it. We feel we produce enough players the way we do. As you allude to the category of a club is only defined by facilities, staff numbers and the amount of training provided as a minimum, there's nothing to say a club with a lower category can't have all of it but just choose to be a lower category. For us we've said before being Cat 1 would mean all of our academy players having to stay in house to be competitive rather than letting players go out on loans in senior football to the likes of Yate/Bath/Yeovil which we see as the route which better helps players develop rather than being around at 20/21 still playing academy football, we also believe in pushing younger players up asap when ready, something else that could be blocked if older players were kept around just to be competitive if they had no real future at first team level. 

[TomSutton]

8 minutes ago, Lrrr said:

The reason why City aren't a Cat 1 is frankly because we don't want to be, with the building of the new training ground if we had serious plans to be Cat 1 we'd have ticked every box doing it. We feel we produce enough players the way we do. As you allude to the category of a club is only defined by facilities, staff numbers and the amount of training provided as a minimum, there's nothing to say a club with a lower category can't have all of it but just choose to be a lower category. For us we've said before being Cat 1 would mean all of our academy players having to stay in house to be competitive rather than letting players go out on loans in senior football to the likes of Yate/Bath/Yeovil which we see as the route which better helps players develop rather than being around at 20/21 still playing academy football, we also believe in pushing younger players up asap when ready, something else that could be blocked if older players were kept around just to be competitive if they had no real future at first team level. 

With the loaning of those players I didn’t realise they had to stay in house, would it not be possible to like they already do train with the relevant age group and with their respective club they are on loan and when applicable and then play for them on the Saturday?

thinking of Ted Curd who’s a Chelsea goalkeeper who was on loan at Hashtag United who’s step 3. He’s on a pro at Chelsea and would train with them when it was possible while playing regular men’s football while he was not in international duty for England u18

[Davefevs]

1 minute ago, TomSutton said:

With the loaning of those players I didn’t realise they had to stay in house, would it not be possible to like they already do train with the relevant age group and with their respective club they are on loan and when applicable and then play for them on the Saturday?

thinking of Ted Curd who’s a Chelsea goalkeeper who was on loan at Hashtag United who’s step 3. He’s on a pro at Chelsea and would train with them when it was possible while playing regular men’s football while he was not in international duty for England u18

They have such a volume of players, they can afford to keep what they need in-house.

[Lrrr]

1 minute ago, TomSutton said:

With the loaning of those players I didn’t realise they had to stay in house, would it not be possible to like they already do train with the relevant age group and with their respective club they are on loan and when applicable and then play for them on the Saturday?

thinking of Ted Curd who’s a Chelsea goalkeeper who was on loan at Hashtag United who’s step 3. He’s on a pro at Chelsea and would train with them when it was possible while playing regular men’s football while he was not in international duty for England u18

I mean it as in we wouldn’t loan anyone out at all, no loans to anyone to aid player development as we would need to retain a full strength team for our u21 side if we were cat 1 to make sure games were competitive otherwise we would be on the end of heavy defeats regularly with players not developing as well as they could. 

[TomSutton]

2 minutes ago, Lrrr said:

I mean it as in we wouldn’t loan anyone out at all, no loans to anyone to aid player development as we would need to retain a full strength team for our u21 side if we were cat 1 to make sure games were competitive otherwise we would be on the end of heavy defeats regularly with players not developing as well as they could. 

Ah I see thanks for clarifying I thought you mean there was rules against it. Like you point to in a previous post it’s not worth the cost of it particularly for a mid table championship team like we are due to staff costs and the upgrades of facilities 

[COYR's]

We applied for planning to build an indoor facility at the HPC in the early stages but it was rejected. It is a requirement if wanting to be cat 1. Had it been approved and built I still doubt we would have wanted to be a cat 1 as the cost to run the academy would rise approx fivefold.

[Guest]

 

[Tony Tootle]

1 hour ago, Countryfile said:

 

Good spot. Interesting that he has decided to play for Wales at that age group, although in it really considering they can switch allegiances easily. Anyone know where he's from? I assume Newport or thereabouts.

[Davefevs]

Quite liked the name Bruce Lee-Ming!

[alexukhc]

23 minutes ago, Tony Tootle said:

Good spot. Interesting that he has decided to play for Wales at that age group, although in it really considering they can switch allegiances easily. Anyone know where he's from? I assume Newport or thereabouts.

He did play for Newport as a kid

[archie andrews]

2 hours ago, Countryfile said:

 

Josh salmon got a good leap on him......