Debate - Future of Youth Development in Irish Football

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Originally Posted by Insidetherock

Just going to post this.. cause I am bigging myself up, and I am proud as punch..

I started a schoolgirls soccer club about 10 yr ago, cause my daughter wanted to try playing a bit of ball. She stopped after 12 months.. but others had started and I didn't want to let those down.. more and more joined, other coaches.. other players, and to be honest, over the years we had quite a decent amount of success.. lost an FAI U14 semi final which we could have won (beaten 3-2 in last minute of extra time, after being 2-0 at half time.. brilliant game)

Anyways.. I'm rabbiting on.. the reason I am posting this here in youth development.. is that I remember one wet, windy night, a young girl came in with her dad, and he asking could she play.. she was 9 years of age.. but had a bit of swagger.. you know, rotating the shoulders and whatnot.. at nine.

So I reckoned she's either sh*t hot.. or just sh*t

Here's her first international goal at u17 during the week in a 4-1 win over Switzerland.. I reckon she'll be part of Irelands first ever World Cup squad in maybe 2 more cycles..

And boy am I proud..

https://www.facebook.com/CashelTownF...73852014317885

As for the rolling shoulders and the swagger.. she's still got em.. but you would not meet a nicer, more polite, down to earth.. but hard working baller on the planet.. lives for it

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Congrats John, I've followed your posts on twitter for the past couple of years, and that pride shines through constantly.

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Originally Posted by Kingdom

Congrats John, I've followed your posts on twitter for the past couple of years, and that pride shines through constantly.

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Not John.. but I know who John is..

And John had nothing to do with this young lady's development.. not a single thing

But no need to get into that in public ;)

Wooopsie daisy.

We'll leave it there so.

What was a lovely post, ruined by sloppiness from myself and Kingers. Apologies ITR (not John).

Not at all lads.. John does good work at youth level, so he's entitled to credit when he does..

Main credit for this young lady, is this young lady.. she's a workaholic when it comes to her football

'I hope he is proud' - Praise for the man who helped instigate Ireland's youth football rejuvenation

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“They know the structure is in place and that they have a good base and they can do it. That is really due to Ruud Dokter. So I hope he is proud looking from the outside into the results.”

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Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

'I hope he is proud' - Praise for the man who helped instigate Ireland's youth football rejuvenation

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A sincere question, is this really true or is there luck involved too? I am just intrigued by what others' think?

It's always part luck, but we have a severe structural problem here and Dokter made some progress in a very difficult job.

FAI have finally announced Marc Canham as the replacement for Dokter as the FAIs director of football. Has been working with the Premier League for the last nine years as their director of coaching.

John Morling returns to the FAI as senior football consultant. Morling was involved as manager of the Republic of Ireland Under-15s, Under-16 and Under-17 Men’s teams and Player Development Manager before moving to Brighton to take up the role as academy manager which he did for the last ten years.

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Originally Posted by gastric

A sincere question, is this really true or is there luck involved too? I am just intrigued by what others' think?

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Didn’t have any direct dealing with him but was once involved with something which was happening due to his recommendations.

Thought he did excellent work. He was hindered by various stakeholders in terms of making some necessary structural change. But I would think if you had to identify the single individual most responsible for the raft of talented young players arriving now, Dokter is probably the name you’d come up with

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Originally Posted by JR89

FAI have finally announced Marc Canham as the replacement for Dokter as the FAIs director of football. Has been working with the Premier League for the last nine years as their director of coaching.

John Morling returns to the FAI as senior football consultant. Morling was involved as manager of the Republic of Ireland Under-15s, Under-16 and Under-17 Men’s teams and Player Development Manager before moving to Brighton to take up the role as academy manager which he did for the last ten years.

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Not sure if this a bold decisive move getting two guys with a good pedigree into the fold, and back into the fold in Morling's case, or if it's some sort of woolly compromise that will prevent Canham from executing his role effectively. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt though - having good people at the FAI should be a good thing.

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Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

Not sure if this a bold decisive move getting two guys with a good pedigree into the fold, and back into the fold in Morling's case, or if it's some sort of woolly compromise that will prevent Canham from executing his role effectively. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt though - having good people at the FAI should be a good thing.

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All the reports at first had Morling down as getting the job, and then a few weeks later they had Canham named as getting the job. Myself I'd say Morling might have been offered the job, considered it but could have better offers at club level like Newcastle and recommended Canham for the job. They'd surely have dealt with each other given the jobs they held. FAI may have asked Morling to come in as a consultant to help out while Canham gets used to the new role.

Who is Marc Carnham, the man with the most important job in Irish football - https://www.the42.ie/who-is-the-man-...22110-Jun2022/

Why on earth did I read the comments at the end of that - I should know better by now?!

"Disband the FAI for five years because we're no good anyway."

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

Why on earth did I read the comments at the end of that - I should know better by now?!

"Disband the FAI for five years because we're no good anyway."

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Let me guess.... whoever wrote that was wearing a GAA or Rugby jersey

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Originally Posted by Eirambler

Why on earth did I read the comments at the end of that - I should know better by now?!

"Disband the FAI for five years because we're no good anyway."

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Because apparently not playing football will make us better at it…

Why do some of these Mellon heads even bother replying to a page?

That's rubbish. Rugby and soccer share a stadium. If we want to get major tournaments the Gaa have to be involved. Why all this codology. The more sports kids can play the better chance of them finding one they like and sticking at it. The reality is that most Irish people have an interest in our international teams and hope they do well.
It would be great if all the stars graduated to the sport we prefer but in reality it is about these kids playing sport, getting good coaching and progressing in whatever sport they choose.

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Originally Posted by CSAD

Because apparently not playing football will make us better at it…

Why do some of these Mellon heads even bother replying to a page?

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Could have been a, Wind Up Merchant.

We're also rans now. Have been for a long time.

The idea that we should push 16-year-olds even further abroad - leaving school to move to a place where they've to learn a new language just so one in a hundred might make it and give you a better football team to support - is excessive. And even then those leagues don't want most of our players. This is work we have to do ourselves.

And I'm not seeing a massive success rate so far at the guys who are or have been in European academies (Noss, Heffernan, Zefi, Finn, FitzGerald, Johansson, etc)

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Originally Posted by pineapple stu

We're also rans now. Have been for a long time.

The idea that we should push 16-year-olds even further abroad - leaving school to move to a place where they've to learn a new language just so one in a hundred might make it and give you a better football team to support - is excessive. This is work we have to do ourselves.

And I'm not seeing a massive success rate so far at the guys who are or have been in European academies (Noss, Heffernan, Zefi, Finn, FitzGerald, Johansson, etc)

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Not true at all. Our youth production line from the 1998 to 2003 age groups has, overall, been excellent. Then something seems to have gone badly wrong from 2004 onwards.

For the most part the European based players you are listing there are from an era when our best went to England, so not really a fair comparison.

I have no issue investing in domestic youth structures, in fact I'm all for it. But, once again, suggesting that our best young players are better off staying here instead of going into properly developed footballing setups abroad while our domestic setup remains in its current state is just nonsensical to be honest.

And today we're seeing an early example of the consequences of that on the pitch.