January is coming...

[DutchBantam]

Anyone else getting excited?
Nah, me neither. At least not like the good old days of signing Steiner, Sundgot and Sergio, or the days of Mills etc.

Still, looking forward to a few things...

1) Claridge OUT. Waste of a wage.
2) Taylor OUT. Like Claridge he doesn't train with the rest of the lads and we are just paying to train up Boro's players while Lewis plays out of position.
3) Petta? Can CT get the best out of him consistently? Doubtful, especially the way he's treated the lad. If some jock team offers cash then take it, if not then CT better get this lads act together.
4) Holloway OUT. Nuff said.
5) Deano? He REALLY loves CT for some reason only he can see. If we get offered cash then let's take it. If not then CT needs to be tough with him.

1) Premiership Loans? No thanks. Let's give our own lads a chance.
2) Symes? Let's get him fit and in the reserves. Give him a fair chance at some point this season and if he can't make it let's get rid next January.
3) Sanasy? I think he's stuck at Farsley till end of season. Probably for the best for him as CT doesn't rate him one bit.
4) Forrest? Might be worth recalling him and sending Fax Colbeck as a replacement.
5) JoeBo? With Claridge gone and Windass in the balance he's SURELY going to get a chance sooner rather than later. CT's promises (read lies) over the last 2 months have been excellent. If we believed every word he's said JoeBo would be on 10 caps, with another two or three homegrown lads in the firsts already.
6) Wright or Swifty? With Holloway gone and Edghill inconsistent one of these two should be given a chance. Not going to happen though. CT likes tempting the kids with a trip on the team bus but no place even on the bench.
7) Penford? See points 5 and 6. Deserves a chance.
8) New signings? At this point I really don't see the point. We need to see these kids in action. They could be shite but they could be better than new signings. And the one thing they will definately supply is determination. Can we really say that about most of CT's signings? Save your money Rhodsey and use the kids. At the very least we'll be financially slightly better off in the summer and will certainly know a whole lot more about who to keep and who to release. And you never know... we might get lucky and push for the play offs a la Uders.

[Wicker Man]

8) New signings? At this point I really don't see the point. We need to see these kids in action. They could be shite but they could be better than new signings. And the one thing they will definately supply is determination. Can we really say that about most of CT's signings? Save your money Rhodsey and use the kids. At the very least we'll be financially slightly better off in the summer and will certainly know a whole lot more about who to keep and who to release. And you never know... we might get lucky and push for the play offs a la Uders.

Couldn't agree more Dutch...shame is your right but everyone bar todd can see this :(

[Dbantx]

At the end of the day though we know that bar one or two the youths are not good enough. Talking to my uncle over Christmas he made a very good point, if the youths are any good and they have a chance of going professional then they are in the first team at 17, 18 tops. Brown has been in the team at 17....but Penford give me a break, there must be a reason that he's not been played....i suspect its because he's rubbish. He's 21 FFS, IMO if you havent broken into the team by 21 years then you never will.

Perhaps theres a reason that Todd has only gave Joe Brown and Danny Forest their chance....perhaps its because all the rest are not good enough at the moment. People say 'we'll never know if we dont try them in the first team' but Todd see's these players in the youths every week. By that logic its like saying we should give some of the Bradford Park Avenue first team a chance 'because you never know'. Coincidentally 75% of our youth team end up as Park Avenue squad players.

In the new year i'd give some of the youths a chance anyway to try and pull of the Huddersfield feat that happened last year when they won like 10 games in a row on pure adrenaline......get Brown, Swift, Penford, McGuire, Wright + Bentham in the team and see what happens. Until we get this academy that we are planning then i dont think it will work.

I cant wait for the Academy to be built if it ever happens, there will be more of a feel good factor then...

IMO we should get in 2-3 new signings in January and ship out 2-3. Lets try and find 1 consistently decent winger, 1 consistenyl decent central midfielder and A BIG TARGETMAN. FFS i've been saying we need a big targetman since the end of last season and we have suffered without one. Cant we clone Dele Adebola?

[Lofty]

Brown has been in the team at 17....but Penford give me a break, there must be a reason that he's not been played....i suspect its because he's rubbish. He's 21 FFS, IMO if you havent broken into the team by 21 years then you never will.

Was on about this to me mate the other day. Wasn't Penford the best thing since sliced bread about 4 years ago?? If he was ever gone make it that time has come and gone.

If you're good enough, you're old enough and perhaps that's why none of the young lads are breaking through....cos they're shite! Granted Colin Turd doesn't seem to be giving them a chance but from what I've seen, Swift aside, they do look a bit poo!

Role on this academy then we can be like the Man Poo of the early 90's :D

[Parrot]

Perhaps theres a reason that Todd has only gave Joe Brown and Danny Forest their chance....perhaps its because all the rest are not good enough at the moment. People say 'we'll never know if we dont try them in the first team' but Todd see's these players in the youths every week. By that logic its like saying we should give some of the Bradford Park Avenue first team a chance 'because you never know'. Coincidentally 75% of our youth team end up as Park Avenue squad players.

Pmsl, Is this the same Colin Todd that sees & picks Horroshow whenever available?:mad:

If you still think CTs judgment of players is a good gauge of a players skill, then your clinically insane in the membrane!;)

How many chances does CT give say Claridge? If Claridge was Forrest, Sanasy or Penford he'd be now at Farsley Celtic:rolleyes:

Now of the afforementioned youth players have ever been given a proper run in the first team, how can you proof your worth after a couple of minutes in each game? It's impossible just ask Claridge;)

CT had the perfect opportunity at the back end of last season to "Blood" the youngsters, yet saw fit to waste these games watching players who'd failed all season!

[Dbantx]

We're not a 58 year old former England right back though are we?

Yes it takes somebody from the outside to spot some of the mistakes and yes we have better judgement that Colin Todd sometimes........but peoples minds dont work like 'Oh those youths dont half look good, ill play a right back who constantly gets sent off and gives the ball away instead of our incredibly promising youths'

It just doesnt happen, nobody would think that way and nobody would base their decisions on something like that. Therefore the logical conclusion that we can come to is that the youths at the moment bar Joe Brown are not good enough.

A former England right back would not go 'Lets play that mediocre rightback who makes mistakes ahead of that promising young right back'....it just doesnt happen......you would have to be a cabbage to do that....you would have to have the I.Q of a sack of spuds. The only conclusion we can draw is that what we have saw of Swift was performances based on adrenalline and that he didnt do the same buissiness in the reserves playing in front of 50people.

Okay so for a change ive taken to defending Todd, but IMO his judgement is right this time around, play a good few youths if it looks like we cant make a good playoff challenge in two months but hopefully a couple of good signings in January will have turned us around completely.