" FRIDAY 25th MARCH 2011 UPDATE "

I am told that Jay Lloyd Samuel loan agreement will become permanent if we are successful in gaining promotion to the Premeir League. I understand that City were pressing for a few days to get the deal the done but Bolton wanted City to pay most of his wages, eventually the deal was done at the very last moment of the transfer deadline as Dave Jones held his nerve and Owen Coyle reluctantly gave in. City are paying just £8k pw out of his £25k pw wages.

Many Bolton fans rate Samuel and would have liked to see him stay with them but Owen Coyle does not have the player in his plans. Hopefully he will be an instant success at City and help us achieve promotion.

Dave Jones also made attempts to sign 5 different players including Diomansy Kamara and Danny Collins but despite his best efforts he was not successful.

Mark Hudson will be out for a minimum of 4 weeks with a medial ligament strain but Jay Bothroyd, Paul Quinn and Tom Heaton are all expected to be fit for the Derby County game on April 2nd.

Whilst we are in the International break, I am surprised to learn that our squad will have much of the two weeks as free time and will not be training as much as they normally would. I know this has angered certain officials at the club who believe that the time should be used to it's maximum to get players fully prepared for the run-in, Personally I thought the players and coaching staff may have gone abroad to a football boot camp to get a bit of team bonding going on and recharge the batteries, so to speak.

With regard to the Wales v England game it has been an absolute disaster for the FAW and I am told that were annoyed with City that they would not loan them their computer system to help deal with the ticket applications and feel that they have been unhelpful. Do you think City were wrong not to help ?

Quite surprising is that even Aaron Ramsey's Grandfather did not get a ticket as his application was messed up and when Aaron offered his grandfather a ticket he told him that he had already applied and to give his allocation to his friends or other family members.

Last week Aaron even tried his English counterparts for tickets but to no avail. Thankfully for his Grandfather and Uncle, they were given tickets for the game on Thursday by Annis, who went and delivered the tickets to them, hats off to you Annis

On the subject of the FAW, up until yesterday afternoon an insider claims that they are still awaiting an official line from the club regarding Alan Whiteley and his alleged involvement in a fraud case. The FAW are seeking answers from Cardiff City but expected the club to inform them of the matter as Alan Whiteley is the company secretary of Cardiff City Football Club.

Tomorrow's game with the English will attract a crowd of 69,000 and will be policed by 500 officers, the FAW will only pay for the police officers who are inside the stadium and those officers who are on duty outside will receive a day in Lieu.

Disappointingly I heard today of a future prospect going to another club, a 12 yr old boy who had been in our youth development for 2 yrs and playing for Pegasus in the West midland league could not for whatever reason get into our academy, in the West Midland league the lad, Cameron P, who's full name I will protect, has scored over 100 goals and according to my source has blistering pace which he has never seen at the age before, the kid must have something about him as Birmingham City have signed the boy up to their academy this week. Is this another lost gem ?

This season's Player of the Year party will go ahead and the date should be announced sometime over the next week but I am being told that it will happen and we will avoid a repeat of the no-show like last year.

Season ticket sales have slowed in the last few weeks but today the rush of the final week began in earnest, I would urge all City fans who are in two minds about renewing their season ticket to do so before March 31st deadline to take advantage of the price freeze, as in a few months you will be watching Premeirship football

Julian Jenkins has worked for 3 years to build the reputation of the club off the pitch and this week with help from his staff he reaped the rewards when the club won the ' Family club of the year ' award at a ceremony in London. When Julian went on stage to collect the award he made a comment "who would have thought Cardiff City would have won the Family club of the year award, we have come along way " This was met with huge cheers and laughter from the audience, I would like to thank Julian for his efforts and his staff and say congratulations on winning the award.

Julian Jenkins and Wayne Nash attended the hospital in London on Saturday evening to visit City fan Ryan Oliver and check on his progress and I understand that they offered to pay his expenses back home as and when he was discharged. Again nice touch from members of the club. Hope you are on the mend Ryan

After the game on Saturday against Millwall I spoke with a City director and I was told that Dave Jones has the support of the board through to the end of the season and that you could tell that the team were fighting for the cause against Millwall. It was said that it would be foolish to sack Dave Jones at this stage of the season. But there were two British directors who felt that it was time to get rid of Dave Jones had we lost to Millwall that day.

Dave Jones and the rest of the management and the players all believe we will finish second this season and they know they have the personnel and the know how to deliver it, I still firmly back them and have faith they will do so too.

We have got a leader despite many thinking we are missing one cause we don't see it out on the pitch but Craig Bellamy as we all know is not afraid to tell people what he thinks if he believes others are shirking their responsibility, I hear that Craig goes into the dressing room and will let rip if he believes that someone has let the side the down, I think that this is the type of spirit that will help take us up and believe that we will see a massive fight over the next 8 games and we will be celebrating on May 7th.

Thanks Carl - nice to keep in touch with what's happening in proper football and not just the second rate international stuff.

Can't wait for the Derby game!

Well done Carl

Nice to see we care bout the youngsters

Great update. Glad were not paying all of J Lloyd Samuels wages.

Thanks Carl - nice to keep in touch with what's happening in proper football and not just the second rate international stuff.

Can't wait for the Derby game!

I feel the same Cheers Carl, CARDIFF CITY FIRST

Thanks for the update Carl,agree with the players who are not playing this week could have done more with their time.

Annis thanks again for what you done with the tickets

Cheers mate

Thanks for the update Carl,agree with the players who are not playing this week could have done more with their time.

Annis thanks again for what you done with the tickets

i agree ,i find it unbelievable that they are not working on tactics and training while off
im sure craig does give slackers a roasting when underperforming,wonder if he said ought to jones for playing him in centre midfield

thanks for the updates

Thanks for the update Carl.

I guess it was Jones's decision to give the players time off during the international break, probably gives him the opportunity to get his golf clubs out!

I am amazed the club are not looking to play some sort of friendly to get people like Gypes and Samuel fit, it beggars belief at this stage of the season.

excellent carl and with regards to craig maybe he should look in the mirror.

Cheers Carl

Great update-see you all on April 2nd..........

fair play Carl, i can't knock your optimism about promotion. But personally i prefer to be the pesimist......

I am told that Jay Lloyd Samuel loan agreement will become permanent if we are successful in gaining promotion to the Premeir League. I understand that City were pressing for a few days to get the deal the done but Bolton wanted City to pay most of his wages, eventually the deal was done at the very last moment of the transfer deadline as Dave Jones held his nerve and Owen Coyle reluctantly gave in. City are paying just £8k pw out of his £25k pw wages.

Many Bolton fans rate Samuel and would have liked to see him stay with them but Owen Coyle does not have the player in his plans. Hopefully he will be an instant success at City and help us achieve promotion.

Dave Jones also made attempts to sign 5 different players including Diomansy Kamara and Danny Collins but despite his best efforts he was not successful.

Mark Hudson will be out for a minimum of 4 weeks with a medial ligament strain but Jay Bothroyd, Paul Quinn and Tom Heaton are all expected to be fit for the Derby County game on April 2nd.

Whilst we are in the International break, I am surprised to learn that our squad will have much of the two weeks as free time and will not be training as much as they normally would. I know this has angered certain officials at the club who believe that the time should be used to it's maximum to get players fully prepared for the run-in, Personally I thought the players and coaching staff may have gone abroad to a football boot camp to get a bit of team bonding going on and recharge the batteries, so to speak.

With regard to the Wales v England game it has been an absolute disaster for the FAW and I am told that were annoyed with City that they would not loan them their computer system to help deal with the ticket applications and feel that they have been unhelpful. Do you think City were wrong not to help ?

Quite surprising is that even Aaron Ramsey's Grandfather did not get a ticket as his application was messed up and when Aaron offered his grandfather a ticket he told him that he had already applied and to give his allocation to his friends or other family members.

Last week Aaron even tried his English counterparts for tickets but to no avail. Thankfully for his Grandfather and Uncle, they were given tickets for the game on Thursday by Annis, who went and delivered the tickets to them, hats off to you Annis

On the subject of the FAW, up until yesterday afternoon an insider claims that they are still awaiting an official line from the club regarding Alan Whiteley and his alleged involvement in a fraud case. The FAW are seeking answers from Cardiff City but expected the club to inform them of the matter as Alan Whiteley is the company secretary of Cardiff City Football Club.

Tomorrow's game with the English will attract a crowd of 69,000 and will be policed by 500 officers, the FAW will only pay for the police officers who are inside the stadium and those officers who are on duty outside will receive a day in Lieu.

Disappointingly I heard today of a future prospect going to another club, a 12 yr old boy who had been in our youth development for 2 yrs and playing for Pegasus in the West midland league could not for whatever reason get into our academy, in the West Midland league the lad, Cameron P, who's full name I will protect, has scored over 100 goals and according to my source has blistering pace which he has never seen at the age before, the kid must have something about him as Birmingham City have signed the boy up to their academy this week. Is this another lost gem ?

This season's Player of the Year party will go ahead and the date should be announced sometime over the next week but I am being told that it will happen and we will avoid a repeat of the no-show like last year.

Season ticket sales have slowed in the last few weeks but today the rush of the final week began in earnest, I would urge all City fans who are in two minds about renewing their season ticket to do so before March 31st deadline to take advantage of the price freeze, as in a few months you will be watching Premeirship football

Julian Jenkins has worked for 3 years to build the reputation of the club off the pitch and this week with help from his staff he reaped the rewards when the club won the ' Family club of the year ' award at a ceremony in London. When Julian went on stage to collect the award he made a comment "who would have thought Cardiff City would have won the Family club of the year award, we have come along way " This was met with huge cheers and laughter from the audience, I would like to thank Julian for his efforts and his staff and say congratulations on winning the award.

Julian Jenkins and Wayne Nash attended the hospital in London on Saturday evening to visit City fan Ryan Oliver and check on his progress and I understand that they offered to pay his expenses back home as and when he was discharged. Again nice touch from members of the club. Hope you are on the mend Ryan

After the game on Saturday against Millwall I spoke with a City director and I was told that Dave Jones has the support of the board through to the end of the season and that you could tell that the team were fighting for the cause against Millwall. It was said that it would be foolish to sack Dave Jones at this stage of the season. But there were two British directors who felt that it was time to get rid of Dave Jones had we lost to Millwall that day.

Dave Jones and the rest of the management and the players all believe we will finish second this season and they know they have the personnel and the know how to deliver it, I still firmly back them and have faith they will do so too.

We have got a leader despite many thinking we are missing one cause we don't see it out on the pitch but Craig Bellamy as we all know is not afraid to tell people what he thinks if he believes others are shirking their responsibility, I hear that Craig goes into the dressing room and will let rip if he believes that someone has let the side the down, I think that this is the type of spirit that will help take us up and believe that we will see a massive fight over the next 8 games and we will be celebrating on May 7th.

Thanks Carl for the update.

For the above in bold " well there's a f....ing Surprise. Gwyn will no doubt have a spin on this as Chairman of the Young Guns. Whatever spin he throws at it , the complete Cardiff City set up is a total shambles , i could post example of example of this but its probably a waste of time because the inner circle believe they have the best system in the world when in fact the Club probably has the worst Academy / Development in the football league. Thankfully for good talented young kids there are another 91 Clubs.

Just to update you on one player released by Cardiff City - he shortly to gain his pro at Ipswich. Also another local lad has been offered a scholorship , he's likely to take it but is currently back training this week with Manchester United and with a que of Clubs interested. This lad was recently released by City and then offered a place back when other clubs came straight in for him. Another Barry lad again released was offered a scholorship straight away with Bristol City after watching him for just 45 minutes. No doubt Gwyn will try and tell you they are all crap and not good enough for City.

If you have a child aged between 9-16 my advice would be dont let them anywhere near Cardiff City they are clueless and couldnt organise a piss up in a brewery these days at youth football.

This was again highlighted last week as 2 Cowbridge lads were forgot to be sent an email by City which they received only 48 hours prior instead of 14 days, this has caused no end of grief to the parents of these boys and the boys themselves and their local team, thankfully Arsenal take one Cowbridge lad up during School holidays and half term periods and i have arranged these 2 other boys to go up with him to Arsenal. Arsenal by the way don't have these silly centres , they just have top scouts who know what they are doing run by Liam Brady. Since the departure of Sam Hammam the youth side of football at Cardiff City has basically turned to a bag of shit to put it bluntly, and the main problem is those involved actually think they are choclate and run a great set up!!! Truth be told its bollocks. Thats what makes me laugh when you see them over in Malaysia Club staff trying to set one up over there , they cant even set a decent one up over here first!!! Just shows the Malaysians know cock all about football or what really goes on at this Club.


FAW Tickets, Gethin Jenkins piss poor attitude and unhelpfulness to the FAW saw City themselves no tickets. Thankfully the FAW like many others have realised Gethin Jenkins is a complete clown with bad attitude, just have to wait until the heirachy at City realise this , Directors already think hes a brown tounged arse kisser.

Well done to Julian Jenkins, a credit to the Club. Of course Julian was trained within one of my organisations when we spotted his potential in 2000 , firstly through his helpful involvement with Bluebirds 2000 and then into the Furniture business where again he became a great asset and im really pleased the Club has a great Asset like Julian at the Club and that clearly shows with the award hes picked up. Top man Julian !!

Maybe the Malaysians should send Gethin Jenkins to me for some training? He certainly needs it!!!

thanks for the update carl, i was hoping though that you would have heard some news about how bellamy feels about things at the minute because reading the interviews that he gave this week he gave the impression he wasn't to confident about us going up and it seemed he had given up on the idea of playing for us in the premier league

If the players and management honestly believe they will finish second, and they honestly believe they know what's required to finish second, then why haven't we seen this and why are we currently in fourth falling down the table instead of climbing it? As usual, they talk a good game but will they be able to deliver from now until the end of the season?

thanks for the update carl

thanx carl

Carl so glad you can see what is happening at are academy its a total joke top to bottom run by total amatures.

cheers carl

I am told that Jay Lloyd Samuel loan agreement will become permanent if we are successful in gaining promotion to the Premeir League. I understand that City were pressing for a few days to get the deal the done but Bolton wanted City to pay most of his wages, eventually the deal was done at the very last moment of the transfer deadline as Dave Jones held his nerve and Owen Coyle reluctantly gave in. City are paying just £8k pw out of his £25k pw wages.

Many Bolton fans rate Samuel and would have liked to see him stay with them but Owen Coyle does not have the player in his plans. Hopefully he will be an instant success at City and help us achieve promotion.

Dave Jones also made attempts to sign 5 different players including Diomansy Kamara and Danny Collins but despite his best efforts he was not successful.

Mark Hudson will be out for a minimum of 4 weeks with a medial ligament strain but Jay Bothroyd, Paul Quinn and Tom Heaton are all expected to be fit for the Derby County game on April 2nd.

Whilst we are in the International break, I am surprised to learn that our squad will have much of the two weeks as free time and will not be training as much as they normally would. I know this has angered certain officials at the club who believe that the time should be used to it's maximum to get players fully prepared for the run-in, Personally I thought the players and coaching staff may have gone abroad to a football boot camp to get a bit of team bonding going on and recharge the batteries, so to speak.

With regard to the Wales v England game it has been an absolute disaster for the FAW and I am told that were annoyed with City that they would not loan them their computer system to help deal with the ticket applications and feel that they have been unhelpful. Do you think City were wrong not to help ?

Quite surprising is that even Aaron Ramsey's Grandfather did not get a ticket as his application was messed up and when Aaron offered his grandfather a ticket he told him that he had already applied and to give his allocation to his friends or other family members.

Last week Aaron even tried his English counterparts for tickets but to no avail. Thankfully for his Grandfather and Uncle, they were given tickets for the game on Thursday by Annis, who went and delivered the tickets to them, hats off to you Annis

On the subject of the FAW, up until yesterday afternoon an insider claims that they are still awaiting an official line from the club regarding Alan Whiteley and his alleged involvement in a fraud case. The FAW are seeking answers from Cardiff City but expected the club to inform them of the matter as Alan Whiteley is the company secretary of Cardiff City Football Club.

Tomorrow's game with the English will attract a crowd of 69,000 and will be policed by 500 officers, the FAW will only pay for the police officers who are inside the stadium and those officers who are on duty outside will receive a day in Lieu.

Disappointingly I heard today of a future prospect going to another club, a 12 yr old boy who had been in our youth development for 2 yrs and playing for Pegasus in the West midland league could not for whatever reason get into our academy, in the West Midland league the lad, Cameron P, who's full name I will protect, has scored over 100 goals and according to my source has blistering pace which he has never seen at the age before, the kid must have something about him as Birmingham City have signed the boy up to their academy this week. Is this another lost gem ?

This season's Player of the Year party will go ahead and the date should be announced sometime over the next week but I am being told that it will happen and we will avoid a repeat of the no-show like last year.

Season ticket sales have slowed in the last few weeks but today the rush of the final week began in earnest, I would urge all City fans who are in two minds about renewing their season ticket to do so before March 31st deadline to take advantage of the price freeze, as in a few months you will be watching Premeirship football

Julian Jenkins has worked for 3 years to build the reputation of the club off the pitch and this week with help from his staff he reaped the rewards when the club won the ' Family club of the year ' award at a ceremony in London. When Julian went on stage to collect the award he made a comment "who would have thought Cardiff City would have won the Family club of the year award, we have come along way " This was met with huge cheers and laughter from the audience, I would like to thank Julian for his efforts and his staff and say congratulations on winning the award.

Julian Jenkins and Wayne Nash attended the hospital in London on Saturday evening to visit City fan Ryan Oliver and check on his progress and I understand that they offered to pay his expenses back home as and when he was discharged. Again nice touch from members of the club. Hope you are on the mend Ryan

After the game on Saturday against Millwall I spoke with a City director and I was told that Dave Jones has the support of the board through to the end of the season and that you could tell that the team were fighting for the cause against Millwall. It was said that it would be foolish to sack Dave Jones at this stage of the season. But there were two British directors who felt that it was time to get rid of Dave Jones had we lost to Millwall that day.

Dave Jones and the rest of the management and the players all believe we will finish second this season and they know they have the personnel and the know how to deliver it, I still firmly back them and have faith they will do so too.

We have got a leader despite many thinking we are missing one cause we don't see it out on the pitch but Craig Bellamy as we all know is not afraid to tell people what he thinks if he believes others are shirking their responsibility, I hear that Craig goes into the dressing room and will let rip if he believes that someone has let the side the down, I think that this is the type of spirit that will help take us up and believe that we will see a massive fight over the next 8 games and we will be celebrating on May 7th.

Thanks Carl for the update.

For the above in bold " well there's a f....ing Surprise. Gwyn will no doubt have a spin on this as Chairman of the Young Guns. Whatever spin he throws at it , the complete Cardiff City set up is a total shambles , i could post example of example of this but its probably a waste of time because the inner circle believe they have the best system in the world when in fact the Club probably has the worst Academy / Development in the football league. Thankfully for good talented young kids there are another 91 Clubs.

Just to update you on one player released by Cardiff City - he shortly to gain his pro at Ipswich. Also another local lad has been offered a scholorship , he's likely to take it but is currently back training this week with Manchester United and with a que of Clubs interested. This lad was recently released by City and then offered a place back when other clubs came straight in for him. Another Barry lad again released was offered a scholorship straight away with Bristol City after watching him for just 45 minutes. No doubt Gwyn will try and tell you they are all crap and not good enough for City.

If you have a child aged between 9-16 my advice would be dont let them anywhere near Cardiff City they are clueless and couldnt organise a piss up in a brewery these days at youth football.

This was again highlighted last week as 2 Cowbridge lads were forgot to be sent an email by City which they received only 48 hours prior instead of 14 days, this has caused no end of grief to the parents of these boys and the boys themselves and their local team, thankfully Arsenal take one Cowbridge lad up during School holidays and half term periods and i have arranged these 2 other boys to go up with him to Arsenal. Arsenal by the way don't have these silly centres , they just have top scouts who know what they are doing run by Liam Brady. Since the departure of Sam Hammam the youth side of football at Cardiff City has basically turned to a bag of shit to put it bluntly, and the main problem is those involved actually think they are choclate and run a great set up!!! Truth be told its bollocks. Thats what makes me laugh when you see them over in Malaysia Club staff trying to set one up over there , they cant even set a decent one up over here first!!! Just shows the Malaysians know cock all about football or what really goes on at this Club.


FAW Tickets, Gethin Jenkins piss poor attitude and unhelpfulness to the FAW saw City themselves no tickets. Thankfully the FAW like many others have realised Gethin Jenkins is a complete clown with bad attitude, just have to wait until the heirachy at City realise this , Directors already think hes a brown tounged arse kisser.

Well done to Julian Jenkins, a credit to the Club. Of course Julian was trained within one of my organisations when we spotted his potential in 2000 , firstly through his helpful involvement with Bluebirds 2000 and then into the Furniture business where again he became a great asset and im really pleased the Club has a great Asset like Julian at the Club and that clearly shows with the award hes picked up. Top man Julian !!

Maybe the Malaysians should send Gethin Jenkins to me for some training? He certainly needs it!!!

Ardley is the problem from what i can gather. GJ is a bit of a prat but the academy buck stops with its head and he should sort it out or go.

good stuff Carl, excellent post and very enjoyable!! On the subject of youth players it is an area that concerns me as i have seen what has happened to my own cousin in recent years. From the age of 10 he was one of the most highly rated midfielders in Wales and had scouts from most Premier League clubs making moves to sign him up. The scout from Manchester United was especially keen and told his father that he was one of the best talents he had seen in years. However, my cousin was a die hard City fan and was over the moon when he was invited to play for the club, however he was a bit concerned that he was asked to play centre back as he had always been a goalscoring midfield player.

The change in position didnt affect him too much and he was still regarded as one of the best players for his age, in one game however he had to play centre midifeld and ended up scoring 6 times, the next game he was back at centre half!!! Throughout his time with the club he was consistently getting top marks in all of his report cards, staff at the club told his father that there was no doubt he would be offered schoolboy forms. Two years ago, around Xmas time, my cousin again recieved top marks in his report. Unfortunately my cousin had a growth spurt which caused him to have a problem with his knee so he couldnt play for 4 months, he had never had a problem with injuries before this. Anyway, he turned up to train during this spell and was told he was being released!!!!!! The last report he had he had been awarded top marks, he hadnt kicked a ball since and was then let go!! Its fair to say he was devastated!! Manchester United were quick on the scene and wanted him to go up there to train and play a few games but he was so distraught he packed it in and hasnt kicked a ball since. He has never had an explanation as to why he was let go and even if there was a legitimate reason it was an extremely harsh way to deal with a kid. He used to be a die hard season ticket holder as well, he hasnt watched a game this year!

carl you must be the super optimist

Nice 1 carl

good stuff Carl, excellent post and very enjoyable!! On the subject of youth players it is an area that concerns me as i have seen what has happened to my own cousin in recent years. From the age of 10 he was one of the most highly rated midfielders in Wales and had scouts from most Premier League clubs making moves to sign him up. The scout from Manchester United was especially keen and told his father that he was one of the best talents he had seen in years. However, my cousin was a die hard City fan and was over the moon when he was invited to play for the club, however he was a bit concerned that he was asked to play centre back as he had always been a goalscoring midfield player.

The change in position didnt affect him too much and he was still regarded as one of the best players for his age, in one game however he had to play centre midifeld and ended up scoring 6 times, the next game he was back at centre half!!! Throughout his time with the club he was consistently getting top marks in all of his report cards, staff at the club told his father that there was no doubt he would be offered schoolboy forms. Two years ago, around Xmas time, my cousin again recieved top marks in his report. Unfortunately my cousin had a growth spurt which caused him to have a problem with his knee so he couldnt play for 4 months, he had never had a problem with injuries before this. Anyway, he turned up to train during this spell and was told he was being released!!!!!! The last report he had he had been awarded top marks, he hadnt kicked a ball since and was then let go!! Its fair to say he was devastated!! Manchester United were quick on the scene and wanted him to go up there to train and play a few games but he was so distraught he packed it in and hasnt kicked a ball since. He has never had an explanation as to why he was let go and even if there was a legitimate reason it was an extremely harsh way to deal with a kid. He used to be a die hard season ticket holder as well, he hasnt watched a game this year!

Sorry to hear mate - just another example im afraid.

Carl so glad you can see what is happening at are academy its a total joke top to bottom run by total amatures.

Birch , like me you have known for ages how bad it is mate , its just good more are able now to see /hear what really goes on.

Thanks Carl, just a couple of things;
The lack of players training during the break,,,, puzzling???
The WFA & ticket fiasco,,,its not the first time,,,but they did get it right when Mark Hughes was manager.
The academy,,,,really worrying we are loosing so many good youngsters,,,that area of the club could do with a good shake up.

Strewth Carl....I think you've just outdone 'War and Peace'

Great post as usual and ultra-informative

Maybe the (players) break can work in our favour....and they can come back after a week or so in the glorious Welsh sunshine refocussed and raring to go!! The Derbt game will certainly tell us that....

Shame about the boy Cameron P....but I suppose there was always a chance he would go to a local club like Brrrrmingham City and our academy will continue to seek out raw talent elsewhere

Keep it coming, Carl....and hats off to you

good stuff Carl, excellent post and very enjoyable!! On the subject of youth players it is an area that concerns me as i have seen what has happened to my own cousin in recent years. From the age of 10 he was one of the most highly rated midfielders in Wales and had scouts from most Premier League clubs making moves to sign him up. The scout from Manchester United was especially keen and told his father that he was one of the best talents he had seen in years. However, my cousin was a die hard City fan and was over the moon when he was invited to play for the club, however he was a bit concerned that he was asked to play centre back as he had always been a goalscoring midfield player.

The change in position didnt affect him too much and he was still regarded as one of the best players for his age, in one game however he had to play centre midifeld and ended up scoring 6 times, the next game he was back at centre half!!! Throughout his time with the club he was consistently getting top marks in all of his report cards, staff at the club told his father that there was no doubt he would be offered schoolboy forms. Two years ago, around Xmas time, my cousin again recieved top marks in his report. Unfortunately my cousin had a growth spurt which caused him to have a problem with his knee so he couldnt play for 4 months, he had never had a problem with injuries before this. Anyway, he turned up to train during this spell and was told he was being released!!!!!! The last report he had he had been awarded top marks, he hadnt kicked a ball since and was then let go!! Its fair to say he was devastated!! Manchester United were quick on the scene and wanted him to go up there to train and play a few games but he was so distraught he packed it in and hasnt kicked a ball since. He has never had an explanation as to why he was let go and even if there was a legitimate reason it was an extremely harsh way to deal with a kid. He used to be a die hard season ticket holder as well, he hasnt watched a game this year!

F**K ME!! If true, that's incredible!!

I sincerely hope tha lad recovers and gets to play for a team that cares about its youth (as long as it's not the Jacks, of course!!)

Thanks Carl, just a couple of things;
The lack of players training during the break,,,, puzzling???
The WFA & ticket fiasco,,,its not the first time,,,but they did get it right when Mark Hughes was manager.
The academy,,,,really worrying we are loosing so many good youngsters,,,that area of the club could do with a good shake up.

Yes I agree Rick, Our players spend less on the training ground than most Clubs,and then DJ says our players are tired, no wonder they are never fit.