Darrell Clarke says

You are perhaps my favourite poster.

Hourihane - has he ever tried to stay fit since signing up? From his limited on field displays, I suspect not.

With regard to the rest you name, they all have a decent game in them but (apart from Earl) have no consistency. No reliable level of performance.

DC wants to know what he's getting each Saturday. Which might upset a few on your list.

The kids always look like they've not been fed properly through their infancy. What did Wayne Rooney get fed on for the first 16 years? (I know it was New York Cheesecake for the next 16, before anyone asks).

 

I had a chance to chat with Connor today and mentioned that, I along with others we hoped he was still capable of playing some games this season as the fans were looking forward to watching him play. He said time was catching up with him and the legs were not up to it any more. He was enjoying passing on his experience to the young players. Nothing that has not been said before but hearing it from the horses mouth as it were made me realise that his playing career is over and that's that.

 

Adam '5 league goals in 9 league games' Phillips has been absolutely *****?

 

Yeah but its really disappointing how this has been handled.
I reckon that they wanted us to believe that Connor was coming back as a player and coach, and sadly it looks like most of us fell for it!.
I don't blame him for it, and he knows his fitness and health better than the rest of us of course.
But I've got to question why the legs have apparently gone, and what is he, only 33 ?.

 

Why, when it comes to the academy do I hear we've only had 1 success story with stones.

From memory we've had
Stones
Bree
Holgate
Jacob Brown
Jordan Clarke
Maguire (if the admin situation didn't happen)
All play in the prem

Jacob Butterfield 300+ games in the championship.

We produce good players, the issue has always been selling them for a top price.

The players we pick up now for the academy will not be the finished article, proper athletes or the complete package because those players go to category 1 academies. We get those that don't quite make the grade elsewhere.

 

We seem to be picking up a fair amount of players from other academies though. I think Jacob Brown fell into that category too. And if you look at that list, there's nothing come through for a while though its too early to judge recently blooded players but I'd say only yoganathan has shown he's maybe got something about him and maybe Jalo, though he doesn't look the same fearless kid as the one who scored a couple of goals early on when he first appeared.

The whole point of the academy is to create players for the first team. Thats it. If its not currently fulfilling those ambitions then it should be evaluated and changes made.

 

The board absolutely pillocked the supporters with this.

As soon as Clarke gets sacked my mortgage will be going on Hourihane as the next manager.

 

That's really disappointing. A surprising at just 33. There have been plenty of players who have tailored their games in their mid 30s, so its a shame he feels he can't do any form of job on the pitch. I've said it before, I really hope his salary reflects his role. That of a person doing his first coaching job on the bottom rung of the ladder.

 

Well to give young layers a chance at professional level you pick a decent team and they 2 or 3 to give them a chance to impress. You don’t pick 8 or 9 with a couple of senior pros against League standard opposition. Dreadful management on the part of Clarke giving them virtually no chance.

Whether he is right or wrong I’m not so sure but you have to give them a better shot.

 

Exactly and our model should just move to picking up these players when they aren’t deemed good enough for teams higher up in the championship and premier league - i honestly don’t think there is a point of an academy anymore for a club like ours that is losing money season on season.

 

Was it not somewhat disingenuous of Conor to participate in all that "conquering hero comes home" bolllox videos if he knew he wasn't up to playing.

 

Considering Clarkes come out a few times now and said it was mainly coaching he was brought here to do then I guess we have to live with it. There’s no point him playing now anyway he’s fitness and match sharpness would be way off. I’m guessing his heart is no longer in the playing side of the game really.

 

This is it, it's not his legs, it's his heart. I have no doubt if he trained hard he could play 30 games this season. And he'd be alright. But he doesn't want to be an alright footballer. He wanted to be a great footballer and he bloody was. But he isn't any more because time has caught up with him.

Now he wants to be a great coach, that's where his heart is. He wants to help make other players great footballers and that's where both him and the manager think he can serve the club the best. He can't do that if he's spending his time being an average player.

We've got plenty of average midfielders already. We don't need another. And unlike Conor, who is way past his best, the others can all still get better. Hopefully Conor can help them achieve that.

 

^^this
I was just in the throes of typing similar. Saved me a job.

 

Such a shame, for me it was more than watching him play in the first team, but playing in the u21s and guiding the young ‘uns through. Ah well, he may turn out to be a great coach, we’ll see

 

It's up to the poor little cherubs to prove him wrong and I'm pretty sure we will see the best of Mcarthy and Benson come next March/ April when long contracts are about to expire. Personally I think the players should have a responsibility to perform at 100% and grasp their opportunity's.

 

It helps him reach the Academy playing hours quota imposed by the CEO.