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- Nov 8, 2005
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Jack Daniels;n3400725 said:I am interested to know what those who confidently posted that he would score 10 goals plus now think, especially given that he has ballsed up a sitter or two.
Nothing against the lad. Telling though that the much maligned Moult, whom I am a fan of, has out scored him by 3 goals this season in much much less game time...
I think a few were blinded by the City / Pep link, end of the day, a strikers currency is goals...
A bit like Will Keane when he played for North End, and like many who come through the youth systems at Premier League clubs, Nmecha is another example of what I would label a blunt or "dull" diamond. By this I mean a raw talent (a rough diamond) that has (or had) skill, pace and strength - all the attributes - but possibly having had many of those raw skills, and perhaps hunger, either coached out of them, or hardly put into genuine use by their parent clubs, and hence have never really had the chance to perform and, consequently, have lost confidence or the edge that made them a talented youngster. I would include Harrop in this category, who has less than a year of life less than Alan Browne, yet has played only a fraction of the matches that Browne has completed. Talent aside, these two players are a gulf apart in terms of the edge, hunger, savvy and persistence of a professional player.
As in the case of Ben Pearson, who has fought through the dangers of his tenacity and short fuse to mature from the raw youth talent into a toughened adult player, once these young players get into the groove at a teamlikepreston, they are given the time and chances to allow their lost vigour and edge to re-emerge. None of this is down to their parent club, yet, when it comes down to it, these players will rarely go back and thank "teamslikepreston" (Beckham did, to his credit) for the crucial role in their development into a successful adult player, once they have departed Preston, with their confidence restored.
I am directly criticising the top flight clubs who enchant parents and their young children into the potential place in a premier league team, at a very young age, only to scrap heap the player until his 23rd birthday, by which time a raft of one' generation's top players have not had the chance to play adult professional football. This filters onto the terraces. It is stark to observe that at any one time in the football league, players as good as Matty James, Sam Johnstone and Harrop have been inactive professional footballers while far more mediocre talents are turning out week in week out. In terms of entertainment, this slice of perfectly fit and able, and entertaining players are being kept out of football by their parent clubs who are, essentially, fattening their youth players up like the cash cows they only ever intended them to be.
I remember Sam Johnstone interviewed after a brilliant season with North End. "Sam, do you want to re-sign for Preston for next season?" Sam replied "I still feel like a Manchester United player so I will probably not stay." He never played for Manchester, and, at 25, is currently playing for his 8th club.