Barrie McKay

[chilledbear 16]

Whilst McKay has been very pleasing on the eye and a ray of light in the darkness I find myself more impressed overall by Lewis McLeod.

 

Impressed with him yesterday, first time he has really stood out.

 

Tho' McCoist has mentioned him rather than McKay.

[DUDE 0]

It would certainly make sense in some cases, but only really from a player value point of view because a long contract won't stop them from leaving if English clubs come sniffing and offering them bigger wages. We gave Greg Wylde a long contract on very good wages for his age and he was out the door quicker than you could say "like a rat jumping off a sinking ship". He left to help the club out of course.

 

This is annoying but the way business works today. Offering them a long term contract and then getting compensated financially is still better then giving the kid a one year deal and having to wave him goodbye for pretty much nothing.

[Zappa 0]

This is annoying but the way business works today. Offering them a long term contract and then getting compensated financially is still better then giving the kid a one year deal and having to wave him goodbye for pretty much nothing.

 

Absolutely dude.

 

I think what the club should do ASAP (this side of Xmas) is offer all of our best young players new deals that last till 2015 or 2016. Certainly all of the players who have a good work ethic and normally turn up for training on time.

[DUDE 0]

And not hit the driving range by lunch hey?

 

Absolutely right. I may be foolish and an idealist but who knows, maybe a contract until 2015 or 2016 let's a young lad think twice before he leaves a club he is still bound to for some time, rather than one that expires by the end of the season.

[alexscottislegend 2,090]

We should model ourselves on Ajax. They're forever selling players to the big leagues but they still manage to compete in the CL. They always seem to have a young player ready to step in to the shoes of the departed one. In a minor way we did this with McLeod coming in for Ness/McCabe. Maybe if McKay goes in the future he could be replaced by Charlie Telfer (see Elfideldo's blog). I would prefer this to seeing a procession of semi-retired journeymen winding down their career here.

[Zappa 0]

And not hit the driving range by lunch hey?

 

Absolutely right. I may be foolish and an idealist but who knows, maybe a contract until 2015 or 2016 let's a young lad think twice before he leaves a club he is still bound to for some time, rather than one that expires by the end of the season.

 

Even carefree young footballers with more money than sense want to have job security and a bit of stabilty in their lives, so giving them good contracts will give them that and hopefully help them to be comfortable and happy as well.

[amms 0]

We should model ourselves on Ajax. They're forever selling players to the big leagues but they still manage to compete in the CL. They always seem to have a young player ready to step in to the shoes of the departed one. In a minor way we did this with McLeod coming in for Ness/McCabe. Maybe if McKay goes in the future he could be replaced by Charlie Telfer (see Elfideldo's blog). I would prefer this to seeing a procession of semi-retired journeymen winding down their career here.

 

But Ajax don't 'compete' anymore, they take part yes but they've become cannon fodder for the clubs from the 'big leagues' now. Ajax are not expected to get out of their group these days even though they won the tournament in 1995 and have a wonderful European history. Simply producing players for La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga isn't what football is about. If you are going to invest the time effort and money required to produce the finest players you can, you have to be given a chance to mould a team with them. Young Dutch players are as susceptible to agents and greed as young Scottish ones.

[alexscottislegend 2,090]

But Ajax don't 'compete' anymore, they take part yes but they've become cannon fodder for the clubs from the 'big leagues' now. Ajax are not expected to get out of their group these days even though they won the tournament in 1995 and have a wonderful European history. Simply producing players for La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga isn't what football is about. If you are going to invest the time effort and money required to produce the finest players you can, you have to be given a chance to mould a team with them. Young Dutch players are as susceptible to agents and greed as young Scottish ones.

But at least they generally make the group stages, they don't often fall foul of the Maribors and Malmoes. It's not ideal for them either but what is the alternative? I think RFC could when we are debt-free keep a group together long enough to give ourselves a fighting chance: we won't ever do that if we just rely on signing 'experienced' mercenaries.

[pete 2,499]

We should model ourselves on Ajax. They're forever selling players to the big leagues but they still manage to compete in the CL. They always seem to have a young player ready to step in to the shoes of the departed one. In a minor way we did this with McLeod coming in for Ness/McCabe. Maybe if McKay goes in the future he could be replaced by Charlie Telfer (see Elfideldo's blog). I would prefer this to seeing a procession of semi-retired journeymen winding down their career here.

 

I have said before Ajax is now a dream from the seventies. Their youth system is long not the hallelujah that everyone seems to think. Their Youth system is rated about No. 7 in Holland. A few years ago they had a stupid amount of expensive high earners sitting in the stand doing nothing. There was a total crisis this year where the club was split in 2. Johan Cruiff and his supporters against other members of the Ajax governing body including Edgar Davids. Feynoord have the best youth system at this moment and have had for the last years. Ajax were the first team in Holland to scout outwith their area and that gave them a huge advantage at that time. They also played the same system from youth through to the first team but that system has also been found out. Today you have to be more flexible in the system that you play. I think Rangers have played more youth players in the last 2 years than Ajax have so please get rid of that Ajax tale from the seventies as it is the Daily fable today.

[Zappa 0]

But Ajax don't 'compete' anymore, they take part yes but they've become cannon fodder for the clubs from the 'big leagues' now. Ajax are not expected to get out of their group these days even though they won the tournament in 1995 and have a wonderful European history. Simply producing players for La Liga, Serie A and the Bundesliga isn't what football is about. If you are going to invest the time effort and money required to produce the finest players you can, you have to be given a chance to mould a team with them. Young Dutch players are as susceptible to agents and greed as young Scottish ones.

 

It's easy enough to say that amms, but Ajax play in a far tougher/more competitive league than we did in the SPL, yet they've still managed to win 4 league titles and 4 cups in the past decade. It's not a two horse (or one horse) race.

 

The Champions League is a different kettle of fish these days and it's a bit unfair to expect a team like Ajax to compete really well in it when you take into account what a club like Real Madrid have managed to do in that competition in the past decade.