Where's wee Fleck?

[Cotter 0]

Thread title says it all really. Hasn't even been on the bench much at all this season. Is he injured? Bad times at home? I know he's not a boozer so was just wondering if anyone can shed any light on his conspicuous absence from a team badly needing a bit of flair on the left. Yes I know it's not his natural position but then we are being managed by Walter Smith so that shouldn't matter. Oh, hang on a minute, think I may have figured out the reason for hid absence for myself there....Walter :devil:

[alanmidd 0]

Knee injury. Should be back soon

[bmck 117]

i think people need to get real about young whipersnappers like fleck. who, in their right mind, would consider so-called exciting youngsters when we have the proven wit, charm, class and ability of proven, hardy, players like mcculloch? you're a disgrace!

 

no, i'd love to see fleck. i do think walter smith is a firm believer in the youngsters dont win you anything title. he does seem to like buying them, but not so much playing them. although KT, Naismith, Broadfoot even Boyd are still at the younger-end of the spectrum. i think he thinks if he plays youngsters he'll not only drop vital points but get slaughtered for it. to be honest though, i think the return from the wide left position has been so little it would be hard for even a youngster to go backwards from there. that said, he is properly young - is he not only like 17 or something? i just wish there was some sort of system for regularly introducing youngsters to the first team. cant blame walter overly though - fans turn on youngsters as soon as they dont deliver. no matter how many people complain, you dont get time to even gel a team, never mind gently introduce youngsters. two bad results and half the team should be sacked or sold.

[Gazza_8 233]

There's loads of players who've been given a chance by their manager at a young age like Rooney, Owen, Fabregas. Agreed, these guys are/were world class and there's a chance Fleck might not be as good but it would be nice to see WS give him a few chances rather than play him the odd 3 minutes here and there. It might go tits up for the lad but I'd prefer us to have at least given him a chance and fail than letting him go out on loan then selling him like we've done with so many youngsters previous.

[pete 2,499]

There's loads of players who've been given a chance by their manager at a young age like Rooney, Owen, Fabregas. Agreed, these guys are/were world class and there's a chance Fleck might not be as good but it would be nice to see WS give him a few chances rather than play him the odd 3 minutes here and there. It might go tits up for the lad but I'd prefer us to have at least given him a chance and fail than letting him go out on loan then selling him like we've done with so many youngsters previous.

 

Yes Ross McCormack comes to mind as we are struggling for a left sided player. He should at least of been given a descent chance to prove himself and not just the odd game.

[calscot 0]

Knee injury. Should be back soon

 

Hilarious, Walter doesn't play an *injured* 17 year old and gets slated.

 

It's not even a one off. People were complianing he wasn't playing Lafferty when the lad was injured too. Then he plays the 20 year old, who has a poor game and the youngster then gets slated. And oh, yeah, Walter also gets it in the neck for not taking him off!

 

Brilliant!

[pete 2,499]

Hilarious, Walter doesn't play an *injured* 17 year old and gets slated.

 

It's not even a one off. People were complianing he wasn't playing Lafferty when the lad was injured too. Then he plays the 20 year old, who has a poor game and the youngster then gets slated. And oh, yeah, Walter also gets it in the neck for not taking him off!

 

Brilliant!

 

I don't think anyone was slating Walter for not playing Fleck at this moment in this thread. There was only a question asking what has happened to him.

[calscot 0]

I don't think anyone was slating Walter for not playing Fleck at this moment in this thread. There was only a question asking what has happened to him.

 

That's not how I read a few of the posts.

 

I remember when I was a teenager I always wanted to see the teenagers play. However, despite me craving for the likes of Gordon Dalziel and Kenny Black etc, they never actually amounted to much, and neither did Rangers at the time.

 

So I grew out of it when we started winning the league with established players, and then I just wanted the best team on the pitch. Walter's team did eventually get a bit old and it seemed prudent to have a balance of young and old which I think Advocaat sometimes achieved.

 

PLG lost the balance and look at how the team suffered, but I think Walter has genuinely redressed the balance and while we have older players, we have plenty of them 25 and under.

 

Walter had played the youngest player in a cup final - EVER in well over 100 years of the cup, so it's strange for me to see the "Walter hates kids" type of stuff. It's obvious that no successful manager in Scottish history has put much trust in their 16 year old prot�©g�©es.

 

I genuinely thought that Walter would start to introduce the now 17 year old Fleck into the team this season but did expect it to start at 3 minutes here an there when we were a couple of goals ahead, until his confidence grew. However, his injury has obviously put his career on hold so it's all academic.

 

The thing that get's me is that fans blindly call for young players to get their "chance" when it may not even be good for them or the team, but the kicker is how many youngsters get slated when they play to a lesser level than the fans want or expect. Young players like MacGregor, Broadfoot, Webster, Whittaker, Burke, Thomson, Adam, Davis, Edu, Lafferty, Naismith and Boyd have all received a high proportion of criticism at various times, with a few of them proving very unpopular.

 

To be a young player that receives cult status at Ibrox, it's actually better that you hardly get a game - just look at the legendary status of the likes of Gow (who ironically was generally considered a very unambitious and unexciting signing at the time).

 

Fleck is in that category, same as Furman, but to be realistic, you'd really have to expect them to reach 20 before they have a chance of being a regular.

 

Just look at the Man U "kids" team that one the league - it only had one teenager at 19. Plenty of 20-22 year olds though - and quite a few older players that everyone conveniently forgets about.

 

So it's easy to say who we should have picked after a bad game, without even knowing anything about what they could really bring to the team, or being able to gauge their form, fitness or attitude.

 

I'm not trying to defend Walter, if he plays a team of over 30's and they are mince then people may have a point; what I'm defending is the reality of what he's doing and pointing out the paradoxical criticism which will vilify his attitude to young players with one hand and slam him for spending 4M on a 20 year old with the other...

[Gribz 743]

Its smack bang obvious WS doesnt play youngsters. And by youngsters I mean teenagers. The likes of McGregor, Broadfoot, Adam, Boyd etc are all young in there early 20s but Fleck, Furman, Lennon and Aaron are all a good 5 years younger than that. The same as Ferguson etc is 5 years senior the first batch of players i mentioned.

 

I cant work it out though, a 17 year old would crave to play in the first team and have a total different respect/mindset than players 5 or 6 years older.

 

I still go by the saying if your good enough your old enough.

 

Id love to see Aaron and Fleck play albeit it when they are injury free.

[Frankie 8,150]

Excellent post Cal...

 

Can you do the usual, pad it out and make it into an article please...?