George Johnston

[Bubster]

14 year old winger given his debut for the u20s - good to hear the conveyor belt is kicking back into life!

Anyone see the game? 

 

[Dondeh]

30 minutes ago, Bubster said:

14 year old winger given his debut for the u20s - good to hear the conveyor belt is kicking back into life!

Anyone see the game? 

 

Check out the match thread. Mentioned there. 

[Bubster]

Cheers bud

[Guest]

14 hours ago, Bubster said:

14 year old winger given his debut for the u20s - good to hear the conveyor belt is kicking back into life!

Anyone see the game? 

 

I'm a bit uneasy at a 14 yr old playing against u20 which could include some seasoned pros.

Good to see he got a half though. One to keep an eye on.

[WoodStein]

2 hours ago, Rivers Cuomo said:

I'm a bit uneasy at a 14 yr old playing against u20 which could include some seasoned pros.

Good to see he got a half though. One to keep an eye on.

I thought the same initially, especially against Celtic, but having read Jimmy Boyle's comments in the Courier this morning (several of the development squad away on international duty, plus some injuries, so four 15-year-olds from the U17 squad were brought in along with Johnston) the decision is understandable. I'd imagine Celtic may have been in a similar position, assuming they'd be likely to have a few away with national squads.

I think they all played part of the game, rather than the full game, and did well, so this seems to have been well managed.

 

The photo of Celtic's wee 13-year-old coming on in their U-20 game last week was amusing, as he was replacing a very tall player & it really did look like a wee boy in a man's game! 

[Ivan Drago]

Don't mean to be me negative here but I think this is a perfect example of why the reserves proper needs to be brought back. The reserves used to be a sand pit where managers could try players in a different position, get injured players some sharpness or give out of form players a test. I'm sorry but none of these things can be done to any level when they are up against 13 and 14 year old laddies. 

Totally agree that there needs to be a place for the young lads to flourish but given the quality of youngsters we are seeing in Scotland as a whole, I'm not sure if this model delivers it for either user 

[WeighorstsWang]

It, along with the young boy at Celtic is getting far too much exposure and heaping pressure on their shoulders. They should be allowed to grow up and learn the game naturally. These boys still get excited for Santa and we as a nation are already clamouring (moreso Karamoko) to be called up into Scotland squads so he doesn't walk away. 

Let kids be kids. 

[an-dee]

12 minutes ago, WeighorstsWang said:

It, along with the young boy at Celtic is getting far too much exposure and heaping pressure on their shoulders. They should be allowed to grow up and learn the game naturally. These boys still get excited for Santa and we as a nation are already clamouring (moreso Karamoko) to be called up into Scotland squads so he doesn't walk away. 

Let kids be kids. 

100% agree. Talk of bids from Man City for that young boy at Celtic, absolutely mad. Need to let young players develop without all the added pressure. 

[harry94]

59 minutes ago, Ivan Drago said:

Don't mean to be me negative here but I think this is a perfect example of why the reserves proper needs to be brought back. The reserves used to be a sand pit where managers could try players in a different position, get injured players some sharpness or give out of form players a test. I'm sorry but none of these things can be done to any level when they are up against 13 and 14 year old laddies. 

Totally agree that there needs to be a place for the young lads to flourish but given the quality of youngsters we are seeing in Scotland as a whole, I'm not sure if this model delivers it for either user 

 

I don't think bringing the reserves back would lead to any difference tbh. The reason they were scrapped is that teams couldn't afford to have squads as big as they previously could do so the teams were naturally getting younger and the under 19 squad ended up representing the reserves anyway. I had a few mates who played for the Dundee sides at 14 and 15 and they were occasionally drafted into reserve squads in a similar fashion to these young boys have been.

Agree with your general point but we need more money to do it I think.