The Myth of our youth policy

[SoccerHQ]

Yes I agree. He was ripping up that league with Coventry not so long ago let's not forget.

[charlie659]

Yes I agree. He was ripping up that league with Coventry not so long ago let's not forget.

Are you sure about that?

[SoccerHQ]

Errr yes he did so well there we recalled him early I remember.

[SoccerHQ]

Coventry City (loan)[edit]

On 24 November 2011, Gardner joined Coventry City on an initial one-month loan deal.[11] Two days later, he scored just 9 minutes into his début for the club in a 2–1 defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion.[12] After making just four appearances for the Sky Blues in the Championship, Gardner was recalled from his loan spell by his parent club on 21 December.[13]

O.k maybe not! It was probably the scoring early on his debut that lead me to believe it.

[charlie659]

Coventry City (loan)[edit]

On 24 November 2011, Gardner joined Coventry City on an initial one-month loan deal.[11] Two days later, he scored just 9 minutes into his début for the club in a 2–1 defeat against Brighton & Hove Albion.[12] After making just four appearances for the Sky Blues in the Championship, Gardner was recalled from his loan spell by his parent club on 21 December.[13]

O.k maybe not! It was probably the scoring early on his debut that lead me to believe it.

I have friends who follow Cov, I think his
brief stay was unremarkable.

[dcdavecollett]

I seem to remember Cov wanting to keep him and being disappointed when we recalled him.

[SoccerHQ]

They did go down that season so it wasn't like their team was packed with much quality.

[KevinGage]

My recollection of that is that there manager at the time (an ex Palarse and Wimbledon player whose name escapes me) wanted to keep him on a permanent deal, but knew this would be unlikely.    So he must have made some kind of impression.

He was recalled soon after we got an injury to Jermaine Genius, rather than because he wasn't doing too well at Cov.

[pauliewalnuts]

Obviously, our academy isn't too shit:



Average number of Academy players starting this season.

[cheltenhamlion]

The manager in question was Andy Thorn. It is Catch 22 with Gardner. You want him to play regularly to get fit but he is also out of contract in the summer so Lambert might want evidence of what he can do in the first team before deciding on whether to offer new terms.

[Dante Lavelli]

The manager in question was Andy Thorn. It is Catch 22 with Gardner. You want him to play regularly to get fit but he is also out of contract in the summer so Lambert might want evidence of what he can do in the first team before deciding on whether to offer new terms.

Agree, we should be doing either/or, at the moment we appear to be doing nothing.  Is he still injured?

[cheltenhamlion]

He was on the bench at the weekend I think.

[Dante Lavelli]

Obviously, our academy isn't too shit:



Average number of Academy players starting this season.

Interesting that.  Noticable that Barcelona and Bayern Munich both appear high up in their respective countries too.
It'll be where Man City and Chelsea eventually come un-stuck as at some point the owners will get bored.

[paul_e]

That chart is absolutely key to why Barcelona have the success they do, they have a remarkable academy and having a b team in a competitive league means they don't really have to loan many people out so the vast majority of their squad have played 'the Barcelona way' since they were about 10 and all the kids model themselves on the first team players.  It's Cryuff's lasting legacy for the football world and a truly brilliant vision on how to build a club.  If we can get close to that not only would we benefit immensely but we'd also provide a fantastic platform for the home nations to become competitive at international level.

This is why I've said repeatedly that all the money from Lerner should have been focused on building exactly that, rather than buying people like Heskey and Dunne to just bleed us dry.

[SoccerHQ]

The injury right at the start of last season robbed him of any chance of impressing Lambert. He would've certainly play a decent number of games given everyone else in midfield did.

I'd give him a 1 year deal as he's lost 2 years of his career to bad injuries really.