B Team Thread 22/23 Season

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Notice Khumbeni captaining the side. He's been on the bench the last couple of games - I assume he won't be tonight then. Kachunga likely straight back and onto the bench - unless it's a surprise return for Thomason...

Geth once played for the Bs in the afternoon then for the firsts that evening, but yeah - you'd imagine Kacha would replace Khumbeni in the 18.

[Mar]

Notice Khumbeni captaining the side. He's been on the bench the last couple of games - I assume he won't be tonight then. Kachunga likely straight back and onto the bench - unless it's a surprise return for Thomason...

Geth once played for the Bs in the afternoon then for the firsts that evening, but yeah - you'd imagine Kacha would replace Khumbeni in the 18.

I suspect Thomason's placed Khumbeni today. As for Geth playing in the B's, wasn't that only half a game though?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Notice Khumbeni captaining the side. He's been on the bench the last couple of games - I assume he won't be tonight then. Kachunga likely straight back and onto the bench - unless it's a surprise return for Thomason...

Geth once played for the Bs in the afternoon then for the firsts that evening, but yeah - you'd imagine Kacha would replace Khumbeni in the 18.

I suspect Thomason's placed Khumbeni today. As for Geth playing in the B's, wasn't that only half a game though?

Yep x2

[GhostoftheBok]

It's interesting that Khumbeni is consistently the guy chosen to make the bench, as well as him being picked out as a leadership figure in the Bs. He looked like one of the most likely to be able to play league football when we signed him. Has anyone seen much of him? Is he improving?

[TANGODANCER]

Stockport County banged three past a B Team with eight first teamers in. Are we hiding our light under a bushell, or siimply not so hot?

[truewhite15]

Stockport County banged three past a B Team with eight first teamers in. Are we hiding our light under a bushell, or siimply not so hot?

I think you might have read wrong, Tango. It was the Stockport side who had eight first teamers on the pitch; we had our usual assortment of kids, cast-offs, cast-off kids, and Andy Tutte.

[TANGODANCER]

Stockport County banged three past a B Team with eight first teamers in. Are we hiding our light under a bushell, or siimply not so hot?

I think you might have read wrong, Tango. It was the Stockport side who had eight first teamers on the pitch; we had our usual assortment of kids, cast-offs, cast-off kids, and Andy Tutte.

Ah, then I did read it wrong. Sorry about that truewhite,...and a bit relieved..

[brommers95]

A nice bit of news away from injuries and court cases, some of the academy lads have signed pro deals.

- 18 year old CB Noah Halford has signed a one year deal (option for extra year)
- 18 year old CM Sonny Sharples has signed a one year deal (option for extra year)
- RB Wes Frimpong will move up to the B Team squad next season after activating a clause in his scholarship agreement to receive a first-year professional contract
- 17 year old LB/LWB Sam Inwood has signed a 3 year deal

[jmjhb]

Get Halford in the squad now!

[The_Gun]

I see our B team drew their final fixture of the season 0-0 away at Wrexham, ensuring they finish bottom of the Central league. Of course league position and results are not at all important in this context, but how do we feel this new set-up has gone so far?

With the relatively limited information available, it seems to me as though we haven't unearthed anyone who's remotely close to being good enough for our first team, which whilst not that surprising, is a tad disappointing. Hard to say whether the opportunity this format has given to our younger players to play vs older blokes on a semi-regular basis has been beneficial.

I would also say that the club do a pretty poor job of providing updates on our academy, and for someone with no close ties to the inside of the club, it's very difficult to tell what's going on from a youth development perspective, and whether we actually have any decent prospects coming through.

For me I'd say this whole area has been one of the only weak points since FV took over, and is something I'd like to see addressed over coming seasons. I'd be interested to get other peoples takes on this, especially those who might have more of an insight into what's going on locally.

[LeverEnd]

It does seem something of a waste of time from a distance. I'm not sure what they expect from it. Are any of the non league loans looking promising?

[officer_dibble]

Adam Senior is the one you see with the most positive feedback I think. Hope he gets a move somewhere he will play.

Who knows with the B team - you won’t unearth many but there is surely talent to be had with people released from other local academies? Can’t just dismiss it on the basis nobody has stepped up this season?

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Youth funnels are always hit and miss. Especially when starting again fdrom nearly being scratched out of existence. That doesn't just affect one year: it affects a production line, a decade or longer.

There is gold to be found. A fruitless panning session shouldn't mean we give up. And as you say, Dibs, we'll be looking at those released from bigger academies.

[BWFC_Insane]

I don't think the model is right. We're signing people at a late stage sticking them in the B team and hoping they come good. We should absolutely be looking for academy fallouts who can make it but I don't think this will help them. Sign those lads and get them loaned out somewhere or if they are good enough get them round the first team. What we then need is a development pipeline where we are signing kids earlier - either very young or as they are shifted out the bigger club academy system and we develop them in house.

OR we simply say we won't bother with youth development at all as its not cost effective and instead simply funnel that money into signing promise and getting them out for loan experience.

When we've been absolutely desperate its obvious we wouldn't look to anyone in the B team which for me makes a mockery of it. If it was an academy fine. If it was an U23's fine. But a B team where we've recruited a team for yet even with an injury crisis we're not even looking at screams to me that we've wasted a lot of money!

[sonicthewhite]

What did you expect after one season and starting from scratch? The next Messi? This will take time and a few years to settle down before we start seeing dividends. And I don't believe for one minute that we aren't after signing younger players and those released from bigger clubs and academies, as again, it will take time.

I seem to recall we signed the equivalent of an entire first team in virtually less than a week. Should we not have bothered because half of them were crap and not good enough for what we wanted?

[officer_dibble]

Surely we can’t just sign people with little to no experience then expect them to be attractive to others on loan? The B team gives them some football at least?

[boltonboris]

It’s brand new and they’ve had to throw enough players together to play matches. These things can take a bit of time.

Start judging the standard in 2-3 years and see what comes through

[Mar]

It’s brand new and they’ve had to throw enough players together to play matches. These things can take a bit of time.

Start judging the standard in 2-3 years and see what comes through

Exactly this. We need to make ourselves a desirable place to come. Any kid decent at football would've looked at our academy and thought nope as we hadn't got any point of reference for a passage to first team or success. In a few years well have a better idea as we show a decent pathway to success. We'll have a good showcase with our loanees.


All those signings at the start were a good starting point. It may be a case that the January transfers weren't as good as last season as we were focusing on signing youth players for an academy growth push.

[LeverEnd]

This seems reasonable. If this year was about getting bodies in to start it off. It does seem like there is no-one who has got anywhere near first team standard in year 1 though, and that's at a level we're looking to progress upwards from.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Not sure if we need a new thread or just rename this one...

All five goals from the Bs on Saturday. Some nice things to see here, including playing patient passing football on what appears to be a wildflower meadow.