Ex Player Ex-Player Thread

Not according to this, and they have garbutt pretty much spot on


Trust me he is on a lot more than that now. I believe it was last season they upped his wage to be in line with other first team players when he was playing while Coleman was injured.
 
If we did, then that was excellent business.

Mind you, that article says 'A proven goalscorer with Oxford ...' so might be prone to exaggeration!
 
It does seem to be a frustrating theme over the past couple of decades - players come through the Oxford youth set-up, don't get much of a chance for the first team, move on and then end up playing at our level....or a higher level than us a couple of years later.

Obviously Sam Ricketts was the poster child for that.
But then there's James Clarke, Matty Taylor, Simon King, Dexter Blackstock (I know he was poached - but he didn't get a chance with the first team).....and now apparently we can add Robbie Cundy to the list (although obviously he's got to establish himself at the Championship level, and clearly has a great deal of work to do to achieve that).

Frankly it's probably a longer list than the list of youth team graduates that have made a big impact for the first team!

Hopefully KR will continue to give our yoof a chance, as he has been.
 
Signed for their U23 side and most likely to be on loan at Cheltenham next season.
 
It does seem to be a frustrating theme over the past couple of decades - players come through the Oxford youth set-up, don't get much of a chance for the first team, move on and then end up playing at our level....or a higher level than us a couple of years later.

Obviously Sam Ricketts was the poster child for that.
But then there's James Clarke, Matty Taylor, Simon King, Dexter Blackstock (I know he was poached - but he didn't get a chance with the first team).....and now apparently we can add Robbie Cundy to the list (although obviously he's got to establish himself at the Championship level, and clearly has a great deal of work to do to achieve that).

Frankly it's probably a longer list than the list of youth team graduates that have made a big impact for the first team!

Hopefully KR will continue to give our yoof a chance, as he has been.
Is it a common theme across the game though? We may, for example, have Kemar Roofe playing a division above a West Brom who didn't require him, next season. A lot of players seem to need to step down, before going back up again, something we have taken advantage of over the last few years. Too much pressure on managers to take a chance?

We do seem to have an exceptional crop coming through at the moment, hopefully KR will have the courage to use them in the coming season, and they repay the faith.
 
It does seem to be a frustrating theme over the past couple of decades - players come through the Oxford youth set-up, don't get much of a chance for the first team, move on and then end up playing at our level....or a higher level than us a couple of years later.

Obviously Sam Ricketts was the poster child for that.
But then there's James Clarke, Matty Taylor, Simon King, Dexter Blackstock (I know he was poached - but he didn't get a chance with the first team).....and now apparently we can add Robbie Cundy to the list (although obviously he's got to establish himself at the Championship level, and clearly has a great deal of work to do to achieve that).

Frankly it's probably a longer list than the list of youth team graduates that have made a big impact for the first team!

Hopefully KR will continue to give our yoof a chance, as he has been.

Whilst there might be exceptions, I think for the number of young players who've been released over the past decade or so, the club has a pretty good hit-rate. Also it's worth bearing in mind that some players develop later than others, and with budgets tight, clubs at our level can hardly afford to wait for a couple more years to see if the are able to play at the required level.
 
But I guess I'm looking at it like this - there's five players I named (Cundy would be a 6th if he makes it at Brizzle City) who have all been able to forge a career at League One level or above, none of whom made it as a regular starter in the OUFC first team.

In the same time frame - basically since we moved to the Kasstad - how many youth team players have actually made it to be regulars in the Oxford team?

Dean Whitehead, Chris Hackett & O'Dowda for sure (and Jamie Brooks obviously would have done). Ruffels (although he wasn't entirely an Oxford youth product, Coventry did the early work), Sam Long now. Sam Deering, I guess.....although he never made it to League One level.

It's about the same number.

So while it's great that our youth system is good enough to churn out some excellent professional footballers - it's a shame that we haven't seen more of them play well in yellow. Apart from anything else, it would've saved us/made us some money if they had!

Now Atkins & Wilder were probably the biggest culprits in this regard...……...thankfully it looks as if KR is more willing to give them a shot.
 
But I guess I'm looking at it like this - there's five players I named (Cundy would be a 6th if he makes it at Brizzle City) who have all been able to forge a career at League One level or above, none of whom made it as a regular starter in the OUFC first team.

In the same time frame - basically since we moved to the Kasstad - how many youth team players have actually made it to be regulars in the Oxford team?

Dean Whitehead, Chris Hackett & O'Dowda for sure (and Jamie Brooks obviously would have done). Ruffels (although he wasn't entirely an Oxford youth product, Coventry did the early work), Sam Long now. Sam Deering, I guess.....although he never made it to League One level.

It's about the same number.

So while it's great that our youth system is good enough to churn out some excellent professional footballers - it's a shame that we haven't seen more of them play well in yellow. Apart from anything else, it would've saved us/made us some money if they had!

Now Atkins & Wilder were probably the biggest culprits in this regard...……...thankfully it looks as if KR is more willing to give them a shot.
during his tenure of taking us on a (downward) journey, wasnt it our current slum landlord who in effect 'shut down' the youth system that we had?

IL during his tenure started to lay the groundwork for rebuilding it....and reintroduced/ revamped oufc womens football at a reasonable level

having watched u23s and u18s quite a few times this past season, Id say we have some serious potential and promise for the future... esp with KR happy to give promising youngsters a go in the first team, and long may it continue too
 
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