Academy players who never quite made it

CambridgeRanger

CambridgeRanger

Active Member
Having been a teenager when we were climbing up the Leagues, and being put in a position where we had to promote Youth players such as Hegarty, Aird, McKay, who are some players we promoted from the academy, that in your opinion, never lived up to their potential?
 
A lot of our academy players haven’t actually been very good in professional terms, it’s another level from academy football and a lot of them are largely there to facilitate the top prospects like a John Fleck.

Ergo, they don’t actually have as much potential as is sometimes perceived.

Danny Wilson and Fleck have had good careers, but they should have achieved a lot more. Fleck‘s professional style is miles different from his academy style though, he’s had a good career.

It’s hard to say, we’ve had a lot of guys who’ve carved solid careers and guys who’ve ended up at lower levels such is the level of ability they had.

Jamie Ness would have done more if not for injury
 
Jim Prideaux said:
A lot of our academy players haven’t actually been very good in professional terms, it’s another level from academy football and a lot of them are largely there to facilitate the top prospects like a John Fleck.

Ergo, they don’t actually have as much potential as is sometimes perceived.

Danny Wilson and Fleck have had good careers, but they should have achieved a lot more. Fleck‘s professional style is miles different from his academy style though, he’s had a good career.

It’s hard to say, we’ve had a lot of guys who’ve carved solid careers and guys who’ve ended up at lower levels such is the level of ability they had.

Jamie Ness would have done more if not for injury
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Was just going to mention Jamie Ness.
 
Few names from the 90’s the spring to mind would be Michael Rae, Darren Fitzgerald, Brian McGinty, Chris Jardine, Ross Milligan, Lee Dair, Peter McDonald, Steven Boyack, Greig Shields, Jazz Juttla.

From the dark days, Tom Walsh, Billy King, Lewis McLeod. Pretty sure Nicky Clark was an academy player at one time.
 
bkerr72 said:
Josh McPake he looked a real talent alongside Patterson in that Atletico Madrid UEFA Youth League game but for whatever reason he didn't make it. Now at Stirling Albion which for the talent he had/has is bizarre.
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Patterson got a torrid time in that game. Nothing personal, given it was the boy Riquelme who is a star. But Patterson hardly impressed in that game.

I think Hardie didn’t get enough of a chance & he’s shown to have had a good career elsewhere. Kane Hemings was also a player we should’ve had come up the leagues with us, not a superstar but better than the likes of Kyle.
 
bkerr72 said:
Josh McPake he looked a real talent alongside Patterson in that Atletico Madrid UEFA Youth League game but for whatever reason he didn't make it. Now at Stirling Albion which for the talent he had/has is bizarre.
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Training with St Johnstone at the moment I’m sure.

Be interesting to see if he gets a deal there or elsewhere. Hasn’t came close to his potential so far.
 
Kinning Park Doonhamer said:
Few names from the 90’s the spring to mind would be Michael Rae, Darren Fitzgerald, Brian McGinty, Chris Jardine, Ross Milligan, Lee Dair, Peter McDonald, Steven Boyack, Greig Shields, Jazz Juttla.

From the dark days, Tom Walsh, Billy King, Lewis McLeod. Pretty sure Nicky Clark was an academy player at one time.
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Peaso got involved in an altercation in town when he was 16, ended up injuring himself and that scuppered his development.
 
SecondBestIsNothing said:
Kane Hemings was also a player we should’ve had come up the leagues with us, not a superstar but better than the likes of Kyle.
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Can never get my head round letting Hemmings go. I was young though so may have missed something!

Iirc he was injured for a good chunk of the 3rd division season but we ended up loaning him out to a higher division where he scored for fun. Then obviously left on a permanent deal to a better league and continued to score!
 
Davie Weir said:
Training with St Johnstone at the moment I’m sure.

Be interesting to see if he gets a deal there or elsewhere. Hasn’t came close to his potential so far.
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Yeah saw that story that he was training with them but playing with Stirling Albion. Can never really take the articles seriously on that football insider but they mentioned his attitude at Queens Park was an issue but who knows.
 
The team that had players like Paul Emslie, Steven Lennon, Andrew Shinnie and Alan Lowing, thought all of them were decent but none made it with us, but all have had decent careers in one way or another.
 
One that I always thought would make it was from the Blue Heaven programme days, John Johnston. Striker and broke all the records all the way through. We just kept buying foreigners and never giving him a pathway, think he ended up around the Juniors leagues.
 
I find this a difficult one cos I’ve no doubt some of the guys who come through absolutely ’could’ make it

But as a club/support we aren’t set up for it. We need/demand success immediately from everyone and youth players aren’t immune to that. It’s not an environment they can come into, get experience and settle in
 
If you take "made it" as exclusively being at us, Robbie McCrorie is 27 next year and appears to be good enough to be given multiple, lengthy contracts, yet not good enough to force his way into being number one. Difficult given his position, but seems like one who might fall just short of where we and he would like him to be.
 
Not my greatest post , I said that I thought Kyle Hutton would make a good central defender. He had the build and height. Was strong in the tackle and a good passer.

Not many agreed .
 
Jim Prideaux said:
A lot of our academy players haven’t actually been very good in professional terms, it’s another level from academy football and a lot of them are largely there to facilitate the top prospects like a John Fleck.

Ergo, they don’t actually have as much potential as is sometimes perceived.

Danny Wilson and Fleck have had good careers, but they should have achieved a lot more. Fleck‘s professional style is miles different from his academy style though, he’s had a good career.

It’s hard to say, we’ve had a lot of guys who’ve carved solid careers and guys who’ve ended up at lower levels such is the level of ability they had.

Jamie Ness would have done more if not for injury
Click to expand...
Worked with a boy who was at school with Ness and played football with him from kids level. He said he wasn’t great just gave it his all constantly.

Could be something in the whole attitude piece.
 
I always thought. Young Austrian we had called Alex Hauser would make it. Alex McLeish told me he was good but never developed beyond a a certain point. He was always quite small.

Anyway - went back to Austria and had a decent if varied career and has earned a living as a coach since retiring as a player.
 
Our academy has produced some great careers, almost none of them for any period of time with us, beyond the initial promise.

The few year span of:

Mo Ross
Stephen Hughes
McCormack
Burke
Hutton
Adam

And to a lesser extent:

Steven Smith
Alan Lowing
Bob Davidson
Graham Smith
Brian McLean

Overall the first team return on the academy investment over 20 years has been atrocious.
 
SecondBestIsNothing said:
Patterson got a torrid time in that game. Nothing personal, given it was the boy Riquelme who is a star. But Patterson hardly impressed in that game.

I think Hardie didn’t get enough of a chance & he’s shown to have had a good career elsewhere. Kane Hemings was also a player we should’ve had come up the leagues with us, not a superstar but better than the likes of Kyle.
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Hardie scores for fun and rarely injured..far better than donkey dessers
 
Ryan Hardie scored a lot for the youths, but never grasped the chance with us.

Decent career down in Plymouth, but had high hopes for him.

Robbie Crawford was always highest in terms of fitness and thought he might have had a chance also.
 
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