Youth setup

[andyst79]

Nice to see Saunders taking an active interest in the youth teams (see official site) . I know we didn't have a youth setup for a long time but with the Sheffield teams struggling think we could have a great opportunity to attract the countys top young prospects and would be great to see these progress to the first team and actually have a chance to progress under Saunders. His appointment was completely out off the blue a complete shock but everytime I hear an interview of his he just makes complete sense and really excites me ( not in a sexual way!) it's just really refreshing to hear after o'dreary

[donnybez]

Nice to see Saunders taking an active interest in the youth teams (see official site) . I know we didn't have a youth setup for a long time but with the Sheffield teams struggling think we could have a great opportunity to attract the countys top young prospects and would be great to see these progress to the first team and actually have a chance to progress under Saunders. His appointment was completely out off the blue a complete shock but everytime I hear an interview of his he just makes complete sense and really excites me ( not in a sexual way!) it's just really refreshing to hear after o'dreary

As a huge fan of youth set ups in football I feel we should be looking to emulate Crewe's model youth development however finding a way to keep hold of them. The day we build the youth set up will be the day we're truly sustainable.

I bet someone will advertise the Rovers Alliance within this thread

[coventryrover]

A proper youth set up to bring through local lads would be brilliant.

Its fantastic watching a local youngster come through and break into the first team.


Its a no brainer really, with money becoming tighter it should be spent on youth.

FIngers crossed in the near future we'll have a few quality youngsters playing in front of us

[donnybez]

I'm dreaming of the day I watch the Rovers and can say that 7 players in the first team are local lads or I watch England and see some Donny raised lads who left for big bucks are gracing another crap campaign (I cant be that optimistic no matter how hard I try)

[graingrover]

For anyone who has not yet come across the DRFC Centre of excellence on DROS ( search under YOUTH) I recommend it to you . Personally I was surprised at the number of teams and the extent of the programme . Excellent and very much understated !

[steve@dcfd]

We probably had the most players coming out of the youth set up in the 1980's with the Snodin's, Raven, Deane, Gaughan, Brevitt and Rankin all played for rovers and went on to play in higher leagues at the time.

[SkellowRover]

Sadly our CoE compared to 3 other local clubs (Blunts, Fowls & Weeds) is way behind in terms of facilities and coaches, and this is why so much local talent ends up going 'out of town'. I hope DS can sort this out and put an emphasis on our youth system, look at the blunts as an example as they have a top head youth coach (John Pemberton) with good staff working for him and their Academy/CoE has produced talent that has been sold for over £13m over the last few seasons (Walker, Naughton & Slew) and has also produced a couple of decent youngsters currently in their first team.

[donnybez]

I think it's more to do with young players not getting a chance or getting anywhere with us. Sheffield utd more likely to play em then us

[SkellowRover]

I think it's more to do with young players not getting a chance or getting anywhere with us. Sheffield utd more likely to play em then us

TBH the only youngster good enough to get anywhere near our first team recently was Fairhurst, and even he came through the Blunts academy. I believe we have the talent in Doncaster but they are cherry picked by other local clubs with a better set up.

[sedwardsdrfc]

i heard that SOD dident give a contract to bradley grayson who was supposed to be one of the best and had a right to feel unhappy also with no reserves means if they go pro but arnt ready 4 first team they just train no game time and people were saying on another post why had radford gon 2 matlock as he could hav done better but it is probably so he could keep training with rovers because they r only semi pro and if he went to conference he wouldent have as gud facilities or coaching

[Jamieatdrfc]

Some very interesting comments re: the youth structure.
Over the last 5 years the youth system has improved year on year.
The coaching staff has expanded as is the network structure.
All the fixtures, reports etc are to be found on the DRFC Youth website.
Uninformed fans may well be surprised at what they see
I'm sure many people will post on hearsay, no need, come & have a look for yourself.