Darlo Uncovered

I did think that Wearmouth may be knocking on the first 11, seems not.

Perhaps needs to build up some match sharpness after a year out injured. We have plenty of other options anyway so makes sense.

Not surprised about Jameson, as long as we can recall him at short notice. I thought Wearmouth was doing well in pre-season and I'd certainly have expected him to make the first team squad, if not the starting 11.

Maybe Jameson will go back to South Shields, who have been using triallist keepers recently. Incidentally, Shields also have Lua Lua training with them.
Maybe we'll also have a signing announcement this week.

Darlo_Pete wrote:Not surprised about Jameson, as long as we can recall him at short notice. I thought Wearmouth was doing well in pre-season and I'd certainly have expected him to make the first team squad, if not the starting 11.

Exact opposite opinion of Wearmouth.He has struggled to make any kind of impression in my opinion,which is probably understandable given the lad has had nearly a year out.
Hopefully he gets a loan club at a better level than the pitchfork and comes back fitter and sharper.

Does this mean Ed is back with us? Heard he had been training in Germany with Red Bull over the summer keeping fit.

Radar wrote:Does this mean Ed is back with us? Heard he had been training in Germany with Red Bull over the summer keeping fit.

Seriously doubt it.Probably the lad from the reserves,if we bother at all with a bench keeper.

Emdubya wrote:

Radar wrote:Does this mean Ed is back with us? Heard he had been training in Germany with Red Bull over the summer keeping fit.

Seriously doubt it.Probably the lad from the reserves,if we bother at all with a bench keeper.

Think it will be Bell or no sub keeper. Ed left looking for first team football and Jack Mclaren the lad from the reserves has been release there was a thread on non league zone, his dad was searching for a new club for him.

Makes sense from MG to get these 2 lads off the payroll and get match practice particularly in the case of Arran.Needs to show the form he showed against us for Blyth when he looked very sharp up at their place against Terry Galbraith.Will be very surprised if MG does not bring at least one new signing to the club in the next 48 hours now he has freed up some budget money.

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QUAKERMAN2 wrote:Makes sense from MG to get these 2 lads off the payroll and get match practice particularly in the case of Arran.Needs to show the form he showed against us for Blyth when he looked very sharp up at their place against Terry Galbraith.Will be very surprised if MG does not bring at least one new signing to the club in the next 48 hours now he has freed up some budget money.

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Just an observation but when have we ever put a player out on loan and he has come back to become a regular first team squad player. There maybe one but I cannot remember. Also can anyone please tell me what is the point of our Reserve team? I accept there is a difference in standard between the First team and the Reserve league but if we are trying (in Wearmoth's case) to build up match fitness, they could do that within the club and still be part of the First Team squad. Maybe it is all about freeing money at the end of the day so a loan to another club is the only answer. But my question about the Reserves remains.

JE93 wrote:

Emdubya wrote:

Radar wrote:Does this mean Ed is back with us? Heard he had been training in Germany with Red Bull over the summer keeping fit.

Seriously doubt it.Probably the lad from the reserves,if we bother at all with a bench keeper.

Think it will be Bell or no sub keeper. Ed left looking for first team football and Jack Mclaren the lad from the reserves has been release there was a thread on non league zone, his dad was searching for a new club for him.

I'm sure someone posted on here back end of last season that McLaren was expected to be the next big thing!

We don't really do youth though do we. Which is quite ironic.

HarryCharltonsCat wrote:We don't really do youth though do we. Which is quite ironic.

Indeed.

If only we had some kind of second team in which to give these promising young players some experience of competitive football.

Does anyone have any idea how much our reserve team costs us to run?

HarryCharltonsCat wrote:We don't really do youth though do we. Which is quite ironic.

Are you expecting much from a youth infrastructure that's been in place for just 5 years?

Spyman wrote:

HarryCharltonsCat wrote:We don't really do youth though do we. Which is quite ironic.

Indeed.

If only we had some kind of second team in which to give these promising young players some experience of competitive football.

Does anyone have any idea how much our reserve team costs us to run?

We do give youth players a chance in the reserve set-up.

Spyman wrote:

HarryCharltonsCat wrote:We don't really do youth though do we. Which is quite ironic.

Indeed.

If only we had some kind of second team in which to give these promising young players some experience of competitive football.

Does anyone have any idea how much our reserve team costs us to run?

No idea at all Spyman,but let's do away with it anyway just in case it does cost something to run.
Money obsessed.

Emdubya wrote:

Spyman wrote:

HarryCharltonsCat wrote:We don't really do youth though do we. Which is quite ironic.

Indeed.

If only we had some kind of second team in which to give these promising young players some experience of competitive football.

Does anyone have any idea how much our reserve team costs us to run?

No idea at all Spyman,but let's do away with it anyway just in case it does cost something to run.
Money obsessed.

We have to be, don't we?

We have to make every penny count and prioritise spending. A reserve team that isn't benefitting the first team or the balance sheet is surely a luxury.

Everyone wants this club to progress, and that can only happen if we can afford to progress - which at the moment we can't.

Spyman wrote:

Emdubya wrote:

Spyman wrote:

HarryCharltonsCat wrote:We don't really do youth though do we. Which is quite ironic.

Indeed.

If only we had some kind of second team in which to give these promising young players some experience of competitive football.

Does anyone have any idea how much our reserve team costs us to run?

No idea at all Spyman,but let's do away with it anyway just in case it does cost something to run.
Money obsessed.

We have to be, don't we?

We have to make every penny count and prioritise spending. A reserve team that isn't benefitting the first team or the balance sheet is surely a luxury.

Everyone wants this club to progress, and that can only happen if we can afford to progress - which at the moment we can't.

We've had a proper reserve team for one season.What the hell do you expect,a queue of starlets knocking on the door ready for the first team?.Get your head out of your purse and try to see the bigger picture.
Bye the way,I seriously doubt any of the reserves are on anything more than expenses,if that.

Emdubya wrote:

Spyman wrote:

Emdubya wrote:

Spyman wrote:

HarryCharltonsCat wrote:We don't really do youth though do we. Which is quite ironic.

Indeed.

If only we had some kind of second team in which to give these promising young players some experience of competitive football.

Does anyone have any idea how much our reserve team costs us to run?

No idea at all Spyman,but let's do away with it anyway just in case it does cost something to run.
Money obsessed.

We have to be, don't we?

We have to make every penny count and prioritise spending. A reserve team that isn't benefitting the first team or the balance sheet is surely a luxury.

Everyone wants this club to progress, and that can only happen if we can afford to progress - which at the moment we can't.

We've had a proper reserve team for one season.What the hell do you expect,a queue of starlets knocking on the door ready for the first team?.Get your head out of your purse and try to see the bigger picture.
Bye the way,I seriously doubt any of the reserves are on anything more than expenses,if that.

No of course not. But we're sending people out on loan (because as much as anything, it makes financial sense to get the likes of Wearmouth and Jameson off the wage bill while they're not playing) and releasing young players - I don't really understand the purpose of our reserve team, that's all. I've never really seen it explained.

What is the bigger picture that I'm missing?

If you need that explaining you need to find a different interest.
Try bringing young players on.The kind of youngsters that came on second half against Newcastle and weren't outclassed.But you probably didn't see that game.

Emdubya wrote:If you need that explaining you need to find a different interest.
Try bringing young players on.The kind of youngsters that came on second half against Newcastle and weren't outclassed.But you probably didn't see that game.

No I didn't see that game. I live in London and it's not easy to travel up on a Monday night after work.

But we've just covered the fact that we can't expect it to bring youngsters on - and when I asked that question last season I was told (I don't think by you), that the youngsters weren't ready for the reserve team let alone the first team.

McLaren was supposedly one of the shining lights among our young players and we've just released him. Was he playing for the reserves last season (genuine question that I don't know the answer to)?

Spyman wrote:

Emdubya wrote:If you need that explaining you need to find a different interest.
Try bringing young players on.The kind of youngsters that came on second half against Newcastle and weren't outclassed.But you probably didn't see that game.

No I didn't see that game. I live in London and it's not easy to travel up on a Monday night after work.

But we've just covered the fact that we can't expect it to bring youngsters on - and when I asked that question last season I was told (I don't think by you), that the youngsters weren't ready for the reserve team let alone the first team.

McLaren was supposedly one of the shining lights among our young players and we've just released him. Was he playing for the reserves last season (genuine question that I don't know the answer to)?

Was on loan at Billingham Synthonia. Think for the full season.

Emdubya wrote:

Spyman wrote:

Emdubya wrote:

Spyman wrote:

HarryCharltonsCat wrote:We don't really do youth though do we. Which is quite ironic.

Indeed.

If only we had some kind of second team in which to give these promising young players some experience of competitive football.

Does anyone have any idea how much our reserve team costs us to run?

No idea at all Spyman,but let's do away with it anyway just in case it does cost something to run.
Money obsessed.

We have to be, don't we?

We have to make every penny count and prioritise spending. A reserve team that isn't benefitting the first team or the balance sheet is surely a luxury.

Everyone wants this club to progress, and that can only happen if we can afford to progress - which at the moment we can't.

We've had a proper reserve team for one season.What the hell do you expect,a queue of starlets knocking on the door ready for the first team?.Get your head out of your purse and try to see the bigger picture.
Bye the way,I seriously doubt any of the reserves are on anything more than expenses,if that.

That is my issue (or my lack of understanding?) what is the bigger picture please? All I would like to know is when do the club think the Reserves could potentially provide players to the First Team/be competitive enough for First Team players recovering from injury to get back to fitness? There must be a plan when we took the Reserves on 3 years 5 years what is it? I don't think this has ever been explained other than that MG wanted a Reserve Team.

Darlofan97 wrote:

HarryCharltonsCat wrote:We don't really do youth though do we. Which is quite ironic.

Are you expecting much from a youth infrastructure that's been in place for just 5 years?

Playing Devil's Advocate how long should it be then? If a youngster joined us 5 years ago as say a 16 year old, he would be 21 now so plenty of time to develop into a potential First Teamer? We are still waiting for the first Youth Team player to become a regular First Teamer I really hope the breakthrough comes soon!

Spyman wrote:

Emdubya wrote:

Spyman wrote:

HarryCharltonsCat wrote:We don't really do youth though do we. Which is quite ironic.

Indeed.

If only we had some kind of second team in which to give these promising young players some experience of competitive football.

Does anyone have any idea how much our reserve team costs us to run?

No idea at all Spyman,but let's do away with it anyway just in case it does cost something to run.
Money obsessed.

We have to be, don't we?

We have to make every penny count and prioritise spending. A reserve team that isn't benefitting the first team or the balance sheet is surely a luxury.

Everyone wants this club to progress, and that can only happen if we can afford to progress - which at the moment we can't.

Playing squad expenditure this week, reserve side the next.

We know that we need to raise funds for a new stand. The Board knows, the Supporters Group knows, the management team & players know, as do the fans.

Your constant reminders that we cannot currently progress is tedious and boring. Unless you were expecting c£130k worth of construction to be raised and completed by now.

And yes, I know that we need to raise c£80k to progress, but I also respect the fact that we have 5 months to raise these funds, and a further 3 to complete this work.

Your constant scrutinising of areas is boring.

Spyman wrote: No of course not. But we're sending people out on loan (because as much as anything, it makes financial sense to get the likes of Wearmouth and Jameson off the wage bill while they're not playing) and releasing young players - I don't really understand the purpose of our reserve team, that's all. I've never really seen it explained.

What is the bigger picture that I'm missing?

http://darlingtonfootballclub.co.uk/qua ... erve-team/

"First team manager Martin Gray said; “This is the final piece of the jigsaw, something we’ve been intending to put into place over the last year or two. The aim is to use this as mainly an Under 23 team, giving an opportunity for Under 18 players to continue their development."

The reserve team also forms a basis for players returning from injury / suspension to gain match fitness at a competitive standard when the first-team aren't playing, as we have recently seen with Portas & Wearmouth.

We have also seen un-used first-team players feature in reserve fixtures this pre-season too.

We also used the reserves for the first-team to keep fit / get minutes over winter last year.

bga wrote:

Darlofan97 wrote:

HarryCharltonsCat wrote:We don't really do youth though do we. Which is quite ironic.

Are you expecting much from a youth infrastructure that's been in place for just 5 years?

Playing Devil's Advocate how long should it be then? If a youngster joined us 5 years ago as say a 16 year old, he would be 21 now so plenty of time to develop into a potential First Teamer? We are still waiting for the first Youth Team player to become a regular First Teamer I really hope the breakthrough comes soon!

You have to be realistic.

We don't have a professional set-up anymore. We don't have anywhere near the levels of funding we had when we were a FL club.

Newcastle, Boro, Sunderland, Hartlepool, Gateshead etc, are all a much more attractive proposition for young players in the region.

The youth set-up was re-built from ashes around 5 years ago. The reserve side has been in operation for less than a year. We are starting to see some promise from young players (Milburn, Hume, Walton etc). But this will take time to develop.

Hummm I am not sure I get it either to be honest really. If players need to finish off their development I don't really see what is wrong with loaning them out. I don't really see evidence that we will ever have more than 3 or 4 players in this 'final stages of development' point.

Always felt that the Darlo reserve team was just and additional intertwined extension of the Martin Gray Football Academy. If Martin Gray left tomorrow is all that structure of the youth set up owned by DFC?

As far as I am aware, the youth sides / reserve side are Darlington Football Club.

We benefit from players from the MGFA playing for these sides (I think this is more for the 16-18 year olds due to the College course).

Darlofan97 wrote:

Spyman wrote: No of course not. But we're sending people out on loan (because as much as anything, it makes financial sense to get the likes of Wearmouth and Jameson off the wage bill while they're not playing) and releasing young players - I don't really understand the purpose of our reserve team, that's all. I've never really seen it explained.

What is the bigger picture that I'm missing?

http://darlingtonfootballclub.co.uk/qua ... erve-team/

"First team manager Martin Gray said; “This is the final piece of the jigsaw, something we’ve been intending to put into place over the last year or two. The aim is to use this as mainly an Under 23 team, giving an opportunity for Under 18 players to continue their development."

The reserve team also forms a basis for players returning from injury / suspension to gain match fitness at a competitive standard when the first-team aren't playing, as we have recently seen with Portas & Wearmouth.

We have also seen un-used first-team players feature in reserve fixtures this pre-season too.

We also used the reserves for the first-team to keep fit / get minutes over winter last year.

Thanks for this additional information. Despite MG's comments above, I am still not convinced that the Reserves can currently provide a stepping stone to First Team football either now, or in the near future. I say this on the basis that we have discussed on here before how high up the Leagues a Reserve team can (be allowed to) progress, is Northern League the "ceiling", if so how many years might it take to get there?
Also I accept some first Teamers have played for the Reserves, but I think it was just one game last season, and as you say maybe 2 pre-season games this year for a couple of players. Not much really. Anyway thanks for filling in some of my knowledge gaps!