by Jeff » 20 Aug 2012, 17:42
Don't think this is such a bad move. Every year somebody manages to uncover a gem from nowhere, why not us. Probably for every one Charlie Austin there are 20 duds, but if you don't look you'll never find. Didn't someone on another thread point out that Baker was a local lad who had been on the books at Bournemouth? So its not like he's been plucked straight out of the local 7's league.
I remember a few years ago we trialled a guy called Marc Berry, who had scored some obscene amount of goals for Ivybridge. He played in a friendly against Newton Abbott, where we also trialled an ex Eire U-21 international called Patrick Flynn who came from Wolves. To be fair, Berry didn't look good enough for L2 and we didn't sign him, but I thought he was Flynn - so I managed to confuse what was essentially a Sunday league player with a Premier League academy graduate and junior international. (as it transpired we signed Flynn, who played one game away at Grimsby. He was utter tosh, and was never seen again. We'd have been better off with the Sunday League player!)
Its worth looking at these sorts of players with a view to keeping them on a development contract. If you uncover that one gem like a Charlie Austin, it can be an absolute goldmine
Don't think this is such a bad move. Every year somebody manages to uncover a gem from nowhere, why not us. Probably for every one Charlie Austin there are 20 duds, but if you don't look you'll never find. Didn't someone on another thread point out that Baker was a local lad who had been on the books at Bournemouth? So its not like he's been plucked straight out of the local 7's league.
I remember a few years ago we trialled a guy called Marc Berry, who had scored some obscene amount of goals for Ivybridge. He played in a friendly against Newton Abbott, where we also trialled an ex Eire U-21 international called Patrick Flynn who came from Wolves. To be fair, Berry didn't look good enough for L2 and we didn't sign him, but I thought he was Flynn - so I managed to confuse what was essentially a Sunday league player with a Premier League academy graduate and junior international. (as it transpired we signed Flynn, who played one game away at Grimsby. He was utter tosh, and was never seen again. We'd have been better off with the Sunday League player!)
Its worth looking at these sorts of players with a view to keeping them on a development contract. If you uncover that one gem like a Charlie Austin, it can be an absolute goldmine
