ASB Prem players capable of playing A-League

I know he's had a crook left knee for the past nearly year, he maybe getting that tidied up?

Cut the personal abuse JV, you were the one who, groan, jumped in with the "Spanish" dig. It was a perfectly valid question.

I keep warning him about the cheap gin at midnight.

You lot invite the abuse.

take it as a compliment vader that you can upset someone so much they would take the time to turn up here just to have fisticuffs with you

i've always rated adam cowan.  i think if he had have been taken in by a pro club in his late teens / early 20s, he would have made a good a-league right back or midfield holder.

It occurs to me that 'Deva' may possibly be related in some way to aforemention D Browne and thus reacted as he did. But I may be wrong.

but even then, vader was saying nice things about browne

deva, time to out yourself

I have  watched a lot of Canterbury over the years and attend all home games. Player who has stood out this season for me (other than Aaron Clapham) is Cory Mitchell. He is only 19 but has mature head and one I believe who can go a long way. Solid and skilful, he has been a starter in all games so far this season ...

i guess that roy krishna is not too far off proving that he is good enough for the a-league

roy krishna looked very sharp at phoenix training today and knocked in a  few goals in a practice match.  he looked well and truly the part

I endorse your enthusiam - sadly far to many others don't share your welcoming approach (in my experience).

Putting a posititive spin on it - how can ACFC and Waitakere gain more support (obviously the latter needs it more than the former).

Ideas?

chopah, off subject sorry, but there's no PM system here, i have a favor to ask of you - any chance you could email me?

regan at 24media.co.nz

you guys need an a-league team (not run by central united...) to remove your local rivalries

i'm only half joking.  the phoenix changed things here in wellington culturally.  everyone drank together before a game and everyone was hoping that the best local players would get a contract.

before that, we all hated each other, especially miramar

I reckon is a very good reason for any talk of an Auckland A League franchise to be quite separate from Central/ACFC/any other established club. Don't give people a reason for hating the team right off the bat. Like it or not, Australia and NZ are the same sports market just like they are for business and commerce. I don't know why people might think a pro national league can work here, we simply don't have the ability or resources to have one. In fact, why have one when we can play in a vastly superior league in Australia?

wouldn't sell it - don't think I ever said sell it.. maybe return it...

And the numbers for ACFC speak for themselves last season too.

Auckland City easily won the Youth League with the recruitment process they went through last year.

The Club had open trails last season they just chose different options than you maybe think they could of to make potential players aware of them.

Maybe they only wanted players of the standard that had already been identified by NZU20s or maybe the Coach last season sought advice about potential players from Chris Milicich.

So this year more Ellerslie players trailed but only 2 made it so either way the numbers maybe say more about the Standard of Ellerslie's players than the percieved flaws in ACFC's recruitment process.

Just a question for you though, Last winter Season Central Utd played Ellerslie 1st team 3 times, Reserves twice, and U19s twice so do you not think its safe to assume that the ACFC Youth Coach (Who also coaches 1st Team and 19s at Central Utd) would of had enough chance to identify any players he would be interested in for NYL?

Central Utd U19s easily won the U19 Winter Comp in Auckland last season.

With Onehunga Sports and Three Kings Utd 2nd and 3rd respectively. 

And Three Kings Utd won the ACFC U17 Tournament as well as the Metro U17 Comp

Its surely no coincedence that players from these 3 clubs take up 22 of the 30 places in the ACFC Youth squad.

I understand that you want the opportunity for as many of your players as possible to have an a chance to play NYL (Which is probably more just as much a benefit to Ellerslie than ACFC if they do make the squad)

it is only my opinion so yeah your right others may disagree - and your right they went out and won the league and were comfortably better than any other team.

Just to clarify I never said Ellerslie deserved to have players there by right - and I never insisted that Ellerslie players should def be in the team - I simply wanted some of the guys who I felt were deserving of a trial to be looked at, if no-one had made the team I would have been satisfied with that (I'm not on here saying that Chris doesn't know what he is doing - i think he is a fine judge of talent and I am happy to go with what he has selected).

Again i'm fine if ACFC wanted to go fishing in the U20's pond last year - like you said seemed to work for them.

There are parts of your statement that are not quite right - Open trials - no sorry, they were by invite only trials last season - again it's ACFC's prerogative on how they do this but let's keep facts as facts and fiction as fiction.

I did say I thought the way they went about it this year was much better and a more inclusive way to do it - one point of view might be that since they were so good last year why change this year??? someone obviously thought this way was better??

Last Winter we did play Central's first team 3 times - their reserves twice and their U19's teams more than twice each, as a counter argument here is it wise to so closely mention ACFC and Central in the same sentence, if I had written that i would (and have previously) been told in no uncertain terms they are totally 100% separate.  anyway to answer the question yeah I guess so but going forward what if he isn't the same coach, should the process change?  Isn't Chris stepping down at the end of this summer season anyway from some of those roles?

ah - not sure where the U17's and U19's really comes into it too much, but for the sake of accuracy you forgot Three Kings winning the Napier U19's Tournament.  Anyway off the top of my head none of the guys we nominated for ACFC played in either of those teams this season - they were all First Team/Reserves players (we have quite a young first team/reserves setup).

For interests of accuracy Ellerslie finished 2nd in the Metro 17's

Ellerslie finished 6th of 7 in the top of the U19's Conference league - Three Kings finished 5th - Western Springs 3rd.  in the grading round Ellerslie actually finished 3rd behind Oratia and Onehunga Sports with Central and Three Kings 4th and 5th.

anyway like I said it's only my opinion and it's a little odd that we are having this discussion based on me saying I thought ACFC had done a good job this year...  however you raised some good points and it was good discussing this issue with you.

I thought the conversation was why he does not buy into supporting ACFC which was lack of his clubs players. It was not a 'they should be picked' statement more a 'none of my guys are really involved'

yeah, congrats to auckland for all of their success and it is their perogative hoow they go about their business.

what is being suggested is that if they want to properly engage with the community, they would be more pro-active with the local clubs and that includes invitations to youth trials presumably amongst other things

i've got to say that no system is perfect.  i'm no expert on the exact dynamics of the miramar/phoenix/team wellington/capital football situation, but to me it seems like a mess with various bodies dictating what is best for the local region

in auckland we have 2 franchises running the show

i would suggest that any problems come from the confusion created at the top in the office of the NZF competitions manager

a few years ago their was a massive review of our regions and structures which resulted in the definition of our federations.  i wonder if what is happening now, was meant to happen

in germany clubs operate as community centres of sorts.  they are self funded and self governed (within FA regs of course), but their goals create a positive impact on the whole of german football in terms of player development and the whole of german society in terms of person development.  i don't know if we can achive this here, but the point is that they have decided that this is the best option for them and they have set things up to run this way. 

in new zealand we seem to have a mish mash with varying degrees of federation involvement driving inconsistencies which to me means a lack of a clear plan

apologies for the waffling rant

From AFF Website

Looks like Fact not Fiction to me??

ACFC Youth League trial

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

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With the dawn of the new season looming for the navy blues, Auckland City's youth team coach, Aaron McFarland, continues the search for the club's next generation of talent.

McFarland has stepped into the Auckland City youth team coaching role and, alongside three former All Whites, Chris Zoricich, Michael Ridenton and James Bannatyne, has set a date for the team's first open trial.

"The club is committed to developing a style of football capable of achieving success at international and domestic level.

"The key to its longevity will be ensuring we have a stream of local talent who are both equipped to play a possession based game and understand the tactical framework," McFarland told www.aucklandcityfc.com.

The open trial - for new players not with the team last season - has been set down for this Saturday, with McFarland, Zoricich, Ridenton and Bannatyne, running the rule over prospective talent.

Two further trials will be held for players already involved with the club. The club's youth team set-up has seen graduates like Simon Arms, Stephen Carmichael and Liam Anderson elevated to the first team set-up in recent times.

First team regular Alex Feneridis, and former players Adam McGeorge, Ian Hogg and Sam Campbell also progressed through the club's youth ranks.

McFarland said: "This is the main priority of the youth team and this year we hope to see players from our youth team contribute not only to the success of the first team but our national sides."

The Auckland City youth team open trial starts at 9.30am at Onehunga High School in Onehunga on Saturday.

Players born between 1993-1996 are McFarland's target group and the former first team coach is keen to identify those interested in taking part.

"We're looking for players with a high level of competence and for those not already involved with the club in 2011/12 season.

"Training commences in November and the ASB Youth League kicks off in January through to March 17, 2013," he said.

McFarland said the talent available at the club ensures a high standard of ability is required to make it at Auckland City.

"Most of last year's squad were, at a minimum, federation representatives and generally the best in their age group," he said.

Players interested in trialling for the Auckland City FC youth team, and meet the criteria set out above, are invited to contact Aaron McFarland at the details listed below.

Aaron McFarland 

Auckland City FC Youth Team head coach 

Email: admcfarland@yahoo.co.nz

Details required: 

1. Player's name 

2. Age 

3. Contact phone number 

4. Playing resume (short) 

5. Playing Position

I sit corrected - still the rest of point remains intact.

U19 Grading Rounds were not completed so cant really use those as a guide!

Central had 2 U19 teams the one which won the league smashed you twice 5-0 & 4-0

So did you nominate the 2 Ellerslie players that were actually signed this season?

And im am aware of Ellerslie having a young 1st team and Reserves hence the reason I mentioned them.

And the link between Central Utd and Auckland City is entirely relevant on this subject when the coach is/was the same person

from memory only 1 team played a less amount of games and they couldn't make up the points needed to make the top 7 by playing that game so they didn't - it dosn't matter anyway the strength of the U19's Sunday comp varys week to week as players drift in and out of schools or first team/reserves committments.

Yeah we did - not sure what the point is there but yes we did nominate the two who ended up making it.

Yeah so what happens next year when he isn't?  how many of this years team can play again?  what is the right recruitment process going forward, just pick players from the top teams in U19's/U17's - or if that's too much hard work just pick players from Three Kings, Central, Onehunga Sports - as they are the only clubs bringing through talent right?  This is my point - you don't have to pick someone who isn't good enough but you should be casting the net far enough to make sure you are having a look at enough kids to know you have the best - how ACFC do this going forward will be interesting.