Referring to the comments that "Yohan"made at the bottom of the artcle (italics below), Jh1983, "Yohan" is wrong on a few points.
Few points on the game yesterday.
1. MAIN POINT The average age of WS starting 11 was 21.1 while NCR's was 22.5 hardly Men v Boys or a huge gap is it?
Average age will have been distorted by Wests' older players. The fact as stated is correct: Wests had 6 players aged 16 in their squad.
2.
Declan's Job through the week is to develop players for the Ole Academy
who one day hopefully will become professionals or like any other
average footballer who is willing to pay a few grand go on scholarship
to the US. (see http://www.firstpointusa.com/)
I think that's pretty disrespectful to any college athlete who gets a US scholarship.
However on the weekend
his job is to win games for WS that's what the club pay him for. These
Lines have been blurred before. Waikato FC.
Unless you have read Declan's contract, that is pure assumption.
3. Being disrespectful to
Rovers and their history in NZ football is a tiny bit childish. NCR
have developed all whites and professional players in the past. Go on
Yahoo and search Ricky Ravenhill or Shane Smeltz (who recently played
against a manager who's philosophy is develop players by teaching them
how to beat an array of playing styles and effectively win). Tyler Boyd
and Ryan Thomas aside playing in a Serie B youth team in my eyes isn't a
pro. If that is Rovers have 6 who have played in professional
youth/reserves side + Nike academy. NCR have 10+ English football league
appearances in the current squad + INT u17, u20 and u21 caps.
Smeltz spent one season at Napier. To claim NCR "developed" him is a massive stretch of anyone's imagination. Ricky Ravenhill spent a few years at Doncaster Rovers, but his Wiki page makes no mention of Napier City Rovers.
Professional players earn money for playing regardless of what league they play. A professional player is a professional player.
4.
"You give me a keen kid with the right mentality and the willingness to
commit to five or six years, and I can guarantee you a professional
footballer," says Edge. If Declan has an exact formulae to make pro
players which even Barcelona and the world famous La Masia do not, Why
isn't he coaching the NZ u17 or 20's. Why isn't he being asked to write a
new curriculum for NZF or advice on player development so that we can
produce pro players and compete on the international stage?5. WS did
not dissect the NCR defense at will and had maybe 3 chances in the
game. It was actual Rovers who for a 20 minute spell looked like they
would score on every attack and could drive a bus through the Wests
defence/midfield. a Fair reflection would be 9-3.
Personally I don't think anyone can "guarantee a professional footballer" but Declan's approach is not aligned with the NZF way of doing things. However, he is probably one of a small number of coaches in NZ to develop 4 current professional players.
6. If WS showed as
much respect as NCR gave them they would have used full time training to
study and figure out a game plan that would challenge NCR. Instead they
played their one and only plan A which NCR had researched/ respected
and counteracted.
Whether you agree with the approach or not, Wests' philosophy of player development being more important than individual match results is currently producing a pretty successful win ratio throughout the club.
7. This is the HBT website yet the article is all
about WS. How about promoting a Bay team competing with the capital that
are 8 from 9. Top of the league and just beat 2nd 5-1?
