It wasn't necessarily about Pellegrini being the current manager, it was about the effect he's apparently had. There's perception from some that there's now a backlog of talent hanging around wasting away in the EDS and so on due to not being used and that therefore there's a bit of a logjam ahead of the u16s. The u16s have scored over 100 goals this year and remained unbeaten and, to be frank, some parents felt like it's been a waste of their kids time as you don't learn anything winning 6/7/8/9-0 every week, even sometimes scoring 10. They were clearly too good for their level and should've been moved up, yet they couldn't because the u18s couldn't move up because none of the u21s moved up, or even out on loan, so it effectively blocked their route. Campbell scored near 60 goals for the u16s this year and didn't make a single u18s appearance, and he's seeing his mates like Leko at WBA, an England u16 too, score considerably less goals at youth level yet ending up on the 1st team bench for WBA and making his debut, despite Campbell being a brighter prospect. He's probably a little envious and cynical.
THAT'S what most parents are worried about. A mismanagement of potential talent of the pathways of the kids, which is a wider problem that directly links back to how MP hasn't used kids. Now if Pellegrini had used a few, testing them out like a good manager should, we might now already know about a few of the kids and could've either shipped them off on long term loans or even fully promoted them to the first team, thus clearing up the pathways of the younger, immensely talented generations. Instead we've got people like James Horsfield and Glendon still milling about in the EDS, and even the likes of Celina and Barker who are far, far too good for u21s football these days - yet they have to play in the EDS as they can't not have football, but they're blocking the most talented u18s from being promoted - an u18s team that won the league, which then blocks the likes of Campbell and Sancho and Dele-Bashiru from starting week in week out for the u18s, which they should.
I agree that now Pellegrini has gone it should be fine, but he has definitely created a problem in terms of the balance of the academy teams and hopefully Pep can rectify that quickly. It shouldn't effect us for the u15s/u14s, but there is a perception problem that needs to be undone, and you can't also blame some parents for being skeptical about Pep until he actually puts his cards on the table. I think its nonsense personally, but I get why some parents would be cautious. All we can hope for is that Pep takes some pretty drastic decisions, trusts some youth and handles the situation well. As ever, it's not as simple as it appears. There's far too many looking at without knowing the full *alleged* problem. It's not simply about Pellegrini not playing kids, its about the effect on the pathways of the players being blocked.
Campbell's parents fear their son not getting regular game time next season apparently, which sounds crazy, but its possible given the talent ahead of him. Apparently Nmecha is meant to be moving up to the EDS, thus freeing up space for Campbell in the u18s, but what if Ambrose/Faupala don't move on from the EDS due to the club not knowing what to do with them, which has happened over the last 24 months a lot? That'd mean Nmecha would require regular games if one of those two started for the EDS, thus hed drop to the u18s again as he's eligible, which'd leave Campbell where? On the bench? Naturally that'd be a disaster for him. THAT'S the effect MP has in the long term and that's the concern for many of the u16s as its the same in every position.
