The 'Richard Edghill' dilemma

[fbloke]

I know people have focussed on the Edgy element of my OP but it was supposed to be simply emblematic of the wider issue with introducing young talent to a team that needs to count every point and every result matters.

Right now we are looking at a situation where Mancini might need to try young players in big games, can we the fans bite our lips and hold our tongues long enough to see a player through the early nerves and mistakes?

If the Edgy experience (and others highlighted on this thread are anything to go by) then I'm afraid we can't.

And thats a big problem moving forwards.

 

[Quinny851]

I know people have focussed on the Edgy element of my OP but it was supposed to be simply emblematic of the wider issue with introducing young talent to a team that needs to count every point and every result matters.

Right now we are looking at a situation where Mancini might need to try young players in big games, can we the fans bite our lips and hold our tongues long enough to see a player through the early nerves and mistakes?

If the Edgy experience (and others highlighted on this thread are anything to go by) then I'm afraid we can't.

And thats a big problem moving forwards.

I think we can see past the initial nerves and mistakes. Look at Boyata for example. He was nervous when he first came in and then had a blinder in one of the derbies.

If we get to a stage where we're going to start blooding youth into the team then it's got to be done at the right time. Not when we're needing a result in a game against scrappy opposition.

 

[fbloke]

I know people have focussed on the Edgy element of my OP but it was supposed to be simply emblematic of the wider issue with introducing young talent to a team that needs to count every point and every result matters.

Right now we are looking at a situation where Mancini might need to try young players in big games, can we the fans bite our lips and hold our tongues long enough to see a player through the early nerves and mistakes?

If the Edgy experience (and others highlighted on this thread are anything to go by) then I'm afraid we can't.

And thats a big problem moving forwards.

I think we can see past the initial nerves and mistakes. Look at Boyata for example. He was nervous when he first came in and then had a blinder in one of the derbies.

If we get to a stage where we're going to start blooding youth into the team then it's got to be done at the right time. Not when we're needing a result in a game against scrappy opposition.

But thats the point I'm making, there are now no meaningless games.

And of course the idea that a player will gain a feel for the big time from an early outing in the League Cup is ludicrous when we will also soon be seeing them playing in front of 7,000 people across the road and against Barca, Real, United and Ajax's best young players.

There are also likely to be changes in the coming couple of seasons that will not allow PL clubs to loan out to other PL clubs so the likes of Boyata wont get time at Bolton.

In Edgy's time the must win games were about relegation at least now we are talking about must win games being about trophies ;-)

 

[Dirty Harry]

I know people have focussed on the Edgy element of my OP but it was supposed to be simply emblematic of the wider issue with introducing young talent to a team that needs to count every point and every result matters.

Right now we are looking at a situation where Mancini might need to try young players in big games, can we the fans bite our lips and hold our tongues long enough to see a player through the early nerves and mistakes?

If the Edgy experience (and others highlighted on this thread are anything to go by) then I'm afraid we can't.

And thats a big problem moving forwards.

On the flip side look at SWP, if we can use him as an example he had some absolute dogshit games early on and yet eventually he went on to thrive with the backing of the fans, Michael Johnson was another I feel would also have been a good candidate to succeed, I don't think it's set in stone, but I think you make a good point and that it will be very difficult though.

 

[Quinny851]

It will be difficult because the bar is now set much higher. We're not yet in a position where we can blood them all in straight away due to the need for success.

We've got some good young players in and around the club who are coming through to the first team so it's not all doom and gloom in that respect. If they're good enough then they will succeed with the backing from the fans.

In the last 5-10 years we've been more sympathetic i feel to the kids coming through in comparison to the 90's

 

[remoh]

Totally agree with the comments re how Richard Edghill was treated by many, sad to say but in my opinion the fans destroyed any belief he had.

Many years ago I used to be quite proud of how us fans got behind young local lads (Alex Williams debut was a fantastic example of how good it could be), until I saw lads like Dave Bennett and Clive Wilson getting shit, but the treatment of Edghill was terrible and like many others I was embarrassed by it, he was as blue as Lakey and any others you care to mention and I know for a fact that there were times on nights out if someone gave him shit about City he was well up for sorting it out, on his own but groups of other fellas.

On the other point, well, I think where we are heading and looking to be it's going to take something very special for a talent to come through locally, we've raised the bar and with that that bar has to run right through the club from top to bottom, so sadly, many a kid who had a chance in the past probably won't get it with us unless they are extremely gifted, just my thoughts on it anyway.

Just a thought, but what did Wilson, Bennett and Edghill have in common?
I hate to say it, but do black players have to do better than white ones to avoid the boos?
I know you mentioned Williams, too, but that was on his debut.

No!!!! I think that's a scandalous comment to be honest. It is fuck all to do with the colour of anyone's skin, shit is shit.

Edghill was a massive blue and yes he played his heart out for us but he was so so poor. Sometimes a City supporters we get to caught up in the fact that we've produced local talent for years and have always had a soft spot for them regardless of whether they are good or not.

If we'd have bought Edghill from another club then I guarentee that 99% of our supporters would have slagged him off rather than just the section of boo boys.

Clive Wilson, shit?? He was often worth the price of a ticket on his own, when played on the wing.
You describe just three players as shit; all of them black. Did we not have any shit white players that you could have named? Many of us could.

 

[fbloke]

Just a thought, but what did Wilson, Bennett and Edghill have in common?
I hate to say it, but do black players have to do better than white ones to avoid the boos?
I know you mentioned Williams, too, but that was on his debut.

No!!!! I think that's a scandalous comment to be honest. It is fuck all to do with the colour of anyone's skin, shit is shit.

Edghill was a massive blue and yes he played his heart out for us but he was so so poor. Sometimes a City supporters we get to caught up in the fact that we've produced local talent for years and have always had a soft spot for them regardless of whether they are good or not.

If we'd have bought Edghill from another club then I guarentee that 99% of our supporters would have slagged him off rather than just the section of boo boys.

Clive Wilson, shit?? He was often worth the price of a ticket on his own, when played on the wing.
You describe just three players as shit; all of them black. Did we not have any shit white players that you could have named? Many of us could.

God how I loved Clive 'the jive' Wilson.

Another one sold to pay the gas bill.

 

[lancashirelad]

I am sure there are quite a few City fans and likely a large slice of the Bluemoon massive who never saw Richard Edghill play, or indeed know who Richard Edghill is.

Well he was a local lad (Oldham iirc) who came through the ranks at City during the very barren years. He loved and still loves City and is as Blue as any of us.

He was a player of great potential whose City career disintegrated in front of the Kippax, and in my humble opinion that disintegration was aided by and perhaps even magnified because of the boo boys of Maine Road.

It was one of only a handful of times in my life where I was honestly ashamed of the way that City fans behaved.

It was particularly hurtful as it was obvious to anyone there that the treatment that some fans doled out to him brought him quite literally to tears.

Strangely there was a time when a local player would have been backed all the way and encouraged even in the worst of times but I wonder if we have now moved beyond that as a club?

Are we now at a stage where a City manager simply has to buy talent for the first team rather than blood a youngster for fear of a bad performance and the fans turning on a young lad?

Are we, the City faithful grown up enough to back a manager if he tries a player who doesn't shine from the very first minute, or would we turn nasty because so much now depends on every game, on every point?

I do hope that some of the players that the club are developing are given the opportunity to make their debut's in league games and not just the early stages of the League Cup as that will mean that the club is in a way back to its roots and traditions.

I truly do wonder what others on here think.

(And if you are reading this Richard, I am truly sorry for the way you were treated by some at City.)

Richard Edghill was actually a fine right back who played in a shit team (one of many we have had the pleasure to watch) It was because of this that he was destroyed by our own fickle fans. We had a shit team and no wingers so every time richard was under pressure he had no outlet but our dick heads coulnt see that. That sight of him coming off in tears cos he knew it was over is the worst ever thing i have ever seen regarding city.

 

[cyberblue]

Agree with lancashire lad no one was there to help him

 

[remoh]

No!!!! I think that's a scandalous comment to be honest. It is fuck all to do with the colour of anyone's skin, shit is shit.

Edghill was a massive blue and yes he played his heart out for us but he was so so poor. Sometimes a City supporters we get to caught up in the fact that we've produced local talent for years and have always had a soft spot for them regardless of whether they are good or not.

If we'd have bought Edghill from another club then I guarentee that 99% of our supporters would have slagged him off rather than just the section of boo boys.

Clive Wilson, shit?? He was often worth the price of a ticket on his own, when played on the wing.
You describe just three players as shit; all of them black. Did we not have any shit white players that you could have named? Many of us could.

God how I loved Clive 'the jive' Wilson.

Another one sold to pay the gas bill.

The payment we got for him more or less paid for Paul Stewart, so a bitter/sweet deal for me. I always missed him.