More good news

[SouthfieldWhite]

Liam Donnelly our u18 captain comes on for NI v Chile to become ffc's youngest ever Full International player. George  Williams was previously as his game Ko'd earlier. Unprecedented in ffc history. 2 x u18s make Full International debuts. Won't b another club where this will have happened.

[fulhamben]

we need to sell them quick and buy some crap 35 year olds to stop the club from going into a meltdown  :hook:

[General]

Glass half full or half empty? Shows how good these guys are, or how bad our academy was until now?

[SouthfieldWhite]

Glass half full or half empty? Shows how good these guys are, or how bad our academy was until now?

You mean until 5 years ago , it hasn't just happened overnight, its taken time to get our academy from being average to one if not the best in the country

[Max Headroom]

The exciting thing for me is that if they are good enough to play international football, then they are good enough to play in the championship......

might sound stupid, but it is what we need next season.

I am quite (sorry very) excited about the youngsters - I just hope they don't all get poached too quickly

[bucksfulham]

Glass half full or half empty? Shows how good these guys are, or how bad our academy was until now?

Let's be positive please! It shows how good they are. How many u18's get full caps?

[epsomraver]

Liam Donnelly our u18 captain comes on for NI v Chile to become ffc's youngest ever Full International player. George  Williams was previously as his game Ko'd earlier. Unprecedented in ffc history. 2 x u18s make Full International debuts. Won't b another club where this will have happened.

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[MasterHaynes]

Hats off to everyone, Pleased for Liam he has led from the front all season and deserves this reward. We have so many good central defenders at the club I don't really see the need to buy in any more. Arthurworrey and Burn have gained experience coupled with their undoubted talent will keep them fighting each other for the place alongside Grimmer, Donnelly and Passeley who may all be fighting for the berth alongside either of the man mountains.
Did I really say we needed to keep Heitinga for his experience?... maybe we see what these guys can do together, they know each other well , have desire and expectation to win every game. Who knows we may come to be known as the team that finally puts to bed the belief you can't win anything with kids in the team

[Burt]

We are really starting to see some positive outcomes now from the decision to get serious with our academy a few years ago.

Hopefully this philosophy will be maintained by Khan, and that the investment in the academy will not be culled as a result of our relegation.

[cmg]

Congratulations to Liam. Many have identified him as a future international, although I suspect few thought it might arrive so soon. A potential future captain, too.

What a fantastic ray of light (and hope) our youngsters have provided in what has been an otherwise dismal season.

From the squad that won the Premier League (remember that?) u18 title last season (I think George Williams was injured for the final) there have emerged, within a year, three full internationals (the almost-ex Tankovic is the third). Extraordinary.
Passley, Tankovic, Dembele, Woodrow and Roberts have seen first team action. Woodrow, Dembele, Roberts, Evans, Hyndman, Evans, Rodak, Burgess and Baba Noe have all progressed with their international age-group (or above).

There's a long way still to go and little has been achieved in real terms as yet, but there must be grounds for optimism.