Young Players Signing Up - Baird, Morgan Cuddihy

[FTOF]

I don't think our younger players have done that badly this season .

I think they've been let down by the so called experienced ones .

Too much pressure has been heaped on them very early in their careers .

Next season they will now have this bad experience to look back on , and will hopefully be wiser for it .

If the board make the correct appointment, we might have a management team that can maximise their potential.

I think some of us forget just how young some of these players are and just how difficult a situation they've been through this season, having to firstly cope with a halfwit for a manager followed by a manager with no experience at all, who appears to have very average managerial abilities.

TBH it's quite sad to see adults in their 40's and 50's posting vitriolic criticism of young boys just starting out in their careers.

[saltcoatsbuddie]

baird has looked ok since being in 1st team,the other 2 will hopefully get more game time next season as many more leave ,but would also hope we add a couple of experienced guys to help the younger ones along,honestly don't think the next couple of seasons will be very successful but hope maybe in 2-3 years these guys will all have 100 odd games under their belts and we can maybe push on then

[munoz]

I think mourinho would have struggled if he had taken over that squad when Teale did .

He has had to put up with quite a lot .

I'm not saying he is or isn't the man for the job , but we all need to remember this wasn't Teale's team bar a couple of signings he made .

To add to that , those signings were all we could afford in the window .

Edited May 14, 2015 by munoz

[Stu]

I believe McLear is a winger not sure about Cuddihy.

Aye McLear is a winger, it was Morgan and Cuddihy I was wondering about. Think Teale may have said before Morgan is a winger although it's possible I'm thinking of the wrong Lewis.

[TopCat]

Morgan is a winger/forward. He won the penalty on Saturday in Dingwall and scored a brace against Celtic u20's during the week.

Not too sure about Cuddihy.

[Stu]

Morgan is a winger/forward. He won the penalty on Saturday in Dingwall and scored a brace against Celtic u20's during the week.

Not too sure about Cuddihy.

Would match up with this old thread where it's mentioned he's a left winger then someone suggests he's a striker: http://www.blackandwhitearmy.com/forums/index.php/topic/36990-lewis-morgan/

This has him listed as a forward (good to see both of them have been with the Scotland under-19s, even if it was just training rather than the full squad): http://www.saintmirren.net/pages/?p=30899

[insaintee]

Watched the U20's a good few times, There is talent there, But there are no goal scorerers

[shull]

Watched the U20's a good few times, There is talent there, But there are no goal scorerers

Any good headerers ?

[insaintee]

Morgan is a winger/forward. He won the penalty on Saturday in Dingwall and scored a brace against Celtic u20's during the week.

Not too sure about Cuddihy.

Defensive midfielder and sometimes plays at right back

[insaintee]

Any good headerers ?

Baird is pretty good at this level as is Culhuddy, MacDonald is pretty good in the air.

But you tell us fatso you seen them plently

[class of 76-77]

Watched the U20's a good few times, There is talent there, But there are no goal scorerers

You have to ask the question as to why our academy hasn't produced any decent strikers for a number of years.

McShane was the last one of recent times, but he never made any real impression before leaving for Hamilton. He's now playing in League 2.

[proudtobeabuddy]

We should retain Thommo and search for a couple of strikers as back up, in an ideal world one of our young players would step up and surprise us, it's about time we had a striker coming through the ranks.

[E=Mc2]

TBH it's quite sad to see adults, who have IQs in the 40's and 50's, posting vitriolic criticism of young boys just starting out in their careers.

Fixed it for you.

[oaksoft]

Everyone expects a young squad next season but the players who make up that squad should be decided by the next manager, not the one who ceases to be manager in 10 days time.

The next manager may not rate these players who've just been given two year contracts and may have had his own thoughts on young players to be signed.

I find it bizarre that players are being given new contracts prior to the appointment of a new management team.

Do you both think it would be more sensible to wait until those players have left the club and joined another team before offering them new contracts?

I genuinely can't understand the confusion.

The timing isn't great but that's life for you.

[oaksoft]

The problem is hearts had good youth players. Ours are ordinary at best!

As a MUCH bigger club they can attract better youth players or are you deliberately forgetting that in your desire to have a swipe at our own boys?

Hearts were also playing in a lower quality league.

Of course you'll probably disagree with that as well because it'll suit your anti-Saints agenda.

Edited May 15, 2015 by oaksoft

[BaldyOzBud]

Do you both think it would be more sensible to wait until those players have left the club and joined another team before offering them new contracts?

I genuinely can't understand the confusion.

The timing isn't great but that's life for you.

This, I can just imagine the quite justifiable rage of many fans if we were to lose some of our brightest youngsters by not tying them up because we haven't yet chosen our new Manager.

[oaksoft]

It's more to do with saving money on wages than being able to boast about the number of youths we have in the team

BOOM. And again. Anti-Saints agenda.

[Stu]

You have to ask the question as to why our academy hasn't produced any decent strikers for a number of years.

McShane was the last one of recent times, but he never made any real impression before leaving for Hamilton. He's now playing in League 2.

Yeah, it's a weird one. We've produced midfielders and defenders and even a goalie in Chris Smith. Since Steven McGarry broke through I can only think of Thomas Reilly (started out as a striker), Jon McShane and David McKenna - none of whom really established themselves as regular starters up front. There were also a few bit part guys like Jack Smith, Anton Brady and - going back more than a decade - Jeff Ferguson.

[pod]

We should retain Thommo and search for a couple of strikers as back up, in an ideal world one of our young players would step up and surprise us, it's about time we had a striker coming through the ranks.

A couple of strikers and keep Thommo as back up.

[Sonny]

I think the Club are in the best position to assess the youngsters. Baird has looked pretty good in my opinion in the last few games and the Club obviously see something in Morgan, Cuddihy and McLear. The contracts are relatively short and should be cheap. If any of them make the same impact as McGinn and Mallan then at least we will get a decent development wedge. If we let them go now we get bugger all. Most of our youngsters however look pretty powder puff but hopefully they can bulk out. Naismith, Kelly (last season and CH this season), McGinn and Mallan have all stepped up to the plate and also toughened up so lets trust the judgement of Longwell and Co for now.

[pod]

I think the Club are in the best position to assess the youngsters. Baird has looked pretty good in my opinion in the last few games and the Club obviously see something in Morgan, Cuddihy and McLear. The contracts are relatively short and should be cheap. If any of them make the same impact as McGinn and Mallan then at least we will get a decent development wedge. If we let them go now we get bugger all. Most of our youngsters however look pretty powder puff but hopefully they can bulk out. Naismith, Kelly (last season and CH this season), McGinn and Mallan have all stepped up to the plate and also toughened up so lets trust the judgement of Longwell and Co for now.

Not if they have got rid of the canteen ladies at Ralston.

[Questions?]

Yeah, it's a weird one. We've produced midfielders and defenders and even a goalie in Chris Smith. Since Steven McGarry broke through I can only think of Thomas Reilly (started out as a striker), Jon McShane and David McKenna - none of whom really established themselves as regular starters up front. There were also a few bit part guys like Jack Smith, Anton Brady and - going back more than a decade - Jeff Ferguson.

Does John Baird count?

[Sonny]

If I remember correctly Baird was released by Clyde and played with us for free in order to get an opportunity. I do not think we developed him however my memory isn't as good as it once was

[Stu]

If I remember correctly Baird was released by Clyde and played with us for free in order to get an opportunity. I do not think we developed him however my memory isn't as good as it once was

Pretty much. Clyde released him, he trained with us for six months then got a deal.

[insaintee]

Yeah, it's a weird one. We've produced midfielders and defenders and even a goalie in Chris Smith. Since Steven McGarry broke through I can only think of Thomas Reilly (started out as a striker), Jon McShane and David McKenna - none of whom really established themselves as regular starters up front. There were also a few bit part guys like Jack Smith, Anton Brady and - going back more than a decade - Jeff Ferguson.

I don't think it is unique to St Mirren when was the last decent striker produced by Partick, Hamilton, Killie, Morton Old scum etc. McShane has been unlucky with injuries and Jack Smith is still very young and might come good. Dorrens could have been the one, but chose to put his academic career first. And I rate Mitchell.

But leaving that aside there clearly is a problem. Griffiths, Russell, May, Shankland, Watt, there are players out there, but when it comes to picking them up at this level we seem to miss out. One thing that all of these players have is physical attributes, strength, speed, sharpness. It's assumed that you cannot coach that but I think you can. And there also mental qualities, focus, calm, dig and again I think you can coach that. The problem is that these are not the qualities that Largs mafia value who are looking for work rate, team work, and keeping possession. While these are good qualities in a defender or a midfielder, for a striker they not really what its about. How many times have we seen players pass the ball when they should be taking responsibility to take on a man in the box and get a shot away.

When watching the U20s at that level, Smith and Scullion could both score goals, because they were prepared to have a go. Moving up a level, having a go is all very well but you then need to back that up with being physically able to get away from your marker, I'm not sure at the top level these players have that, although if Scullion worked on his speed he could have and Smith needs to work on both speed and strength.

The reason Griffiths, May and Russell are top players is about them being professional on the training ground and making themselves better players at every opportunity. That means working on things beyond simple training, Sadly none of our strikers seem to have that mentality