On Wednesday 12th December, Blackpool Youth team face Macclesfield Town Youth in the FA Youth Cup. The Youth team normally play their home games at the clubs Squires Gate Training Ground. However this match being in the national FA Youth Cup competition it is being played at Bloomfield Road. Kick off is 7pm with adult tickets costing £4 and £2 for kids anc concessions. Whoever wins this match then goes on to play either Sunderland or Noriwch City away in the next round.
Re: Blackpool FC Youth team How old are the youth team players and how are they recruited for the team? Are you going to this match? Give us a game summary afterwards if you do.
Re: Blackpool FC Youth team Most of this is stolen from the clubs website - The Seasiders Youth Team consists of the players from the Centre of Excellence between the ages of 16 and 18. The Centre of Excellence has age range teams down to about 9 years old (I think). Once players start to play for the Youth team players though are all known as "apprentices" and stay with the club as apprentices for two years, whilst they also study at college and they take a "Modern Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence". After the second year, if a player is considered good enough then they will be offered a professional contract. The others are simply released (its a tough life!) And they then have to try and see if they can hook themselves up with another club. Many go on to play either lower league football, or non-league (often semi-pro) football. For instance, local non-league team Fleetwood Town who currently play in the Unibond League Premier Division (at Level 7 of the English Football League system) - having earned consecutive promotions, have former 'Pool Youth team players. Blackpool Youth team compete in the Youth Alliance League, North West Conference, a regional league for clubs in North West England. There is also a Cup competition, the Youth Alliance Cup, in which the teams initally competing in 4 team mini-leagues with the winners progressing to the next round. The Youth team also compete each year in the national FA Youth Cup, which is basically the FA Cup for Youth players and is usually won by a Premiership team! Players like David Beckham, Wayne Rooney etc have competed in the FA Youth Cup. I will get further details from tonights match programme which will have up to date information about not only the Youth Team but also the Centre of Excellence itself which covers as I said a wide age range. I might be going down to see the match and will give a review if I do get there! (And nothing to do with the Youth team, but I will also try and open a thread to cover the Reserve team too and give details about them)
Re: Blackpool FC Youth team Blackpool Youth 2 Macclesfield Town Youth 3 On a night where frost bite seemed to be a possibility the Blackpool lads were beaten by the better team. Blackpool line-up: 1. Kyle Clancy 2. Danny Penswick 3. Stephen Ralston 4. Matthew Kay 5. Ashley Eastham 6. Stefan Laird 7. Dominic Merella 8. Dale Warburton 9. Danny Mitchley 10. Jake Hobbs 11. Ross Lloyd Subs: 12. Billy McKenna 14. Ben Fishwick 15. Mark Halstead 16. Joshn Newsham 17. Kurt Bradley The Macc team were noticeable for having the younger brother of Wayne Rooney on their subs bench, John Rooney. No idea if he came on in the second half or not as by then I was beginning to wonder if I would ever warm up again. Blackpools goals were scored by Mitchley and Merella, both of whom impressed as did goalkeeper Kyle Clancy. In defence though the young Seasiders seemed very weak. Mitchley has been scoring goals for fun for the Reserves too and recently was allowed to experience a match day as part of the first team squad. Merella also looks as though he will make the grade in professional football. Looked to be a crowd of about 300.
Re: Blackpool FC Youth team That sounds like a pretty good crowd for a youth game. Was it mostly because of the FA Youth Cup nature of this matchup, or is that a pretty normal attendance?
Re: Blackpool FC Youth team The Youth team normally play their games at the Squires Gate training ground. However because this was the Youth version of the FA Cup, and so the biggest competition at Youth level in England, all games were played at each home teams stadium (I think!) which helped of course bringing in a few more fans. Oddly enough there were also about 20-30 Macc fans.
Re: Blackpool FC Youth team On Wednesday 19th December Blackpool Youth team beat Morecambe away 3-0 at Morecambes home ground, Christie Park in the Lancashire FA Youth Cup. Blackpool were 3-0 up by the end of the first half with goals coming from Ben Fishwick, Danny Mitcheley and Dominic Merella. Mitcheleys goal was his 25th of this season! Youth team manager, Gary Parkinson said after the match, "We asked for a reaction following the Macclesfield defeat and we have got that in the last two games.(*) The game was over at half time and on another night we could have had 6 or 7 goals." In the next round the 'Pool youngster face Oldham Athletic, another Youth team match to be played at Bloomfield Road. (*) Following the Macclesfield game, the Youth team beat Oldham Athletic 5-1 in the league.
Re: Blackpool FC Youth team On Saturday Blackpool beat Macclesfield 4-0 at Squires Gate with yet another two goals from Danny Mitchely, one from Dominic Merella and an own goal. The result means Blackpool stay top of the Youth Alliance North West Conference, with the current table being: Position Team Pld W D L 1st. Blackpool http://www.blackpoolfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10432~1232388,00.html
Re: Blackpool FC Youth team On Saturday Blackpool beat Macclesfield 4-0 at Squires Gate with yet another two goals from Danny Mitchely, one from Dominic Merella and an own goal. The result means Blackpool stay top of the Youth Alliance North West Conference, with the current table being: 1st Blackpool 36 2nd Wigan Athletic 33 3rd Walsall 31 4th Macclesfield 30 5th Carlisle United 29 6th Oldham Athletic 29 7th Bury 29 8th Wrexham 25 9th Chester City 25 10th Burnley 24 11th Stockport County 23 12th PKE 22 13th Port Vale 20 14th Tranmere Rovers 19 15th Rochdale 13 16th Accrington Stanley 11 17th Shrewsbury Town 9 18th Morecambe 8 http://www.blackpoolfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10432~1232388,00.html
Re: Blackpool FC Youth team While the first team are playing Tranmere Rovers tomorrow, Gary Parkinson will take a team made up of the Youth team plus first year professionals Ashton Bayliss, Dominic Merella and Ross Lloyd together with a Portugese triallist will travel to North Wales to take on Rhyl FC at their Belle Vue stadium, kick-off 3pm.
Re: Blackpool FC Youth team The Youth team were apparently featured on Sky Sports Soccer AM show this morning in a special "The Lads got skill" part of the programme, filmed at Mysercough College where they have been training.
Re: Blackpool FC Youth team Not sure if this video link will work outside the UK but hopefully it will as it is well worth watching!! It is called "Skill School" or "Sills Squad" or something like that!! with two players from each clubs Youth team competing. The Blackpool player who won is Jake Hobbs and he certainly showed some fancy skills!!! http://skysports.com/socceram/media/video/0,21631,12612_4069013,00.html
Re: Blackpool FC Youth team With the first team out of action this weekend because of the international break, focus is on the Youth team, managed by Gary Parkinson, who on Saturday play Chester City at home in the Football League Youth Alliance. Kck-off 10.30am at Mysercough College. Mysercough College is in a picturesque rural location on the Fylde in the parish of Mysercough & Bilsborrow, in the bourough of Wyre. The college covers a variety of (possibly unusual!) subjects including agricultural, motorsports, golf, arboriculture, landscape design, animal care, equine studies, horticulture, photography and farriery! It has an International Equine Arena, a 9 hole golf course, Simulated Golf Training Centre, the National Arboricultural Centre, a Plant Centre, an off-road driving track, sports fields, indor cricket arena and a Sports Centre and Gymnasium, as well as woods, fields, ponds and a river on the site. As well as a Higher Education Centre and a Rural Business Centre. Also the Lancaster Canal isn't too far away! Not bad surroundings to go and watch a game of football!
Re: Blackpool FC Youth team I'm not sure whether he's playing much, but how has Adam Hammill looked thus far? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Re: Blackpool FC Youth team As with the Centre of Excellence, the youth team match was called off following the downpours over the last couple of days, and of course today has ended up being a reasonable day! Ghostface, I've answered your question on the original thread rather than on here which is about the Youth team, so have a look on there! ta.
Re: Blackpool FC Youth team From the match programme from the first team home game against Barnsley - Another important development for us this week is the signing of Robbie Hume as a scholar. Robbie is an Under-17 Northern Ireland International player and will soon be travelling to Austria for the UEFA Under-17 2008-09 European Champiionship qualifiers with his national team. It marks a good turn for the club as our progressive Youth Department are able to now attract international players and we are hopeful capturing further signatures in the future.
Re: Blackpool FC Youth team An update about the young Northern Irish lad Robbie Hume. He is a left-sided midfielder. At Under-16 level has made 5 appearances for Northern Ireland. And in September he played in his first international matches for the Northern Ireland Under-17 team. 2nd - vs Sweden (A) drew 1-1 (Friendly) 4th - vs Sweden (A) lost 0-2 (Friendly) 18th - vs Liechtenstein (A) won 1-0 (Euro Under-17 2009 qualifier) 20th - vs Austria (N) lost 0-1 (Euro Under-17 2009 qualifier) 23rd - vs Belgium (N) lost 0-2 (Euro Under-17 2009 qualifier) (N) = neutral venue
Re: Blackpool FC Youth team The youth team have been drawn away at Cardiff City in the third round of the FA Youth Cup. The game, which has to be played before 13th December 2008, will be a tough one.
Re: Blackpool FC Youth team After the Cardiff City FA Youth Cup game, which they lost, the youth team have had an almost 5 week break. So last Saturday a match was organised against the Under-16 team, to get som much needed pitch time. The youth team suffered a blow though with an injury to Jake Hobbs, a key player for them, as they face upcoming league and cup fixtures.
Lancashire County Football Association Professional Youth Cup Blackpool are the current holders of the LFA Youth Cup. Fixtures and results so far - Twelve clubs entered the competition. Eight clubs received a bye with 4 clubs compting in round one. Round one (preliminary round) Rochdale 0 PKE 11 Bury vs Burnley Quarter-final Wigan Athletic 2 Tranmere Rovers 4 Oldham Athletic vs Bury or Burnley Morecambe vs Blackpool Accrington Stanley vs PKE Semi-final Tranmere Rovers vs Oldham Athletic or Bury or Burnley Accrington Stanley or PKE vs Morecambe or Blackpool Blackpools quarter-final match at Morecambe is due to be played on Wednesday 18th February.
Young Pool keeper tipped for the top Youth team keeper Mark Halstead, who was called up to the first team squad for the first time in his career for last week's Championship clash at Bloomfield Road with Doncaster Rovers, is being tipped to do well in the game. He was an unused sub for the game, but for a player who is still a scholar in the youth team, it was a huge achievement and shows that the club have faith in his ability. They could have brought in a loan keeper but chose instead to stick with Halstead with Tony Parkes saying, "The fact that we had no qualms about putting him on the bench last weekend shows you what we think of him. We could have gone out and got another keeper on loan but we feel that he is good enough to be on the bench, certainly for one game." Pakes added, "We have high hopes for Mark and I had no problems with him sitting on the bench." With Paul Rachubka available again at Ipswich after serving a one-game suspension, Halstead is unlikely to make another appearance in the matc day sqaud 16 for a while. However, it is clear that Blackpool born Halstead is highly regarded by the senior management staff at the club, who believe he may have the potential to become a future first team player. Halstead will apparently be offered a professional deal in the next few months.
Lancashire FA Youth Cup While the first team are in action at Pride Park playing Derby County, the youth team are due to play their quarter-final match against Morecambe on Wednesday 18th February (presumably at at Christie Park, Morecambe).
Morecambe 2 Blackpool 3 Lancashire FA Youth Cup, quarter-final Blackpool beat their North Lancashire coast rivals Morecambe 3-2 at Christie Park to move into the semi-finals. Blackpool's goals came from Jake Hobbs, Jake Forshaw and a Steve Ralston penalty. In the other quarter-final match played yesterday, PKE won 7-1 at Accrington Stanley. The updated semi-final draw - Tranmere Rovers vs Oldam Athletic or Burnley PKE vs Blackpool
Lancashire FA Youth Cup, semi-final On 9th March, Blackpool take on PKE in the semi-finals of the Lancashire FA Youth Cup. PKE have a very strong youth set-up and it will be a very tough game for Blackpool. The team have started preparing for the game now, including having games videod so they can assess players. Meanwhile, Blackpool are attracting triallists for youth team scholarships from all around the country, a reflection of the rise in the club's standing in recent years. The youth department are hoping that they can field more first year scholars in the reserve team so that the players can gain much needed experience.