FA Youth Cup Wednesday Night

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FA Youth Cup Wednesday Night

Postby john@staustell » Wed Dec 19, 2018 7:49 am

Clevedon v City. Hopefully after last year's debacle we can have another good run.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... clash.html

Clevedon Town acting chairman Brian Rose is scanning through the pen pictures Manchester City have just emailed over to him.

'Eric Garcia, centre-back signed from Barcelona, where he had been since the age of seven years old, captain of all their youth teams,' he says.

'Adrian Bernabe. He is also from Barcelona, attacking midfielder. Made first team debut against Oxford United in the Carabao Cup.

Jeremie Frimpong from the Netherlands. Tommy Doyle, the grandson of City legend Mike Doyle. Goalkeeper Curtis Anderson, won the Under-17 World Cup with England and has been training with Pep Guardiola's first team.

'D'Margio Wright-Phillips, there's a name that leaps out. He's Shaun's son.

'Yeah they're probably quite decent.'

That would be the natural conclusion to draw. But this Wednesday, Man City's academy side will find themselves on the same pitch as Clevedon Town of the Somerset Floodlit Youth League Premier.

It isn't often that football throws up such a truly David vs Goliath contest, but the third round draw for the FA Youth Cup has done romantics everywhere proud.

It has pitted a bunch of local lads from north Somerset against a collection of football's brightest young talents often cherry-picked from the world's finest academies. Barcelona included.

While Clevedon train twice a week, after school in most cases, on an all-weather pitch kindly lent to them by the gymnasium next to their stadium, City's starlets have use of the £200million Etihad Campus, the most advanced training facility on the planet.

And while Clevedon's players chip in from their own pockets to buy their kit and ensure the floodlights are switched on, City's are already well on the road to multi-millionaire status.

The Severn Estuary seaside town, located 15 miles west of Bristol, typically has most of its exciting activity during the summer months, so this tie against a City side who have been Youth Cup finalists three times in the last four seasons is causing quite a stir.

Over 1,300 tickets have already been sold for the occasion (the first team average gates of 150 in the Western League), while the local television news cameras have been down to film youth team coach Alex White putting his squad through their paces.

'It's all a bit surreal,' White admits. 'It is once in a lifetime for us and the biggest night in the club's history.

'They are a footballing giant - they have the best facilities, they have the money, they can attract any player from around the world. It's an easy sell

'They replicate the first team perfectly. It's the first team just at a younger age, the same system and style.

'We prioritise the FA Youth Cup each season, it takes up all our attention and focus. We were desperate to play against a Football League club. And now we've drawn the champions of England.'

To reach this point having started in the first qualifying round in September, Clevedon have won four matches. Bath City, Bridgwater Town, Brockenhurst and Aldershot Town were their victims.

They then lost the fifth, 2-1 at home to Sutton United. It came as a bitter disappointment given both teams already knew that City awaited the winners in the third round.

But, purely by chance, someone at the game pointed out that Sutton had potentially fielded an ineligible player.

The player's contact address was his parents' home in Wales and, under Football Association competition rules, even players from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland must have international clearance to play.

The FA investigated and decided Sutton had committed an administrative error that cost them the opportunity to test themselves against the Premier League giants. Clevedon were duly reinstated.

'The investigation took a week, it was the longest week of our lives,' says White, an accountant by day and coach for various teams by night and weekend.

'We didn't want to tell the players but we knew we had to prepare to face City. It was a crazy afternoon when we heard Sutton weren't going to appeal.

We called the players in and told them there was some important club news. That made them really nervous, it could have been anything.

'They were shocked but excited when we told them they'd be gracing the same hallowed turf as City. It could be the biggest night of some careers.'

But that is by no means guaranteed - many of the under-18 team at Clevedon have first-team experience and a handful are attracting serious interest from Football League academies.

Captain and midfielder Mitch Osmond had a long spell in Cardiff City's academy, forward Jack Sell has been at Bristol Rovers and goalkeeper Sam Blackliston was with Norwich.

A strong performance against City, when scouts from higher divisions are certain to be watching, will only boost their chances of professional careers

But Clevedon aren't simply going to roll over and allow City, who have loan of the first team's luxury coach for the night, easy passage to the fourth round.

'We will go out there to win the game, otherwise there's little point,' says White, who has studied video footage of City's latest games.

'We appreciate there is a gulf in class, there are nine divisions between us. But this is the game of our lives and the game plan will be to be competitive.'

Chairman Rose is even more confident: 'If we get through against City, we will have another home draw against Nottingham Forest. So we're going with the flow and we'll take each game as it comes.'
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Re: FA Youth Cup Wednesday Night

Postby Nigels Tackle » Wed Dec 19, 2018 11:15 am

when i was 16 we played the wycombe wanderers youth team in the bucks & berks cup. it was at their training ground and they had 3 coaches taking their warm up, they all had initialled warm up gear on and they must have had about 20 brand new mitre deltas to kick about.
we had my mate’s dad coaching us, we warmed up in our match kit and had a few old training balls to kick around.
we beat them 3-1. it was fucking amazing.
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Re: FA Youth Cup Wednesday Night

Postby iwasthere2012 » Wed Dec 19, 2018 7:48 pm

Nigels Tackle wrote:when i was 16 we played the wycombe wanderers youth team in the bucks & berks cup. it was at their training ground and they had 3 coaches taking their warm up, they all had initialled warm up gear on and they must have had about 20 brand new mitre deltas to kick about.
we had my mate’s dad coaching us, we warmed up in our match kit and had a few old training balls to kick around.
we beat them 3-1. it was fucking amazing.


Yes, but it could have been 10 with better finishing.
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Re: FA Youth Cup Wednesday Night

Postby walshawblue » Wed Dec 19, 2018 10:00 pm

City won 4-0
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Re: FA Youth Cup Wednesday Night

Postby dazby » Wed Dec 19, 2018 10:58 pm

Nigels Tackle wrote:when i was 16 we played the wycombe wanderers youth team in the bucks & berks cup. it was at their training ground and they had 3 coaches taking their warm up, they all had initialled warm up gear on and they must have had about 20 brand new mitre deltas to kick about.
we had my mate’s dad coaching us, we warmed up in our match kit and had a few old training balls to kick around.
we beat them 3-1. it was fucking amazing.


So you have played the game. What position did you play? I bet you were a defender.
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Re: FA Youth Cup Wednesday Night

Postby Beefymcfc » Wed Dec 19, 2018 11:07 pm

Nigels Tackle wrote:when i was 16 we played the wycombe wanderers youth team in the bucks & berks cup. it was at their training ground and they had 3 coaches taking their warm up, they all had initialled warm up gear on and they must have had about 20 brand new mitre deltas to kick about.
we had my mate’s dad coaching us, we warmed up in our match kit and had a few old training balls to kick around.
we beat them 3-1. it was fucking amazing.

That's where my lad at age 6 had his first youth training session, pity you took it seriously!
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