The National league...

[chris who]

Me too, in fact pretty close D.H`s ground. Some non-top-flight options - Millwall, Charlton but, now you mention it, for the population etc., suppose there were not loads of non league options.

The lack of possibilities for those who are not taken on by a league teams ,means they will always be worth checking out player wise. Definitely must help Dulwich Hamlet.Seen them maybe half a dozen times including new and old ground.Same location for anyone unfamiliar with their set up.

 

[Jerryattrick]

I seem to be opposite to others. Never been to a NL game and never will. Even FL i lived 100yds from Crystal Palace turnstiles for eighteen months and only went in there once in that time and only then when gills played there. Not sure of the year but Hunt was getting stick non stop from their crowd for a few friendly tackles.

 

[Gills 58]

I seem to be opposite to others. Never been to a NL game and never will. Even FL i lived 100yds from Crystal Palace turnstiles for eighteen months and only went in there once in that time and only then when gills played there. Not sure of the year but Hunt was getting stick non stop from their crowd for a few friendly tackles.

28th Dec, 59.

3 3 draw



F me Jerry, you are older than I am!! Great memory.

I cheated, via Gills scrapbook

 

[Jerryattrick]

28th Dec, 59.

3 3 draw



F me Jerry, you are older than I am!! Great memory.

I cheated, via Gills scrapbook

Turns out it was just an old age memory lapse.

The date was april 1977 and we were thrashed 3-1.

The memory re hunt is that i was in the palace end and their crowd were going mental about dirty gills. I was talking to a couple of their fans and told them that they were lucky hunt was not still playing lol.

Hillyard
Knight
Armstrong
Gavin
Shipperly
Hughes(billy)
Crabbe
Nicholl
Price
Durrell
Richardson

 

[Gills 58]

Turns out it was just an old age memory lapse.

The date was april 1977 and we were thrashed 3-1.

The memory re hunt is that i was in the palace end and their crowd were going mental about dirty gills. I was talking to a couple of their fans and told them that they were lucky hunt was not still playing lol.

Hillyard
Knight
Armstrong
Gavin
Shipperly
Hughes(billy)
Crabbe
Nicholl
Price
Durrell
Richardson

Haha, i was at that game. Was in the paddock surrounded by Nigels. They took exception to me being a Gills fan and started punching me so I left a couple of minutes early. Insult to injury, iirc, I missed our consolation goal from Crabbe.

Did love our 1 0 smash and grab outrageous win there a year earlier iirc.

 

[markinkent]

A bit of a tangent but stumbled across the "Bromley Boys" film on Netflix last night. Nothing special but a bit of easy watching with a glass of red if you like football related films.

A bit different to the usual "Rise of the Foot soldier" and "Football Factory" type football films - although will admit I did enjoy the Foot soldier ones - sometimes a load of swearing and gratuitous violence goes well with a glass of red as well :-)

 

[DoctorEvil]

A bit of a tangent but stumbled across the "Bromley Boys" film on Netflix last night. Nothing special but a bit of easy watching with a glass of red if you like football related films.

A bit different to the usual "Rise of the Foot soldier" and "Football Factory" type football films - although will admit I did enjoy the Foot soldier ones - sometimes a load of swearing and gratuitous violence goes well with a glass of red as well :-)

Nice bit of claret

 

[jogills]

A bit of a tangent but stumbled across the "Bromley Boys" film on Netflix last night. Nothing special but a bit of easy watching with a glass of red if you like football related films.

A bit different to the usual "Rise of the Foot soldier" and "Football Factory" type football films - although will admit I did enjoy the Foot soldier ones - sometimes a load of swearing and gratuitous violence goes well with a glass of red as well :-)

The book is a good read too

 

[LancsGordoRoad]

NLS Maidstone United deserve so much praise after their valiant performance at Ipswich yesterday. Much of that praise is in the direction of manager George Elokobi and quite right too ! George is only a few months into his managerial career and appears incredibly motivating and inspirational. His stock as a manager is surely set to rise big-time. Well done Maidstone and well done, George.

Eastleigh got walloped (0-4 at high flying Altrincham) and though he played, McCallum, apart from one decent effort, was apparently very quiet. Something on his mind, perhaps ?

Bromley played at Fylde yesterday and were beaten 1-0. Goal scorer for Fylde was another hot prospect - 17 yr old Danny Ormerod. Plunging a 17yr old lad into a relegation fighting Fylde team is brave and quite challenge for the youngster. But, this lad has now scored 4 goals in just 3 or 4 starts for Fylde. He really is a terrific prospect and when he develops physically (he`s around 6`2") he`s gonna take some stopping (get in there Gills !). No doubt at all that he and fellow youngster Taelor O`Kane (18yrs old) will be playing at a higher level before too long.

 

[ThreeSixes]

Bromley played at Fylde yesterday and were beaten 1-0. Goal scorer for Fylde was another hot prospect - 17 yr old Danny Ormerod. Plunging a 17yr old lad into a relegation fighting Fylde team is brave and quite challenge for the youngster. But, this lad has now scored 4 goals in just 3 or 4 starts for Fylde. He really is a terrific prospect and when he develops physically (he`s around 6`2") he`s gonna take some stopping (get in there Gills !). No doubt at all that he and fellow youngster Taelor O`Kane (18yrs old) will be playing at a higher level before too long.

Taelor, for when the name Taylor isn't chavvy enough

 

[LancsGordoRoad]

Taelor, for when the name Taylor isn't chavvy enough

Really ? He seems a decent young man, with a mature head on his shoulders.

 

[markinkent]

NLS Maidstone United deserve so much praise after their valiant performance at Ipswich yesterday. Much of that praise is in the direction of manager George Elokobi and quite right too ! George is only a few months into his managerial career and appears incredibly motivating and inspirational. His stock as a manager is surely set to rise big-time. Well done Maidstone and well done, George.

Eastleigh got walloped (0-4 at high flying Altrincham) and though he played, McCallum, apart from one decent effort, was apparently very quiet. Something on his mind, perhaps ?

Bromley played at Fylde yesterday and were beaten 1-0. Goal scorer for Fylde was another hot prospect - 17 yr old Danny Ormerod. Plunging a 17yr old lad into a relegation fighting Fylde team is brave and quite challenge for the youngster. But, this lad has now scored 4 goals in just 3 or 4 starts for Fylde. He really is a terrific prospect and when he develops physically (he`s around 6`2") he`s gonna take some stopping (get in there Gills !). No doubt at all that he and fellow youngster Taelor O`Kane (18yrs old) will be playing at a higher level before too long.

Lancs - ever thought of sharing these thoughts with the likes of Hess / Jacket ? If you truly see someone with potential maybe its worth them casting an eye on them.

 

[LancsGordoRoad]

Lancs - ever thought of sharing these thoughts with the likes of Hess / Jacket ? If you truly see someone with potential maybe its worth them casting an eye on them.

I`m sure that the likes of Hess are constantly scanning all the NL results, scorers and reports. If Hess can make it to Ayr, i`m sure that a few trips to Fylde wouldn`t be out of the question.

Fylde has a very good academy and current DoF (also current head coach after sacking of Adam Murray), Chris Beech, has a well earned reputation for developing young players and having the confidence to play them if they`re good enough. Thing about this area of the Country is that, with such a lot of clubs in the vicinity, pro scouts will already have been looking at the likes of O`Kane and Ormerod. The latter really does look particularly special. I was there yesterday and the Bromley defence had a real problem trying to close down Ormerod, who had a shot hit the post and good header well saved and also confidently scored a really good goal. He also helps out a lot at the back - tremendous attitude.

Fylde don`t have to sell to survive (yet !) so cheeky offers can be waved off quite readily. Perhaps Joe Scout will give Hessy a nod !

 

[JoeScout]

I`m sure that the likes of Hess are constantly scanning all the NL results, scorers and reports. If Hess can make it to Ayr, i`m sure that a few trips to Fylde wouldn`t be out of the question.

Fylde has a very good academy and current DoF (also current head coach after sacking of Adam Murray), Chris Beech, has a well earned reputation for developing young players and having the confidence to play them if they`re good enough. Thing about this area of the Country is that, with such a lot of clubs in the vicinity, pro scouts will already have been looking at the likes of O`Kane and Ormerod. The latter really does look particularly special. I was there yesterday and the Bromley defence had a real problem trying to close down Ormerod, who had a shot hit the post and good header well saved and also confidently scored a really good goal. He also helps out a lot at the back - tremendous attitude.

Fylde don`t have to sell to survive (yet !) so cheeky offers can be waved off quite readily. Perhaps Joe Scout will give Hessy a nod !

The department is pretty across the NL as a whole to be fair, but with Fylde being about as far away as it's possible to get in that division it's not one that's visited reguarly. Even in the North West/surrounding areas there's several other NL clubs to keep an eye on which makes it a bit tricky. Then you have to factor in the sheer numbers of professional clubs in that area who are looking at those clubs on their doorstep who will be able to offer players the option of not uprooting their entire lives to move all the way down here to Kent. For those reasons it's sort of a market that is less appealing to work in.

I know there are some who are seriously scathing of a policy that seems to involve scouting players either in the south east or from the south east, but in all honesty these players are human and to not have to worry about major upheaval in their lives is a key factor in choosing whether to sign for someone or not. We've seen a few northerners come down to Priestfield but not stay long as they've been homesick - Kyle Dempsey wanted to be back near his family for one, or what about Nathan Thomas who didn't even see out a full pre-season before scooting off back to Cumbria. It's a major factor. You have to pay someone a lot of money to get them integrated into a new area of the country, especially when there's no guarantee for the player that things will work out.

All clubs will work this way at our level - for example the best player I've seen this season at NLN level is Jamie Jellis of Tamworth who has just signed for Walsall, probably because they're just up the road from his home. I've no doubt the boys at Fylde are good, but for several reasons listed above I'd be very surprised if they ended up playing for us unless they had a south-eastern connection.

 

[LancsGordoRoad]

All clubs will work this way at our level - for example the best player I've seen this season at NLN level is Jamie Jellis of Tamworth who has just signed for Walsall, probably because they're just up the road from his home. I've no doubt the boys at Fylde are good, but for several reasons listed above I'd be very surprised if they ended up playing for us unless they had a south-eastern connection.

Yes, agreed - for the points you made.

Having said that, at just 17 and 18 respectively, both Taelor O`Kane and Danny Ormerod may not be quite as anchored as those players with young children of their own.

Wouldn`t be surprised to see one or both playing at the highest level some day. But, in both cases, whilst they could be whisked away on an attractive contract basis, they`d no doubt be playing in U23 set-ups in the Championship or Premiership rather than a first team at NL or L2 (maybe L1) level.

Both lads are perfect for an investment acquisition by a big club or a club like Peterborough (I believe their scouts are active up here) who`d sell them on for a profit.

Personally, I wouldn`t be surprised to see a PNE, Blackburn or even Burnley pick up Ormerod in the near future. Burnley has just handed Chris Beech another of its emerging talent, Joe Westley (son of Graham Westley) for the rest of the season. Westley recently had his 19th birthday and yesterday was the strike partner of 17 year old Ormerod.

With youngsters up front Fylde has won three and drawn one of their last four league games. Great to see such faith in young talent paying dividends.
A by-the-by, Dan Adshead (another Chris Beech protege and still only 22 - seems like he`s been around for ages, including a L1 loan spell at GFC) has just joined Fylde on loan from Cheltenham - played a couple for Fylde and was outstanding, but has picked up a knock.

As you`ll know, but many may not be quite as aware, there is some seriously good talent in all three NL divisions.

 

[JoeScout]

As you`ll know, but many may not be quite as aware, there is some seriously good talent in all three NL divisions.

100%, the trick for us is being able to get them early enough that they've gone under the radar of a lot of other clubs. For example Josh Stokes - as soon as August was done with it was apparent he was too good for the National League, having only just arrived there from Sudbury. Unless by chance you happened to have seen Aldershot in those early weeks then you probably would've just seen the name appear a few times and been intrigued enough to send someone to see him a bit later, by which point clubs a lot bigger than ourselves are also on the same train of thought and you've no chance in a bidding war. If you're in there right at the very start you steal a march on a lot of clubs, but it's pretty much pot luck at that point of the season unless you've some insider information.

The boys we've picked up from non-league weren't standout players but people that the recruitment team have seen and been impressed by, and taken a bit of a punt on with varying levels of success so far (Coleman, Clarke, Orji, Agbebi). It's unlikely we'll pick up the best of the best from the NL at this stage, we're simply not high enough in the food chain. Not that this means we shouldn't be looking there of course, you never know - but from a personal view of the 8 non-league players that I highlighted to AH in the summer, 6 are now playing for teams above us in terms of league standings, and 1 other is playing for a team that's absolutely walking the league below so no chance there either.

With the two Fylde boys I'll do my best to go and see them if I can and send through reports but like I say it's quite a big ask!

 

[LancsGordoRoad]

100%, the trick for us is being able to get them early enough that they've gone under the radar of a lot of other clubs. For example Josh Stokes - as soon as August was done with it was apparent he was too good for the National League, having only just arrived there from Sudbury. Unless by chance you happened to have seen Aldershot in those early weeks then you probably would've just seen the name appear a few times and been intrigued enough to send someone to see him a bit later, by which point clubs a lot bigger than ourselves are also on the same train of thought and you've no chance in a bidding war. If you're in there right at the very start you steal a march on a lot of clubs, but it's pretty much pot luck at that point of the season unless you've some insider information.

The boys we've picked up from non-league weren't standout players but people that the recruitment team have seen and been impressed by, and taken a bit of a punt on with varying levels of success so far (Coleman, Clarke, Orji, Agbebi). It's unlikely we'll pick up the best of the best from the NL at this stage, we're simply not high enough in the food chain. Not that this means we shouldn't be looking there of course, you never know - but from a personal view of the 8 non-league players that I highlighted to AH in the summer, 6 are now playing for teams above us in terms of league standings, and 1 other is playing for a team that's absolutely walking the league below so no chance there either.

With the two Fylde boys I'll do my best to go and see them if I can and send through reports but like I say it's quite a big ask!

Yep, it`s why Premier League and other "higher" or better resourced clubs establish contacts at schools and get a heads-up on very young players.

I believe that NW Gills has spoken about this kind of scouting and young player "farming" and I suspect he`s well connected.

Heading into the middle teens, it always seems to me that the really interesting phase is seeing how well young guys, around the 16 - 18 range, adapt into men`s football. That`s why guys like Chris Beech have a good rep with the scouting fraternity as he will play very young (16 -18yr old ) youngsters if he feels they`re good enough. You`ll know that the NL is a physical men`s league.

Good to see that the growth of GFC has included a wider, deeper commitment to developing young players. Your involvement is to be commended, the lads you mentioned (bracketed) are all really good finds. That (production) route is a must for clubs like GFC in order to become and remain sustainable.

There are gems up here but there are probably even more in the south-east. GFC`s proximity to London potentially puts a large number of youngsters on the radar.

Well done and cheers for what you do, it`s a very important component of growing GFC.

BTW, Fylde play in the south-east three times in 10 days starting next Saturday at Dorking then Eastleigh & Aldershot. Play at Boreham Wood later in February too. I know that Chris Beech knows a bit about the Gills - i`ve bent his ear !

 

[PhilK66]

Yep, it`s why Premier League and other "higher" or better resourced clubs establish contacts at schools and get a heads-up on very young players.

I believe that NW Gills has spoken about this kind of scouting and young player "farming" and I suspect he`s well connected.

Heading into the middle teens, it always seems to me that the really interesting phase is seeing how well young guys, around the 16 - 18 range, adapt into men`s football. That`s why guys like Chris Beech have a good rep with the scouting fraternity as he will play very young (16 -18yr old ) youngsters if he feels they`re good enough. You`ll know that the NL is a physical men`s league.

Good to see that the growth of GFC has included a wider, deeper commitment to developing young players. Your involvement is to be commended, the lads you mentioned (bracketed) are all really good finds. That (production) route is a must for clubs like GFC in order to become and remain sustainable.

There are gems up here but there are probably even more in the south-east. GFC`s proximity to London potentially puts a large number of youngsters on the radar.

Well done and cheers for what you do, it`s a very important component of growing GFC.

BTW, Fylde play in the south-east three times in 10 days starting next Saturday at Dorking then Eastleigh & Aldershot. Play at Boreham Wood later in February too. I know that Chris Beech knows a bit about the Gills - i`ve bent his ear !

I can relate directly to your comments about PL teams scouting young talent. My 10 year old grandson, who has previously been approached by MKD and FGR , last weekend was invited for a trial at Chelsea. In his milieu he's a prolific scorer and provider of assists.

 

[LancsGordoRoad]

Ebbsfleet Utd have appointed Danny Searle as their interim head coach. Searle is a former Aldershot manager.

 

[JoeScout]

Couple of good'uns made their way into the Football League from the NL - Josh Kelly to Wimbledon from Solihull and Milli Alli to Exeter from Halifax.