Aftercare for released youth players.

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GodIsADeeJay81
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Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by GodIsADeeJay81 » Thu Dec 31, 2020 1:31 pm

Listening to 5live last night and they were talking about the aftercare, or lack of, for youth players upon their release.

Some players are mentally destroyed when released, especially if they've been at one club since childhood.

The claim is clubs don't do enough to safeguard the mental health and wellbeing of their former youth players when they're released and they don't do enough warn kids that they may not make it at their chosen club, or at any.

The lad on the radio just went off down the wrong path and got into a lot of mischief, resulting in him spending 8yrs in prison.

Does anyone know if we have anything in place for released youth players?

bfcjg
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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by bfcjg » Thu Dec 31, 2020 1:33 pm

Really interesting topic this especially as mental health is so prominent at the moment.

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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by Boss Hogg » Thu Dec 31, 2020 1:41 pm

Sometimes wonder how anyone gets through life. How many people have trained to do something and had to do something else ? I know I did. How many people have had job disappointments ? They learn from it and move on. Not everyone is ‘destroyed’ at every setback.
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GodIsADeeJay81
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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by GodIsADeeJay81 » Thu Dec 31, 2020 1:47 pm

Boss Hogg wrote:
Thu Dec 31, 2020 1:41 pm
Sometimes wonder how anyone gets through life. How many people have trained to do something and had to do something else ? I know I did. How many people have had job disappointments ? They learn from it and move on. Not everyone is ‘destroyed’ at every setback.
Not everyone is destoryed, you're right, but part of the problem with football is the expectations of parents, friends etc.

Some kids have it in their heads that they'll be able to provide for their parents, move them out of an area etc and that could be one of their main goals of becoming a footballer and if they've been at one club since the age of 7 and are released at 16/17/18 then it's a big shock to the system.

They had a bloke on from Palace and he said they do try to explain to parents that their kid may never make it, but admitted that it isn't mentioned enough and a lot of parents won't listen.

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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by Woodleyclaret » Thu Dec 31, 2020 1:49 pm

I taught two lads at two schools in Burnley, one listened to his coaches and worked hard coming through the youth ranks and playing for his home town team .Then he went onto play for England before coming back to his home town team,where he still is a Premier League player.
The other ,very highly rated by his coaches didn't listen, moved on to play youth football at a series of league clubs and finally drifted out of football. This lad drifted into drugs and crime and wasted his natural talent for football as he knew it all and no one could tell him anything. A sad but, not an uncommon story

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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by Silkyskills1 » Thu Dec 31, 2020 2:30 pm

Boss Hogg wrote:
Thu Dec 31, 2020 1:41 pm
Sometimes wonder how anyone gets through life. How many people have trained to do something and had to do something else ? I know I did. How many people have had job disappointments ? They learn from it and move on. Not everyone is ‘destroyed’ at every setback.
I'm not too sure what you can 'learn' from major disappointments. Everyone is unique and has completely different thresholds to manage it. Some may cope better than others but in no way is it a black/white issue. I often hear and read comments about what.a team can learn from a defeat or businesses/ govt.(that's all on that) can learn from mistakes. Try not to do the same thing again would be my simple solution but I'm not convinced of any amelioration process.
I distinctly remember Clarke Carlisle over 10 years ago now in a documentary where he met.a group of apprentices at a London based club( was it QPR?) and quite bluntly informed them that there was a very good chance that none of them would 'make it'. I'm not advocating that style but there has to be a sense of reality when they are apprentices and sound guidance from a number of people around and associated with them.

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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by jrgbfc » Thu Dec 31, 2020 2:52 pm

Problem is clubs signing kids younger and younger and then dumping them at 15 or 16. Lots of them will have parents who don't really understand football and automatically assume their little star is going to hit the big time and be a millionaire.
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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by Vegas Claret » Thu Dec 31, 2020 2:53 pm

I know plenty of people, like Nurses, who trained to do that job and then left - nobody looks after them. Very difficult topic but I'm not sure how much responsibility you can put on a club

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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by ClaretTony » Thu Dec 31, 2020 2:59 pm

jrgbfc wrote:
Thu Dec 31, 2020 2:52 pm
Problem is clubs signing kids younger and younger and then dumping them at 15 or 16. Lots of them will have parents who don't really understand football and automatically assume their little star is going to hit the big time and be a millionaire.
And often parents pushing them into it to live out their dreams

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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by Vegas Claret » Thu Dec 31, 2020 3:06 pm

ClaretTony wrote:
Thu Dec 31, 2020 2:59 pm
And often parents pushing them into it to live out their dreams
I think this is the biggest problem

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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by Boss Hogg » Thu Dec 31, 2020 3:08 pm

I am sure it is explained very clearly that not many will make it to the players and parents. Perhaps training of other job skills in the background would be a good idea. The ones that do make it will have really excelled whether through hard work , natural skill or a combination of both.

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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by ClaretTony » Thu Dec 31, 2020 3:20 pm

Boss Hogg wrote:
Thu Dec 31, 2020 3:08 pm
Perhaps training of other job skills in the background would be a good idea.
When they leave school and move to clubs as scholars at 16 they continue their education but also can train in other areas so there is something in place for that.

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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by GodIsADeeJay81 » Thu Dec 31, 2020 3:26 pm

ClaretTony wrote:
Thu Dec 31, 2020 3:20 pm
When they leave school and move to clubs as scholars at 16 they continue their education but also can train in other areas so there is something in place for that.
One lad who's 21 and was released said he'd got his coaching badges and a b-tec in sports of some sort but he still wants to try and become a pro player first.

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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by blake's wand » Thu Dec 31, 2020 3:46 pm

I was involved in the youth set-up for a very short time, was never really going to make it (back in the 2000s). I remember being told by Andy Farrel (coach at that time) upon release that only a tiny amount of players that make it to actually playing for the first team, end-up making a career out of it. The reference point at the time was Chris McCann.

The biggest issue is the choice of higher education vs. trying to make it as a professional. In other sports, Rugby for e.g. there are lots of examples of people going to university then becoming professional after they have their degree. Same in the US, college sport is such a high level that means they get their education before they make it/don't make it.

Professional football is trying to do more, but doesn't escape the fact that you leave school at 16 and will almost certainly never get a degree unless you go back and study. This means that when you are released (overwhelming majority of youth players are) you have very little to fall back on.

Really sad story for so many and football needs to do a lot more

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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by Paul Waine » Thu Dec 31, 2020 4:17 pm

blake's wand wrote:
Thu Dec 31, 2020 3:46 pm
I was involved in the youth set-up for a very short time, was never really going to make it (back in the 2000s). I remember being told by Andy Farrel (coach at that time) upon release that only a tiny amount of players that make it to actually playing for the first team, end-up making a career out of it. The reference point at the time was Chris McCann.

The biggest issue is the choice of higher education vs. trying to make it as a professional. In other sports, Rugby for e.g. there are lots of examples of people going to university then becoming professional after they have their degree. Same in the US, college sport is such a high level that means they get their education before they make it/don't make it.

Professional football is trying to do more, but doesn't escape the fact that you leave school at 16 and will almost certainly never get a degree unless you go back and study. This means that when you are released (overwhelming majority of youth players are) you have very little to fall back on.

Really sad story for so many and football needs to do a lot more
It's a "tough gig" - as they say of another "entertainment" sector. I've heard it said that fewer than 1 in 100 make it from their first paid contract to make a career as a professional footballer.

How much can a club do? Some who don't make the grade will go out of football, others will sign with a lesser club and then maybe another smaller, part-time club before they also end up out of football. Which club carries the responsibility or is it all personal choice and personal responsibility?

I can image it's tough when friendships are developed with other youngsters training at the club - and only one gets the "big break" and makes the grade and all that comes with it as a professional footballer, not least the financial rewards. Meanwhile the other friend(s) who haven't made it have to start out again on a new career, quite possibly with no prior training or background in anything outside being a pro footballer.

Then the thing is, to make it as a pro footballer you've got to have tremendous personal belief and confidence and "win at all cost." So, the very attitude you need to make a success is also the attitude that can bring you the furthest down if your club lets you go...

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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by cricketfieldclarets » Thu Dec 31, 2020 4:25 pm

GodIsADeeJay81 wrote:
Thu Dec 31, 2020 1:47 pm
Not everyone is destoryed, you're right, but part of the problem with football is the expectations of parents, friends etc.

Some kids have it in their heads that they'll be able to provide for their parents, move them out of an area etc and that could be one of their main goals of becoming a footballer and if they've been at one club since the age of 7 and are released at 16/17/18 then it's a big shock to the system.

They had a bloke on from Palace and he said they do try to explain to parents that their kid may never make it, but admitted that it isn't mentioned enough and a lot of parents won't listen.
In those cases it’s not the after care that’s the problem. It’s before it even gets to that point.

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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by cricketfieldclarets » Thu Dec 31, 2020 4:26 pm

Woodleyclaret wrote:
Thu Dec 31, 2020 1:49 pm
I taught two lads at two schools in Burnley, one listened to his coaches and worked hard coming through the youth ranks and playing for his home town team .Then he went onto play for England before coming back to his home town team,where he still is a Premier League player.
The other ,very highly rated by his coaches didn't listen, moved on to play youth football at a series of league clubs and finally drifted out of football. This lad drifted into drugs and crime and wasted his natural talent for football as he knew it all and no one could tell him anything. A sad but, not an uncommon story
I know more than one who falls into the latter category. And obviously know who the first one is.

Assume you taught at barden?

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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by claretabroad » Thu Dec 31, 2020 4:50 pm

I used to work a guy who was released as a youth from Chelsea. Out of all the players on that squad the one player who went on to have a career was Carlton Palmer. He described Carlton as being the least gifted of everyone in the team but he worked harder than anyone else and was absolutely driven to succeed. Sometimes it doesn't come down to who the best player is but who is the most coachable.

The gentleman I worked with went on to become a careers adviser and he was able to tell every teenage boy who wanted to become a professional footballer what they had to do to succeed and to also have a backup plan in case it doesn't work out.
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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by MT03ALG » Thu Dec 31, 2020 4:58 pm

A major problem, as referred to above, is that clubs often sign players when they are VERY young and also release them when the are VERY young, in their early teens. Some of these then give up the game whilst still young teenagers. Many parents are unrealistic in their expectations of their son's future success given that only about one boy out of 2000 will make the grade, having been 'signed' by a club at the age of 16.

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Re: Aftercare for released youth players.

Post by jrgbfc » Thu Dec 31, 2020 6:06 pm

Personally i think there should be a ban on clubs signing kids of primary school age. Just let them play with their mates and enjoy it. Too many clubs just seem to be taking on lads they know won't make it as kids because they're terrified of letting a potential star slip through, or worse sign for someone else.
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