Nye: Leeds Under 21

[Promotion 2010]

Ny Under 21 LIGA:
http://www.leeds.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=289229


Leeds United: Super strike spurs Byram to success INTERVIEW  


Sam Byrom in match action against Preston North End.
By Phil Hay
Published on Wednesday 8 August 2012 12:05


For so long the example to all others in the country, Leeds United’s academy has lived through several hard years.


The pressure on the youth training scheme at Thorp Arch was intense enough before a vote late October forced Leeds to accept the Premier League’s Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP), a proposal aimed at improving the development of junior footballers in England.

United were in a minority of clubs who opposed the EPPP, crying foul over plans to reduce compensation due when players leave one academy for another and abolish a rule restricting teams to the recruitment of youngsters who live within an hour-and-a-half’s drive of their training ground.

Leeds chief executive Shaun Harvey called the acceptance of the EPPP “a dark day” and said a review of the club’s academy would follow. United parted company with their academy manager, Chris Sulley, four months later and have not replaced him externally. But the homegrown element in the senior squad used by Neil Warnock this summer explains why the industry at Thorp Arch will continue.

Prominence

Aidan White and Tom Lees are several years on from their academy years but Warnock has taken an extended look at four other junior players whose first professional contracts were signed at Elland Road.

Dominic Poleon and the twins, Lewis and Nathan Turner, were recognisable faces for anyone who followed United’s now defunct reserve team and all three have appeared regularly in United’s pre-season friendlies. But it is Sam Byram, the hitherto unfamiliar right-back, who has created most interest, coming to prominence two months after agreeing his first senior deal.

A patchy squad and the long wait to sign Lee Peltier from Leicester City compelled Warnock to blood Byram but the 18-year-old’s potential can be gauged from the impressed tones in which United’s manager and coaching staff speak about him.

On Saturday he made minor headlines by scoring a brilliant volley in a 3-1 victory at Preston North End, a game in which he played for more than an hour. Taken in front of a travelling crowd of 2,000, the goal was a special moment for an academy graduate who returned to training in July with no idea that Warnock planned to use him and several of his contemporaries on the club’s pre-season schedule.

“I’m not sure what I thought would happen this summer,” Byram said. “A few of the younger lads were involved in pre-season last year so there was always a bit of a chance that the same might happen, even with a different manager, but I wasn’t expecting to be involved.

“But all of us are aiming to play for the first team somewhere down the line so you want these chances to come along. Going to Cornwall on pre-season tour was a bonus in itself and I played much more than I thought I might.

“It’s been really good for me and a great experience. All the manager is telling me is to get my head down and keep working. He’s saying that as long as I have a good attitude and work hard in training, things will happen for me.”

The signing of Peltier on Saturday, a deal which is believed to have cost Leeds as much as £800,000, should see to it that Byram plays little part in United’s forthcoming Championship season with a specialist right-back added to the squad, but the increase in match-day squad sizes next term â€" allowing for a maximum of seven substitutes â€" will give Warnock scope to include the odd youngster on his bench.

The likes of Byram, Poleon and the Turner brothers should be more heavily involved with United’s under-21 development side, a newly-formed squad and a product of the EPPP. All four played prominent roles for the under-18 squad which excelled last season and which fell narrowly short of winning their Premier Academy League.

Charge

Leeds’ former under-18s coach, Neil Redfearn, has taken charge of the development squad and will manage them in League Two North of the Professional Development League this season. The division also includes Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic, Nottingham Forest and Leicester City and at least two of their matches are due to be played at Elland Road.

Byram had no opportunity to feature for Leeds’ reserves before an increasing lack of competition led the club to withdraw from their reserve league last year and Saturday’s match at Deepdale gave him the new experience of playing in front of a sizeable crowd at a major Football League ground.

“That’s the biggest crowd I’ve played in front of,” he said. “Even though it was a friendly, the atmosphere was pretty good and it’s something I’m not used to.

“It’s quite nerve-wracking to begin with but once you start playing you settle down and get into the flow of things. You’re able to play your own game and if you’re going to be a footballer at a high level then you’ve got to get used to playing in front of big crowds.

“Super strike spurs Byram to success I’d love to play in stadiums like that every week but I’ll just do what I’m told to do. I’ll get my head down and do the best I can. If anyone wants me to come in and do a job (for the first team) then I’d be more than happy to do so.”

Byram scored United’s second goal on Saturday, straying up field and volleying a Paul Green corner past Preston goalkeeper Thorsten Stuckmann. The goal came midway through the second half and put Leeds on course for victory.

The teenager was mobbed by the rest of United’s players and Warnock joked: “Young Sam was delighted. He asked me if he was allowed to go in the box and I wasn’t sure why. But if he finishes like that then no wonder.”

Byram said: “I can’t really remember my celebration and I can’t really describe how it felt.

“I’ll need to look back at the highlights. I was taken by surprise when the ball came over and I just swung a leg at it. I got mobbed afterwards.

“All of this has gone really fast and in a bit of a flash. There’s a new under-21 side at Leeds so I thought I’d be involved in that more than anything. There aren’t too many players in that age group so I thought crack on there. It was all I expected.

“I think I’ve done the best I can. I don’t think I could have given any more.”


http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/sport/leeds-united/latest-whites-news/leeds-united-super-strike-spurs-byram-to-success-interview-1-4813281

[Promotion 2010]

Grimsby Borough vs Leeds United Development Squad 1-4

http://www.leedsunited.com/news/20120808/four-star-united-sink-grimsby_2247585_2875052

[Jon R]

Grimsby Borough vs Leeds United Development Squad 1-4

http://www.leedsunited.com/news/20120808/four-star-united-sink-grimsby_2247585_2875052

Lovende referat med tanke på dybden i troppen! Kan noen av våre akadademispillere bli tungen på vektskålen hvis ytterligere transfermidler uteblir? ?

[peder]

Grimsby Borough vs Leeds United Development Squad 1-4

http://www.leedsunited.com/news/20120808/four-star-united-sink-grimsby_2247585_2875052

Lovende referat med tanke på dybden i troppen! Kan noen av våre akadademispillere bli tungen på vektskålen hvis ytterligere transfermidler uteblir? ?

Realistisk sett, så bør vel 1 til 2  spillere banke på a.lags døra hver sesong.