Fleetwood Town "academy". Whats the craic? 

2 hours ago, gonzo said:

Chaos is about to ensue over this regarding this delaying the step up from 9-a-side to 11-a-side. Tbf It is a ridiculous decision at all ends of the scale.

Got a year full of kids ready to move to Sundays on bigger pitches but nowhere for them to go. They're ready for 11-a-side now nevermind in another season and half 🤦‍♂️

It's looking like my lads team and half the league are going to opt to play up a year and bypass the delay. That'll present its own issues as well. 

There's kids at the younger end totally ready for competitive matches but are being held back to play 3-3 matches. 

The whole system is being built around 0.00007% of participants, those of which will be in academies by aged 8 anyway.

Kids Just want to play.

 

The whole under 7 year looks like it's going to be bypassed near us as clubs all opt to play up a year in under 8s (my club included).

It's far more important at this age to learn about teamwork, listening skills etc. at that age for the vast majority who won't end up in academies. My club has decided they'd rather increase participation and have the normal group of 9-10 kids playing a year up rather than limit it to 4-5 and see kids fall away from football.

Going to be chaos

Edited February 12Feb 12 by Stig

Can you not all just organise a massive game down a local park? Fluctuating team sizes as kids go in for their tea, go home crying with a bust nose, or a passerby decides to join in. Full Time is when the sun goes down or nobody can be arsed any more. Pitch is marked out with a few coats, and throw in/corner decisions are made by whoever protests the loudest?

Speaking of kids just want to play, we've got 8 for Sunday (7 a side) and the other coach is on holiday.

He petitioned the other team to call our game off until I had to persuade him to just keep it on and we'd make the best of it. 

That said, Euxton away at 9am on Sunday morning means no skinful on Saturday after the Bolton game 

Edited February 12Feb 12 by Kane57

7 hours ago, gonzo said:

Chaos is about to ensue over this regarding this delaying the step up from 9-a-side to 11-a-side. Tbf It is a ridiculous decision at all ends of the scale.

Got a year full of kids ready to move to Sundays on bigger pitches but nowhere for them to go. They're ready for 11-a-side now nevermind in another season and half 🤦‍♂️

It's looking like my lads team and half the league are going to opt to play up a year and bypass the delay. That'll present its own issues as well. 

There's kids at the younger end totally ready for competitive matches but are being held back to play 3-3 matches. 

The whole system is being built around 0.00007% of participants, those of which will be in academies by aged 8 anyway.

Kids Just want to play.

 

 

5 hours ago, Stig said:

The whole under 7 year looks like it's going to be bypassed near us as clubs all opt to play up a year in under 8s (my club included).

It's far more important at this age to learn about teamwork, listening skills etc. at that age for the vast majority who won't end up in academies. My club has decided they'd rather increase participation and have the normal group of 9-10 kids playing a year up rather than limit it to 4-5 and see kids fall away from football.

Going to be chaos

My club is the same, and it’s frustrating… forget academies, it’s an extra year development. You don’t have a team a 3v3, you have a squad the same size, they just play smaller games at the same time. One 5v5 pitch easily becomes two 3v3- no kids/parents complaining they go in goal. It’s less pressure, just go out and play. You already have an extra kid on the pitch. 
 

The only way kids fall away is by not getting opportunity to play and enjoy themselves. A decent sized 5v5/7v7 pitch could easily have 18 kids at anyone time, rather than a standard 8 + 2 keepers

9 hours ago, Dr Faustus said:

 

My club is the same, and it’s frustrating… forget academies, it’s an extra year development. You don’t have a team a 3v3, you have a squad the same size, they just play smaller games at the same time. One 5v5 pitch easily becomes two 3v3- no kids/parents complaining they go in goal. It’s less pressure, just go out and play. You already have an extra kid on the pitch. 
 

The only way kids fall away is by not getting opportunity to play and enjoy themselves. A decent sized 5v5/7v7 pitch could easily have 18 kids at anyone time, rather than a standard 8 + 2 keepers

With 4 x new goalposts to pay for, extra ref costs, more pitches required given there's now either new pitches needed or 3 year groups on the existing 5 a side pitches, more coaches potentially given you're saying multiple teams that need to be overseen.

And for what benefit? Just so the best 6 year olds can get even more of the ball as they'll have fewer opponents. 

This really isn't how grassroots football should be going

Edited February 13Feb 13 by Stig

5 minutes ago, Stig said:

With 4 x new goalposts to pay for, extra ref costs, more pitches required given there's now either new pitches needed or 3 years on u5, more coaches potentially given you're saying it's 2 teams that need to be created.

And for what benefit? Just so the best 6 year olds can get even more of the ball as they'll have fewer opponents. 

This really isn't how grassroots football should be going

What referee costs? I’ll be honest, I don’t follow the first paragraph. A pair of nets costs £100/£150- funding likely to be available.  All 6 year olds get on the ball, you mix them every time.

League rules date state you can have a maximum of starting line up in the squad. U7s is 5v5, so maximum of 10. Most teams have a manager and an assistant; if not a parent helper with DBS- 4 officials per game. As it stands, you have 10 kids playing from 20, with the other half stood at the side, usually dicking about. New format has 18 playing, with those 4 officials overlooking 3 games.
 

You can put the best kids against each other if you wanted, or you could mix them up. Nobody cares about the score, they all get more time playing, more time on the ball. They all get better. How many U7 teams rely on a couple of superstars, who may or may not get picked up? New format allows all abilities to play

8 hours ago, Dr Faustus said:

What referee costs? I’ll be honest, I don’t follow the first paragraph. A pair of nets costs £100/£150- funding likely to be available.  All 6 year olds get on the ball, you mix them every time.

League rules date state you can have a maximum of starting line up in the squad. U7s is 5v5, so maximum of 10. Most teams have a manager and an assistant; if not a parent helper with DBS- 4 officials per game. As it stands, you have 10 kids playing from 20, with the other half stood at the side, usually dicking about. New format has 18 playing, with those 4 officials overlooking 3 games.
 

You can put the best kids against each other if you wanted, or you could mix them up. Nobody cares about the score, they all get more time playing, more time on the ball. They all get better. How many U7 teams rely on a couple of superstars, who may or may not get picked up? New format allows all abilities to play

Apologies, tidied up first paragraph as it wasn't clear. 

I see what you mean with using existing 4 coaches to oversee each pitch as there's no ref so the only logistical issues are new nets and more use of existing 5 a side pitches.

But I still can't see it working. You may as well just send kids for a kick about in the park. Certainly teams won't bother traveling any distance to play that.

And from a development point of view you should have both, small sided games in training to focus on skills, larger sized matches to focus on working as a team.

9 hours ago, Dr Faustus said:

 

My club is the same, and it’s frustrating… forget academies, it’s an extra year development. You don’t have a team a 3v3, you have a squad the same size, they just play smaller games at the same time. One 5v5 pitch easily becomes two 3v3- no kids/parents complaining they go in goal. It’s less pressure, just go out and play. You already have an extra kid on the pitch. 
 

The only way kids fall away is by not getting opportunity to play and enjoy themselves. A decent sized 5v5/7v7 pitch could easily have 18 kids at anyone time, rather than a standard 8 + 2 keepers

I get what your saying but it's like every kid is being trained to be a future England player.

Most kids just want to play football and be part of a team.

Leave the technical development to the academies that snaffled every half decent kid up anyway.

Even more so later on. The chances of any kid being developed to professional standard at 13 years old by delaying them playing 11-aside are zero.  At Academy level fine but christ not in 4 divisions in every town across the country. Just let the kids play properly.

 

Beat in mind, this is just 6/7 year olds. Yes, they all want to play; but how many kids get frozen out of games and effectively do nothing? You see teams with a couple of superstars who score 90% of goals, other kids get forced into positions as such and never develop fundamental skills. I see managers looking for defence minded 8 year olds, experienced 9 year old goalkeepers ffs. In 5 years time, that keeper will be bored, possibly lose their place, and not be able to kick a ball.

Its about the bigger picture, it’s not designed to get kids playing at academy level, it’s to give them chance to play at any level for as long as possible.

Interesting stuff there fellas - as coach of a team where we quite clearly don't have anyone who'll be picked up by an academy, the focus on fun and having a good time with friends is really important.

Waiting on a pitch inspection at Euxton this morning to determine whether I get my first football free Sunday in months tomorrow.

On 13/02/2026 at 07:42, gonzo said:

I get what your saying but it's like every kid is being trained to be a future England player.

Most kids just want to play football and be part of a team.

Leave the technical development to the academies that snaffled every half decent kid up anyway.

Even more so later on. The chances of any kid being developed to professional standard at 13 years old by delaying them playing 11-aside are zero.  At Academy level fine but christ not in 4 divisions in every town across the country. Just let the kids play properly.

 

The ironic thing is that the academies don’t follow the same formats. Kids at 7 heading and taking throwins 

On 10/02/2026 at 05:43, Dr Faustus said:

Premier League Cup semi final this weekend… Ipswich away 11am kick off 😭

Gonna cost me a fortune to go down- do not fancy the drive and looking at £120 on the train- any tips on getting there cheaper greatly appreciated.

Winners face Man Utd in final, beat Norwich 6-4, Kai Rooney bagged 4

Bring on Utd😎

2-2 away at Euxton missing keeper and top scorer, plus one soft arsed lad who pulled out 1hr before the game and zero subs!

We were two down with 10 to play, so happy with that. 

Edited February 15Feb 15 by Kane57

17 minutes ago, Kane57 said:

2-2 away at Euxton missing keeper and top scorer, plus one soft arsed lad who pulled out 1hr before the game and zero subs!

We were two down with 10 to play, so happy with that. 

Is keeper and top scorer the same person?

13 minutes ago, Dr Faustus said:

Is keeper and top scorer the same person?

Thankfully not 😀

Bloody cold down here today watching hormone filled 15 year old boys kick lumps off eachother and some football in between.

8 minutes ago, gonzo said:

Bloody cold down here today watching hormone filled 15 year old boys kick lumps off eachother and some football in between.

We didn't need goals, nets, painted lines, corner flags, referees & parents to successfully do that 'back in the day'.

You’re the ref… what do you give?

Might need to zoom in, but a couple of contentious decisions

 

8 hours ago, Dr. Feelgood said:

We didn't need goals, nets, painted lines, corner flags, referees & parents to successfully do that 'back in the day'.

Didn’t need DBS checks or seatbelts in the back of a transit van either. One of my old coaches got done for having 1000s of images on his laptop, still… good ol days 

16 minutes ago, Dr Faustus said:

You’re the ref… what do you give?

Might need to zoom in, but a couple of contentious decisions

 

Play on for both.

Infact, book the second one for diving

First one (the sunnier one) not sure the keeper had much business being out there like that. Red for me.

Didn't see much wrong with the 2nd one.

37 minutes ago, gonzo said:

First one (the sunnier one) not sure the keeper had much business being out there like that. Red for me.

Didn't see much wrong with the 2nd one.

I’ll wait a bit before commenting on the outcomes- not sure how they come out, so keeper on the left or the right? To me the sunnier one is the second one

12 minutes ago, Dr Faustus said:

I’ll wait a bit before commenting on the outcomes- not sure how they come out, so keeper on the left or the right? To me the sunnier one is the second one

Ah yeah sorry must have clicked them wrong.

The 2nd one where keeper comes from the left and dives in with his feet looks pretty reckless to me. Not sure how much contact is there but yikes you can't be flying out like with two feet as well.

The other one looks like he had every right and not much wrong with it.

1 hour ago, Dr Faustus said:

Didn’t need DBS checks or seatbelts in the back of a transit van either. One of my old coaches got done for having 1000s of images on his laptop, still… good ol days 

Didn't need a transit van ... nor coaches for that matter.

Lads won 3-1 Saturday morning. 

One lad who has been with us since start of last season at U7's scored his first ever goal. Absolutely made up for him.

Edited February 16Feb 16 by BeeversLeftPeg