Former Hammers academy product Manny Longelo has exclaimed his frustration at having to leave the club for Birmingham have given no chance to prove himself and declaring he thought he had done enough. Here is a typical reaction from the ClaretandHugh forum,
By hammerpete6
He did do enough. So did Ashby and Alese in my opinion. They did everything asked of them in a successful U23 team.
They accounted for themselves well when given a game but had little or no chances in the first team. Moyes gave them all no chance, no minutes, no integration, no development.
Ultimately, with no hope of a break, they all left or were allowed to do so. The fact is Manny and the other young men were let down but a risk averse manager with no vision or courage.
They may not have made it, which some have pointed out, but Moyes didn’t test them or try.
Is this site just for having a moan about everything West Ham, seems that way, getting tedious!
Nope, we have run the opposite views. Maybe you are finding a lot to be happy about
Still tedious I am afraid, used to be an interesting site, now mainly negative tittle tattle.
Strange to have a quarter of a million followers therefore :-} Maybe you expect us to ignore what players have to say
I hate to say it, but I have watched Longelo VERY closely whilst playing for Birmingham (he has also been dropped recently), and he is nowhere near the level which Declan was at when he forced his way into our West Ham side. His positional play isn’t quite there, and although I’m sure he will get better in the future, throwing our Academy players into Premier League football could damage both their confidence and their future development. Incidentally, Longelo was recently dropped from Birmingham’s first eleven because His current manager, Mr Eustace, believes he needs time to adjust to men’s football. This is whilst playing at the Championship level.
I was also a fan of Aji Alesse. Still, he too wasn’t quite ready for Premier League football and it is a question of do you selfishly hold back an academy graduate, or do you allow them to start their career and play men’s football elsewhere?… also in the Championship.
As for Ashby, I’m sure we wanted to keep him, but he was looking for a significant pay increase, which was why he left… I also believe that a wage structure needs to be maintained at the academy level as we all remember the Reece Oxford situation from a few years back. Ashby hasn’t managed to walk into the Newcastle side as yet.
Nothing would please me more than seeing our Academy players make the grade, but we haven’t released any potential superstars by accident or otherwise. I have done my screaming and shouting in the past, but I have to say that I agree with the decisions made by the academy so far, as to “release or move academy graduates on isn’t a decision taken lightly and much thought goes into this process”… Mr Academy himself, Tony Carr’s words.
Why would Moyes give the home grown players a chance?
It would show what a waste of money some of his transfer buys have been.
Hasn’t Longelo been dropped by a struggling Birmingham? I’d be more worried if any of these kids were showing Moyes to be wrong, but let’s be honest…none have so far.
I agree Longelo has been dropped, and no Ashby is not in the Newcastle first team, but respectfully, that was not my point. It was that Moyes gave them all no opportunities, no integration, no few minutes at a time and the first team experience of seniors around them. It was made clear they were effectively blocked. Very few youngsters are right on it first few appearances, that’s been true for the 50 odd years I’ve watched the Irons. But they were integrated, brought along, tested. Moyes will happily play seniors out of position, or persevere (Soucek) when out of form, but ignored the youth. What did that say? Seriously, was anyone happy when he brought on Masuaku at lb to defend? Remember initial performances by Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Anton Ferdinand? They were given time to develop. Contrast Kehrer signed as a senior international, given game after game, anybody swooning with his performances? So I have seen many young men introduced, some were great, others not so, but the greater crime for me is to exclude their chances. Other top clubs put them in for minutes, Ron Greenwood, John Lyall, Harry Redknapp all encouraged and developed them. West Ham and proud.