Ollie Scarles’ debut and successful performance against Arsenal has made headlines across the media. In addition to the young left back receiving well-deserved plaudits, the ripples of his success spread out across the club and throughout the youth teams. Whilst it is important for the young Hammers defender to keep his feet firmly on the ground, the uplift his elevation to the first team has – on those who have ambitions to follow him – is immense.
the Ollie effect is alive and well at West Ham
Speaking to whufc.com after last night’s superb 3-0 West Ham u21’s win away at Reading, coach Mark Robson was effusive in his praise of Scarles and what his path through to the first team means.
“We can feel the Ollie effect on everybody, not just the players, but the staff as well, it’s really lifted everybody. He’s done so well in the Arsenal game. He didn’t look out of place at all. He played very well, defended really well.
There’s just a real nice feel at the moment around the place. Everybody’s got a belief that there’s going to be chances for our younger players if they’re doing very well. I think that’s lifted everybody at the training ground and long may it continue.”
That belief was clearly visible with superb goals from Josh Ajala (main pic), Sean Moore and Kamrai Swyer. For anyone without Sky and feeling starved of live football, the u21 games are all broadcast free and live on West Ham’s youtube.com channel – a great way to check out the up-and-coming talent. The u21’s have six wins now and are ahead of Chelsea in third spot, with a game in hand. Watching first team squad members Lewis Orford and Kaelan Casey perform last night was an added bonus but genuinely, seven or eight of those players could make it big in the next couple of years.
With Graham Potter at the helm, the ‘Ollie Scarles’ pathway can become a blueprint for success and motivation for those u21 players to follow his example, in a way which wasn’t happening under the last two head coaches. Great to see.
This is entirely down to Graham Potter, the fantastic feel good factor around the club. Suddenly we are all optimistic, smiling and approving the approach, believing results will come. Many, many of us fans were screaming for the U21 integration back with Moyes, but not a sniff. I truly believe, having witnessed Moyes shameful misuse of subs etc, that if Slavan had not already introduced Dec to the first team, Moyes would never have done it..
Sorry this was my post I selected the wrong name!
The Academy is there and finally we have a manager who has noticed it and is willing to look at the talent that is developing there…obviously the majority do not make it and make a career at other clubs but the odd gem here and there saves the clubs millions in the transfer market and as fans we get to see our young players progress to a career full of promise. So i like the fact that Potter will look inwards and challenge these players and show them there is a pathway to the first team squad if you work hard enough for it.
I don’t want to make this about Moyes (and to a lesser extent, JLo), but it was genuinely criminal that he didn’t bring through a single academy player during his time with us. The crop of U21’s had won the PL2 and were widely considered to be full of talent, yet there was no pathway laid down to bring them through.
It is so refreshing that Potter is using the academy. He’s already saved the club £20m(?) on having to buy a left back in the summer simply by realising he can coach/utilise the raw talent we already have. If he can do this with perhaps Potts or Earthy next season, that again saves us having to buy squad players.
The feel-good factor winning with academy players is also like no other, so I’m hugely impressed that Potter has integrated Scarles so quickly.
We’ve not had much to smile about this season, but hopefully we’re now beginning to see Potter was always the correct choice and should have been hired last summer – also goes to show how Sullivan’s views are, as always, completely wrong when he thought Potter wouldn’t be the right fit… Useless dwarf.
Imagine being the next Declan Rice or Ollie Scarles off the production line. A great incentive for the young lads.