by WestYorksRoyal »
05 Apr 2024 11:13
An interesting article on the Athletic today that Notts Forest have included an academic graduate in every matchday squad (including bench) since WW2. A few criteria:
- Must have been signed by the club before they were 18
- Must have played in at least one youth category (not just reserves)
- Forest must have been their first permanent professional club (signing a teenage dropout from elsewhere counts given that would be pre- professional age).
I'd be interested to know how we compare recently. Could we go as far back as our first PL relegation in 2008? Just trying to break it into eras:
2008 - 2013 or so had Karacan, HRK, Pearce, McCarthy, Sigurdsson and Church.
2013 - 2016 had some continuity with above, plus Jake Cooper, Hector and Obita
2017 - 2019: Kelly, McIntyre, Holmes, Richards, Obita (still), Rinomhota.
2019 - now: Olise, McIntyre, Holmes, Richards and more recently a whole batch breaking through.
I would expect the years of greatest risk would be the Stam years where a promising generation were sold elsewhere, but the presence of Obita and Kelly probably saw at least one of them in every squad.
I'm not sure if Shane Long meets all criteria.