The Academy/Development squads watch thread 2024/25

[Royals and Racers]

Next up for the Academy teams are
U 18’s Saturday 22nd February v Tottenham KO 11.30am at Bearwood
U 21’s Monday 24th February v West Ham KO 7pm at SCL stadium.

Sharlott
Ahmed
Source
Duah
Harrison
Neptune
Osho
Booth
Howard
Coke-Miles-Smith
George
SUBS
Welland
Dove
Saint-louis
Zie
Irish

Reading 1 Tottenham 0 8 mins George
H-T 1-0

[Sutekh]

U18s PL table
1 Manchester City U18 15 13 1 1 61 13 +48 40
2 Manchester United U18 15 12 2 1 51 11 +40 38
3 Derby County U18 15 9 2 4 51 27 +24 29
4 Southampton U18 16 7 5 4 36 28 +8 26
5 Aston Villa U18 12 8 1 3 28 20 +8 25
6 Crystal Palace U18 17 6 7 4 33 31 +2 25
7 Sunderland FC Under 18 Academy 15 7 2 6 35 29 +6 23
8 Fulham FC Under 18 12 7 1 4 26 17 +9 22
9 Tottenham Hotspur U18 13 6 4 3 36 28 +8 22
10 Chelsea FC Under 18 Academy 14 7 1 6 36 33 +3 22
11 Blackburn Rovers U18 13 7 1 5 30 36 -6 22
12 Everton FC Under 18 Academy 12 7 0 5 23 27 -4 21
13 Arsenal FC Under 18 Academy 12 5 4 3 29 25 +4 19
14 Brighton & Hove Albion U18 15 5 4 6 31 28 +3 19
15 Newcastle United U18 15 5 3 7 30 39 -9 18
16 Wolves U18 14 5 2 7 24 26 -2 17
17 West Ham United U18 13 4 3 6 24 29 -5 15
18 Leicester City U18 15 4 3 8 31 37 -6 15
19 Norwich City U18 13 3 4 6 25 32 -7 13
20 Stoke City FC Under 18 Academy 15 3 4 8 25 38 -13 13
21 Reading FC Under 18 Academy 14 3 4 7 14 28 -14 13
22 Nottingham Forest U18 14 4 1 9 18 40 -22 13
23 West Bromwich Albion U18 14 2 5 7 26 39 -13 11
24 Liverpool FC Under 18 Academy 14 3 2 9 23 38 -15 11
25 Middlesbrough U18 13 3 2 8 19 38 -19 11
26 Leeds United U18 12 0 4 8 12 40 -28 4


U21s PL table
1 Manchester City U21 16 13 1 2 49:19 40
2 Fulham U21 16 12 2 2 42:25 38
3 West Ham U21 14 10 0 4 20:14 30
4 Chelsea U21 16 9 2 5 40:21 29
5 Manchester United U21 15 9 0 6 30:23 27
6 Southampton U21 16 8 3 5 33:29 27
7 Brighton U21 15 7 4 4 34:14 25
8 Crystal Palace U21 15 7 4 4 30:25 25
9 Arsenal U21 15 8 1 6 32:29 25
10 Liverpool U21 15 7 3 5 24:24 24
11 Wolverhampton U21 15 7 3 5 26:27 24
12 Sunderland U21 15 7 2 6 40:28 23
13 Leicester City U21 15 6 3 6 32:25 21
14 Everton U21 15 5 5 5 29:32 20
15 Newcastle U21 15 6 2 7 23:29 20
16 Nottingham Forest U21 14 6 1 7 22:19 19
17 Leeds United U21 14 5 4 5 21:22 19
18 West Bromwich U21 13 5 3 5 25:28 18
19 Reading U21 15 5 3 7 22:30 18
20 Derby County U21 15 5 2 8 21:33 17
21 Norwich City U21 14 4 3 7 23:33 15
22 Tottenham Hotspur U21 16 4 1 11 24:38 13
23 Blackburn Rovers U21 14 3 2 9 22:35 11
24 Middlesbrough U21 14 3 0 11 20:39 9
25 Aston Villa U21 14 2 2 10 18:39 8
26 Stoke City U21 15 1 2 12 12:34 5

[Royals and Racers]

U 18’s are 2 separate division's North and South- winners of each meet to decide who are champions.
Reading 2 Spurs 0 60 mins George
F-T 2-0

[Sutekh]

U 18’s are 2 separate division's North and South- winners of each meet to decide who are champions.
Reading 2 Spurs 0 60 mins George
F-T 2-0

U18s South

Pos Team P HW HD HL HF HA AW AD AL AF AA GD Pts
1 Crystal Palace U18 18 3 5 1 17 16 4 2 3 20 16 +5 28
2 Southampton U18 17 4 2 2 19 15 3 4 2 19 15 +8 27
3 Fulham U18 13 4 1 2 11 11 4 0 2 17 6 +11 25
4 Aston Villa U18 13 4 1 2 14 9 4 0 2 15 15 +5 25
5 Chelsea U18 15 3 2 3 22 21 4 0 3 16 14 +3 23
6 Tottenham U18 14 4 1 1 17 11 2 3 3 19 19 +6 22
7 Brighton U18 16 2 3 3 18 18 4 1 3 16 12 +4 22
8 Arsenal U18 13 3 2 2 15 14 2 2 2 16 14 +3 19
9 West Ham U18 15 1 1 5 13 22 3 4 1 15 11 -5 17
10 Reading U18 15 3 0 4 8 15 1 4 3 8 13 -12 16
11 Leicester U18 15 1 2 6 12 22 3 1 2 19 15 -6 15
12 Norwich U18 13 2 1 2 11 13 1 3 4 14 19 -7 13
13 West Brom U18 15 1 4 3 14 19 1 1 5 12 22 -15 11

[Royals and Racers]

Looks as if West Ham are streaming tonight’s match at the SCL stadium on their You tube channel.
Norcott
Yiadom
Beacroft
Rushesha
Holzman
Akande
Bodin
Abrefa
Borgnis
Spencer
Sackey
SUBS
Rhone
Okine-Peters
Senga
Barough
Osho
H-T 0-0
0-1 49 mins
0-2 64 mins
0-3 90+ 4
F-T 0-3

[Orion1871]

Played pretty well for the most part but let down by poor defending and lack of end product.

Akande impressive, but final ball lacking. Bodin missed our two best chances and looked pretty poor even at this level. Good to see Yiadom complete the 90.

[Hound]

Bit disappointing considering the strength of the side

But yes Yiadom back Saturday if no reaction I assume

[Clyde1998]

Losing 3-0 with that team is concerning. Still good to see Yiadom, Akande and various fringe players getting some good minutes though.

[Fox Talbot]

Remind me please you good people - who was in that very good Youth Cup c2016 that reached the FA YC Semi final (lost to P Roberts Fulham)?

I can recall Stacey and Fosu on the wings, Kelly and Kuhl in midfield - Tshibola too? Full line-up appreciated.

[Snowflake Royal]

Remind me please you good people - who was in that very good Youth Cup c2016 that reached the FA YC Semi final (lost to P Roberts Fulham)?

I can recall Stacey and Fosu on the wings, Kelly and Kuhl in midfield - Tshibola too? Full line-up appreciated.

I don't know, but based on who you think may have been involved, this was a fairly common back 4 around then was Watson, Dickie, Hyam, Owusu. With the older level maybe being Sweeney, Cooper, Long...

Sammy Fridjonsson (The Fridge) rings a bell too. Think Tanner would the older era, Hector and Taylor maybe even older.

[Clyde1998]

Remind me please you good people - who was in that very good Youth Cup c2016 that reached the FA YC Semi final (lost to P Roberts Fulham)?

I can recall Stacey and Fosu on the wings, Kelly and Kuhl in midfield - Tshibola too? Full line-up appreciated.

Same team for both legs:

Lewis Ward
Tennai Watson - Rob Dickie - Dominic Hyam - Nana Owusu
Aaron Kuhl (c) - Samuel Fridjonsson
Jack Stacey - Liam Kelly - Tarique Fosu
Harry Cardwell

Subs: Aleks Gogic; George McLennan; Noor Husin; Conor Shaughnessy; De'Juane Taylor-Crossdale

[Brogue]

Remind me please you good people - who was in that very good Youth Cup c2016 that reached the FA YC Semi final (lost to P Roberts Fulham)?

I can recall Stacey and Fosu on the wings, Kelly and Kuhl in midfield - Tshibola too? Full line-up appreciated.

it was a two leg affair and was 2014 not 2016 the both fixtures had the following lineups

Gk Lewis ward
CB Rob Dickie
CB Dominic Hyam
FB Tennai Watson
FB Jack Stacey
MF Nana Owusu
MF Samúel Friðjónsson
MF Aaron Khul
MF Liam Kelly
F Tariqe Fosu
F Harry Caldwell

Subs
A. Gogic
C. Shaughnessy
G. Mclennan
N. Husin
D. Taylor-Crossdale

[Sutekh]

Not a bad set of players overall, could have done better when selling them on though.

All are now in their late 20s.

Player - current club
Lewis Ward - Wimbledon
Rob Dickie - Bristol City
Dom Hyman - Blackburn Rovers
Tennai Watson - Charlton Athletic
Jack Stacey - Norwich City
Nana Owusu - Enfield Town
Samuel Fridjonnson - Stjarnan and Iceland
Aaron Kuhl - Farnborough
Liam Kelly - MK Dons
Tariq Fosu - Northampton Town
Harry Cardwell - Forest Green Rovers

Conor Shaughnessy - Portsmouth

Don’t know what happened to Gogic, McLennan, Hussin or Taylor-Crossdale

[Fox Talbot]

Thanks. Very high ratio to make into the League football. Forgotten Cardwell at CF, he went on to play for Grimsby.

Next and last one. We beat Man City at the Madstad to win some PL U21 Cup final c2007-10, thinkAlex Pearce was in the side.

Be interested to know the lineups for both sides in that. Ta ever so.

[Clyde1998]

Not a bad set of players overall, could have done better when selling them on though.

All are now in their late 20s.

Player - current club
Lewis Ward - Wimbledon
Rob Dickie - Bristol City
Dom Hyman - Blackburn Rovers
Tennai Watson - Charlton Athletic
Jack Stacey - Norwich City
Nana Owusu - Enfield Town
Samuel Fridjonnson - Stjarnan and Iceland
Aaron Kuhl - Farnborough
Liam Kelly - MK Dons
Tariq Fosu - Northampton Town
Harry Cardwell - Forest Green Rovers

Conor Shaughnessy - Portsmouth

Don’t know what happened to Gogic, McLennan, Hussin or Taylor-Crossdale

If you take their minutes/90 minute equivalents at League One level or above (bold played international football), split by division:

1. Jack Stacey - Premier League (1,843 / 20.5) + Championship (9,648 / 107.2) + League One (4,050 / 45.0)
2. Samuel Fridjonnson - Bundesliga (190 / 2.1) + Norway Top Flight (6,616 / 73.5) + Greece Top Flight (2,078 / 23.1) + Iceland (300 / 3.3)
3. Tariqe Fosu - Premier League (16 / 0.2) + Championship (4,891 / 54.3) + League One (6,766 / 75.2) + Ghana (332 / 3.7)
4. Liam Kelly - Eredivise (90 / 1.0) + Championship (5,624 / 62.5) + League One (1,711 / 19.0)
5. Alex Gogic - Scottish Premiership (17,457 / 193.7)
6. Conor Shaughnessy - Scottish Premiership (855 / 9.5) + Championship (881 / 9.8) + League One (9,473 / 105.3)
7. Aaron Kuhl - Scottish Premiership (450 / 5.0) + Championship (305 / 3.4)
8. Dom Hyam - Championship (17,136 / 190.4) + League One (5,785 / 62.3) + Scotland (1 / 0.01)
9. Rob Dickie - Championship (15,803 / 175.6) + League One (7,836 / 87.1)
10. Tennai Watson - Championship (99 / 1.1) + League One (9,161 / 101.8)

The rest at their highest level (plus Aaron Kuhl who didn't play at League One or higher after leaving Reading):

1. Lewis Ward - League Two (5,538 / 61.5)
2. Noor Husin - League Two (2,648 / 29.4) + Afghanistan (1,519 / 16.8)
3. Harry Cardwell - League Two (1,649 / 18.3)
4. George McLennan - National League (4,521 / 50.2)
5. Aaron Kuhl - National League (1,463 / 16.3)
6. Nana Owusu - National League (1,396 / 15.5)

De'Juane Taylor-Crossdale seems to be the only one who didn't make it at any club after leaving Reading.

Total minutes at or above League One level:

1. Rob Dickie - 23,639 / 262.7
2. Dom Hyam - 22,922 / 254.7
3. Alex Gogic - 17,457 / 193.7
4. Jack Stacey - 15,541 / 172.7
5. Tariqe Fosu - 12,005 / 133.4
6. Conor Shaughnessy - 11,209 / 124.5
7. Tennai Watson - 9,260 / 102.9
8. Samuel Fridjonnson - 9,184 / 102.0
9. Liam Kelly - 7,425 / 82.5
10. Aaron Kuhl - 755 / 8.4

[Sutekh]

Not a bad set of players overall, could have done better when selling them on though.

All are now in their late 20s.

Player - current club
Lewis Ward - Wimbledon
Rob Dickie - Bristol City
Dom Hyman - Blackburn Rovers
Tennai Watson - Charlton Athletic
Jack Stacey - Norwich City
Nana Owusu - Enfield Town
Samuel Fridjonnson - Stjarnan and Iceland
Aaron Kuhl - Farnborough
Liam Kelly - MK Dons
Tariq Fosu - Northampton Town
Harry Cardwell - Forest Green Rovers

Conor Shaughnessy - Portsmouth

Don’t know what happened to Gogic, McLennan, Hussin or Taylor-Crossdale

If you take their minutes/90 minute equivalents at League One level or above (bold played international football), split by division:

1. Jack Stacey - Premier League (1,843 / 20.5) + Championship (9,648 / 107.2) + League One (4,050 / 45.0)
2. Samuel Fridjonnson - Bundesliga (190 / 2.1) + Norway Top Flight (6,616 / 73.5) + Greece Top Flight (2,078 / 23.1) + Iceland (300 / 3.3)
3. Tariqe Fosu - Premier League (16 / 0.2) + Championship (4,891 / 54.3) + League One (6,766 / 75.2) + Ghana (332 / 3.7)
4. Liam Kelly - Eredivise (90 / 1.0) + Championship (5,624 / 62.5) + League One (1,711 / 19.0)
5. Alex Gogic - Scottish Premiership (17,457 / 193.7)
6. Conor Shaughnessy - Scottish Premiership (855 / 9.5) + Championship (881 / 9. + League One (9,473 / 105.3)
7. Aaron Kuhl - Scottish Premiership (450 / 5.0) + Championship (305 / 3.4)
8. Dom Hyam - Championship (17,136 / 190.4) + League One (5,785 / 62.3) + Scotland (1 / 0.01)
9. Rob Dickie - Championship (15,803 / 175.6) + League One (7,836 / 87.1)
10. Tennai Watson - Championship (99 / 1.1) + League One (9,161 / 101.

The rest at their highest level (plus Aaron Kuhl who didn't play at League One or higher after leaving Reading):

1. Lewis Ward - League Two (5,538 / 61.5)
2. Noor Husin - League Two (2,648 / 29.4) + Afghanistan (1,519 / 16.
3. Harry Cardwell - League Two (1,649 / 18.3)
4. George McLennan - National League (4,521 / 50.2)
5. Aaron Kuhl - National League (1,463 / 16.3)
6. Nana Owusu - National League (1,396 / 15.5)

De'Juane Taylor-Crossdale seems to be the only one who didn't make it at any club after leaving Reading.

Total minutes at or above League One level:

1. Rob Dickie - 23,639 / 262.7
2. Dom Hyam - 22,922 / 254.7
3. Alex Gogic - 17,457 / 193.7
4. Jack Stacey - 15,541 / 172.7
5. Tariqe Fosu - 12,005 / 133.4
6. Conor Shaughnessy - 11,209 / 124.5
7. Tennai Watson - 9,260 / 102.9
8. Samuel Fridjonnson - 9,184 / 102.0
9. Liam Kelly - 7,425 / 82.5
10. Aaron Kuhl - 755 / 8.4

Excellent interesting work, thanks!

I think I found De'Juane Taylor-Crossdale on LinkedIn and looks like he’s “retired’ from the playing side. Looks to be an Academy Manager at Nigel James Elite Coaching as well as a Director of the Transition Football Academy and the head of sports and outreach students at ESG. So would suggest the Academy at Reading is not only a success at turning out players but also pretty good at giving them the basics to make it in sports management and coaching businesses too.

[Clyde1998]

Excellent interesting work, thanks!

I think I found De'Juane Taylor-Crossdale on LinkedIn and looks like he’s “retired’ from the playing side. Looks to be an Academy Manager at Nigel James Elite Coaching as well as a Director of the Transition Football Academy and the head of sports and outreach students at ESG. So would suggest the Academy at Reading is not only a success at turning out players but also pretty good at giving them the basics to make it in sports management and coaching businesses too.

Good to see he went onto something good. Clubs have become very good at directing players into a good career if they don't become a professional footballer.

As an aside: I found out about someone called Tom Reynolds in a Sky Sports documentary series about academies (Chasing the Dream). He didn't make it as a player at West Ham and Charlton, but Reading gave him an opportunity as a data analyst for the academy for a short while. He's currently a scout at Eintracht Frankfurt. There's an article about him here and his LinkedIn is here.

The video is here (it's only about a minute for that segment). The full series, which I highly recommend, is available on YouTube here.

[Brogue]

Thanks. Very high ratio to make into the League football. Forgotten Cardwell at CF, he went on to play for Grimsby.

Next and last one. We beat Man City at the Madstad to win some PL U21 Cup final c2007-10, thinkAlex Pearce was in the side.

Be interested to know the lineups for both sides in that. Ta ever so.

Twas 2014

Reading: Lincoln, Long (Fosu 68), Griffin, Keown, Cooper, Sweeney (c), Tshibola, Stacey, Kelly, Tanner, Ugwu.
Subs: Ward, Murombedzi, Fridjonsson, Cardwell.

https://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/2014/a ... p-winners/

[Sutekh]

Thanks. Very high ratio to make into the League football. Forgotten Cardwell at CF, he went on to play for Grimsby.

Next and last one. We beat Man City at the Madstad to win some PL U21 Cup final c2007-10, thinkAlex Pearce was in the side.

Be interested to know the lineups for both sides in that. Ta ever so.

Twas 2014

Reading: Lincoln, Long (Fosu 68), Griffin, Keown, Cooper, Sweeney (c), Tshibola, Stacey, Kelly, Tanner, Ugwu.
Subs: Ward, Murombedzi, Fridjonsson, Cardwell.

https://www.readingfc.co.uk/news/2014/a ... p-winners/

Dan Lincoln while goalkeeping he has also been a cricketer for Berkshire and Middlesex as well as the 2nd XIs for Gloucs, Hants, Kent, Warwicks and Northants, as a keeper he’s now on the books of Salisbury
Sean Long now at Forest Green Rovers after 6 years at Cheltenham
Niall Keown now youth coach at Oxford after having to retire through injury in 2019
Jake Cooper now on over 300 apps at Millwall
Pierce Sweeney been at Exeter for almost 10 years now
Aaron Tshibola now turning out for Lamia in Greece
Craig Tanner now with AFC Totten
Gozie Ugwu has taken the Saudi dollar and now plays for al-Ain
Shepherd Takunda Murombedzi last heard of at Brackley Town
Shane Griffin now at Cobh Wanderers in Ireland

Ward see earlier teams above
Fosu see earlier teams above
Stacey see earlier teams above
Kelly see earlier teams above
Fridjonsson see earlier teams above
Cardwell see earlier teams above

[Royals and Racers]

U 21’s have a long break until Monday 17th March when they play Wolves away in a PL 2 fixture.
The U 18’s however have 2 matches over the next 7 days
Saturday 1st March away to Norwich KO 1pm League fixture
Wednesday 5th March Liverpool away KO 12pm in the semi- final of the PL U 18 cup.