Michael John Noonan

Good move considering the calibre of clubs apparently interested. Guessing he'll be straight out on loan unless we want to give him 6 months training around the first team.

Don't know why but I just look at his name and think 'FM regen' too.
 
Our academy definitely needs to be strengthened. For the amount EM has invested he's been let down in terms of genuine quality graduates. Hopefully, this lad and the three-or-four that came in from other PL clubs on scholarship contracts during the summer will provide some return for him.
 
Last edited:
Otis Redding said:
Our academy definitely needs to be strengthened. For the amount EM has invested he's been let down in terms of genuine quality graduates. Hopefully, this lad and the three-or-four that came in from other PL clubs on scholarship conttracts during the summer will provide some return for him.
Click to expand...
The two twins we have just signed from Reading the other day have been putting up big, big numbers the last couple of years too Otis, in terms of both goals and assists.

It definitely feels like this summer the club has concentrated on academy recruitment. I presume Marinakis has grown impatient that we are not producing enough first-team quality through the NDA. It's something a lot of us have been saying for a while now, so I am glad we seem to be doing it.

For the cost of one first-team depth player (or even 1 we buy for Olympiakos like Carmo), you could be incredibly aggressive in the academy market, so it pays dividends.
 
Good signing. You never know at this age, but he certainly looks like he could come good.

Now to move this thread sideways a bit for a second--one idea I think our club would be very wise to do is stick a good scout at judging potential in North America and get him to syphon talent over to our academy. The culture shock would be minimal, and the cost to obtain the actual players would be close to zero, and the potential dividends could be great. I say this because a 16 year old kid named Barry Ogbolu, who recently signed with LA Galaxy, has been called up to our U17s for a tournament in Europe this coming international break. I've reffed Barry since he was about 11, and he was one kid I specifically thought would make it as a top level (ie a top league in Europe) player. 6'0" or so, natural left but has both feet, fast, strong on the ball, intelligent, and he plays as a fullback. Great cross, excellent shot and just a good solid no ego problems kid. I remember standing behind him (it was a 2 man referee system) and watching him pick the top corner from 30 yards out on the left touchline with an absolute rocket when he was 13 or so. One of those goals where it's silent for a couple of seconds before everyone reacts. There are plenty of kids (not tons, but plenty) here with this raw ability--they just need a better environment to develop it in. MLS and our CPL don't quite cut it. Barry Ogbolu will someday be in one of the top leagues in Europe.
 
Master Yates said:
The two twins we have just signed from Reading the other day have been putting up big, big numbers the last couple of years too Otis, in terms of both goals and assists.

It definitely feels like this summer the club has concentrated on academy recruitment. I presume Marinakis has grown impatient that we are not producing enough first-team quality through the NDA. It's something a lot of us have been saying for a while now, so I am glad we seem to be doing it.

For the cost of one first-team depth player (or even 1 we buy for Olympiakos like Carmo), you could be incredibly aggressive in the academy market, so it pays dividends.
Click to expand...
It’s imperative if we want to keep in the PL and hope to be in Europe. You need a handful of HG/U21s in and around the squad to play the odd game, come off the bench etc and keep your established players fit and healthy. Throw in the potential profits from selling the ones that don’t quite make it for us and/or outgrow us and it’s a no brainer.

Youth recruitment by far the best business we have done this year in my opinion and I hope it continues
 
As I suspected, Andy Reid is very involved with this one. Sunday Times reporting: "the former Ireland midfielder Andy Reid, who is now a youth coach at Forest, had played a key role in the club signing Noonan, who was named in the latest international under-21 squad.
“Andy’s got a really detailed plan put in place for Michael,” [under 21 manager Jim] Crawford said. “He’s done his work. He’s been over quite a few times to see him, and I’d be excited now to see where Michael’s going to play.”
 
PynchonForest said:
Good signing. You never know at this age, but he certainly looks like he could come good.

Now to move this thread sideways a bit for a second--one idea I think our club would be very wise to do is stick a good scout at judging potential in North America and get him to syphon talent over to our academy. The culture shock would be minimal, and the cost to obtain the actual players would be close to zero, and the potential dividends could be great. I say this because a 16 year old kid named Barry Ogbolu, who recently signed with LA Galaxy, has been called up to our U17s for a tournament in Europe this coming international break. I've reffed Barry since he was about 11, and he was one kid I specifically thought would make it as a top level (ie a top league in Europe) player. 6'0" or so, natural left but has both feet, fast, strong on the ball, intelligent, and he plays as a fullback. Great cross, excellent shot and just a good solid no ego problems kid. I remember standing behind him (it was a 2 man referee system) and watching him pick the top corner from 30 yards out on the left touchline with an absolute rocket when he was 13 or so. One of those goals where it's silent for a couple of seconds before everyone reacts. There are plenty of kids (not tons, but plenty) here with this raw ability--they just need a better environment to develop it in. MLS and our CPL don't quite cut it. Barry Ogbolu will someday be in one of the top leagues in Europe.
Click to expand...
You've said this before, but the answer is still the same. Unless young Barry or any other kid there has got a British passport, they aren't joining a club in England until they turn 18.
 
Notcher said:
One side of my family is Irish and I regularly go over. Most are based in the Crumlin and Tallaght area so I've actually seen him play twice.

He's definitely a very talented lad and I could see why clubs are after him. The one thing that stuck in my mind with him though was that he tried to do far too much on his own.
Click to expand...
like a certain MGW then............. tidy.
 
duncanmckenzie said:
Can any supporters of years gone by remember that Alan Mahood was going to change the footballing world.
Click to expand...
There has been a fair few.

Our issue is that we’ve grown so much over the last few years, that what would have been potentially good players for us, we’re not up to our increased level.

Hopefully this new intake will be a good fit.
 
Agent Penguin said:
There has been a fair few.

Our issue is that we’ve grown so much over the last few years, that what would have been potentially good players for us, we’re not up to our increased level.

Hopefully this new intake will be a good fit.
Click to expand...
There has certainly been a focused effort recently in getting more young talent into the club. As you've said, the level the youth players had to reach to get into 1st team action has increased massively in what is a relatively short time, hopefully we see some of them push towards the 1st team in the next few years.
 
I see a touch of the Reidy in him. Looks slightly overweight, abit slow, all left foot etc

In all seriousness though, Reidy is probably in my top three Forest players of all time so if he sees something in this lad then trust him.
 
I'm Red Till Dead said:
I see that Cloughie gave him a warm welcome - https://worldfootballindex.com/2022...arnock-forest-and-playing-under-brian-clough/
Click to expand...
Alan Mahood! I actually met him a year before he came to us when my under 11s team watched Kilmarnock play at home (we were on an Easter tour of games in local villages, btw). He was introduced to us as a star of the future. We asked him, “Who do you want to play for one day” and he said, “Nottingham Forest.” He knew his onions.

I hope he doesn’t resent Clougies’ seemingly impolite welcome - it was just the way the great man tried to keep newbies’ feet on the ground. What was it he said to Trevor Francis? “Give it to John Robertson - he’s better than you.”
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom