Ethan Laidlaw

[sleeping giant]

16 years old Striker on the bench today.

He must be absolutely buzzing.

Good luck to the boy.

[Billy Whizz]

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16 years old Striker on the bench today.

He must be absolutely buzzing.

Good luck to the boy.

Wonder if he scored for us on Thursday night, in the Elite League

[sleeping giant]

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Wonder if he scored for us on Thursday night, in the Elite League

I know nothing about him Billy.

Dream come true stuff.
I hope we are far enough in front so he gets on.

[brog]

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Wonder if he scored for us on Thursday night, in the Elite League

Believe he scored a pen, possibly 2 and/or a free kick. I think our goals were 2 pens and 2 free kicks. It's poor that there's no info on our site.

[Torto7]

Wasn't he on trial at Wolves? He must be highly rated. I just googled and it was Leeds he was on trial with. I've just read he's due to go on trial with Man Utd this week. C

[Perfectly Loud]

Great name. Sounds like he should be facing the Earps or Clantons at OK Corral.
Not many Ethans about. Greyskull is definitely No Country For Old Men.

[bingo70]

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Wasn't he on trial at Wolves? He must be highly rated. I just googled and it was Leeds he was on trial with. I've just read he's due to go on trial with Man Utd this week. C

https://twitter.com/leahsmith_/status/1381256863795326976?s=21

Yeah, going on trial with Man Utd for a week according to her.

Must have some potential. Really exciting to have a young prospect like that on our books, hope we get to see him before he moves on.

[Scouse Hibee]

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Wasn't he on trial at Wolves? He must be highly rated. I just googled and it was Leeds he was on trial with. I've just read he's due to go on trial with Man Utd this week. C

Excuse my ignorance but why are we allowing a player who recently signed as a pro with us to go for trials at other clubs?

[Since90+2]

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Excuse my ignorance but why are we allowing a player who recently signed as a pro with us to go for trials at other clubs?

Because if a club the size of Man Utd are impressed enough whilst they see him up close for a week we'll be getting a good whack of a transfer fee. And it's great experience for a kid that age to go down and train with a club like Man Utd.

Don't see any downside to it at all.

[Ringothedog]

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Excuse my ignorance but why are we allowing a player who recently signed as a pro with us to go for trials at other clubs?

Because money talks and we don’t have much. Sad but true

[Stuart93]

We may as well scrap our youth system if lads are being poached by big clubs down south before they’ve even broke into our first team.

Seems pointless bringing these lads up from youths for them to leave before they break through, there’s little advantage for us apart from receiving a small fee compared to what could be a hefty fee if they turned out to be good for us/the first team.

When was the last time we brought through a young lad in our own academy and sold them on for a good fee?

If all of the “good” players are poached by teams down south what are we left with?

Suppose it’s catch 22 really. Difficult to know what’s best for us as a club.

[Viva_Palmeiras]

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We may as well scrap our youth system if lads are being poached by big clubs down south before they’ve even broke into our first team.

Seems pointless bringing these lads up from youths for them to leave before they break through, there’s little advantage for us apart from receiving a small fee compared to what could be a hefty fee if they turned out to be good for us/the first team.

When was the last time we brought through a young lad in our own academy and sold them on for a good fee?

If all of the “good” players are poached by teams down south what are we left with?

Suppose it’s catch 22 really. Difficult to know what’s best for us as a club.

Could be viewed as a compliment for the academy. If it needs to bring in some revenue this is could be viewed as one income stream?

This is of course on the other hand a flaw with the “conveyer belt” system. The easiest way to disrupt it... have other teams hoover up the talent before they get to the first team...

Surely either way you want to develop a well Renowned academy for attracting and developing talent (which includes coaching.

You could view this as a kinda secondary market. If these kids are talented enough and we can’t keep them - even if we attract them should we not get a wedge for our efforts?

Wonder the extend to which the stats and sports science contribute to attract interest...

[The dalmeny]

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We may as well scrap our youth system if lads are being poached by big clubs down south before they’ve even broke into our first team.

Seems pointless bringing these lads up from youths for them to leave before they break through, there’s little advantage for us apart from receiving a small fee compared to what could be a hefty fee if they turned out to be good for us/the first team.

When was the last time we brought through a young lad in our own academy and sold them on for a good fee?

If all of the “good” players are poached by teams down south what are we left with?

Suppose it’s catch 22 really. Difficult to know what’s best for us as a club.

I think this is a pretty poor point of view even putting aside the requirement to have an academy for participate in European competition.

If the lad's signed a contract then, I believe, and move is done under market value rather than compensation so there's the potential for some decent money.

You would be a pretty ***** person to prevent a laddie going on a trial with an EPL club (although you might want some control when he goes for trial), especially when there's no guarantee of anything coming from it. I could imagine a young player could become quite resentful might not encourage him to stay on when his contract is up. What we can offer is a potential for first team football, a 16yo isn't going to get near the Man Utd or Wolves first team.

It's also a big life event to move away from home a that age, yes some do it but there are loads who aren't ready for it.

[Since90+2]

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I think this is a pretty poor point of view even putting aside the requirement to have an academy for participate in European competition.

If the lad's signed a contract then, I believe, and move is done under market value rather than compensation so there's the potential for some decent money.

You would be a pretty ***** person to prevent a laddie going on a trial with an EPL club (although you might want some control when he goes for trial), especially when there's no guarantee of anything coming from it. I could imagine a young player could become quite resentful might not encourage him to stay on when his contract is up. What we can offer is a potential for first team football, a 16yo isn't going to get near the Man Utd or Wolves first team.

It's also a big life event to move away from home a that age, yes some do it but there are loads who aren't ready for it.

Totally agree. You can't prevent a boy at 16 the chance to go and sign for Manchester United.

They might not be the force they once were but they are still one of the biggest clubs in the world and the biggest in the UK.

[fiolex1]

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We may as well scrap our youth system if lads are being poached by big clubs down south before they’ve even broke into our first team.

Seems pointless bringing these lads up from youths for them to leave before they break through, there’s little advantage for us apart from receiving a small fee compared to what could be a hefty fee if they turned out to be good for us/the first team.

When was the last time we brought through a young lad in our own academy and sold them on for a good fee?

If all of the “good” players are poached by teams down south what are we left with?

Suppose it’s catch 22 really. Difficult to know what’s best for us as a club.

Difficult one tbh. How many young players have broke in to the 1st team and came to nothing and end up being freed. I think it is difficult to get the right balance. We are doing something right though, the very fact our junior and senior players are attracting attention. I would love these promising players to stay but we can’t compete for the money these guys are looking for and the further development opportunities.I guess we will see Hibs intent on who replaces Porteous,Nesbit and Doig but like you point out if we’re cashing in on the raw talent we won’t have players coming through the ranks to replace these guys.

[calumhibee1]

Is this starting to happen more and more because of Brexit?

I presume a lot of these young boys are now being looked at because going and signing boys from abroad isn’t as easy an option anymore?

[BoltonHibee]

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Is this starting to happen more and more because of Brexit?

I presume a lot of these young boys are now being looked at because going and signing boys from abroad isn’t as easy an option anymore?

Yes


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[calumhibee1]

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Yes


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Probably is worth considering how beneficial a full youth academy is in that case. We could start getting into the territory of never managing to have a proper good player see it all the way through to the first team.

[The dalmeny]

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Probably is worth considering how beneficial a full youth academy is in that case. We could start getting into the territory of never managing to have a proper good player see it all the way through to the first team.

What we're seeing here is folk only looking at it from the Club's viewpoint and not the player and the problem with a lot of football fans is they don't understand ITS JUST A JOB.

You do your apprenticeship somewhere you might stay on, you might go to a bigger company you might go to a smaller company you might go for somewhere more money you might go somewhere for less but better conditions.

If the main motivator is money (and you're good enough) its very unlikely the best players will stay at any Scottish club so you cut your cloth accordingly

[green day]

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Is this starting to happen more and more because of Brexit?

I presume a lot of these young boys are now being looked at because going and signing boys from abroad isn’t as easy an option anymore?

This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

Yes
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I was wondering that myself - couldnt remember a season where potentially 3 youngsters left between Christmas and May for clubs down South, although I might be wrong?

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Probably is worth considering how beneficial a full youth academy is in that case. We could start getting into the territory of never managing to have a proper good player see it all the way through to the first team.

Dont we need one for Euro qualification?

[calumhibee1]

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I was wondering that myself - couldnt remember a season where potentially 3 youngsters left between Christmas and May for clubs down South, although I might be wrong?



Dont we need one for Euro qualification?

We do, but I wonder how much of one we need?

Can we pack it in any younger than under 20s? Do we need to go down to under 12s etc?

[calumhibee1]

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What we're seeing here is folk only looking at it from the Club's viewpoint and not the player and the problem with a lot of football fans is they don't understand ITS JUST A JOB.

You do your apprenticeship somewhere you might stay on, you might go to a bigger company you might go to a smaller company you might go for somewhere more money you might go somewhere for less but better conditions.

If the main motivator is money (and you're good enough) its very unlikely the best players will stay at any Scottish club so you cut your cloth accordingly

Of course.

We invest significant sums of money into our youth team though. Our model relies on us having the odd player come out of it that we can sell for good money to keep it sustainable.

If the best we’re going to get is a few 100k before they’ve even made a first team appearance then I’d suggest we’re at the point where we’ll be throwing money away.

I have no issues with the young lads wanting to go but from the clubs point of view I’m not sure it makes a lot of sense going forward for us to invest large sums in players that won’t ever play first team for us and won’t generate big money if that’s the way it starts to go.

[The dalmeny]

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Of course.

We invest significant sums of money into our youth team though. Our model relies on us having the odd player come out of it that we can sell for good money to keep it sustainable.

If the best we’re going to get is a few 100k before they’ve even made a first team appearance then I’d suggest we’re at the point where we’ll be throwing money away.

I have no issues with the young lads wanting to go but from the clubs point of view I’m not sure it makes a lot of sense going forward for us to invest large sums in players that won’t ever play first team for us and won’t generate big money if that’s the way it starts to go.

Fair points but are we investing large sums of money on INDIVIDUAL players? Hasn't there just been one of the Dundee United youth players turned down a move down south because the opportunity for first team football was so much better up here? He gets experience becomes a better player and his value goes up ?

[calumhibee1]

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Fair points but are we investing large sums of money on INDIVIDUAL players? Hasn't there just been one of the Dundee United youth players turned down a move down south because the opportunity for first team football was so much better up here? He gets experience becomes a better player and his value goes up ?

I can’t remember the figures but I’m sure it’s a pretty reasonable sum we invest in the whole set up overall. Individually it’s maybe not huge sums but then you’ve got to remember that probably around 98% of the players we invest time and money in get released for nothing. The other 2% are the ones we’re looking for to make money to make it worth our while.

I’m sure Brentford down south sacked off their academy and spent the money on trying to recruit the best players dropping out the big teams academies because it was way more financially viable. They’re doing really well out of it.

[Hibbyradge]

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We may as well scrap our youth system if lads are being poached by big clubs down south before they’ve even broke into our first team.

Seems pointless bringing these lads up from youths for them to leave before they break through, there’s little advantage for us apart from receiving a small fee compared to what could be a hefty fee if they turned out to be good for us/the first team.

When was the last time we brought through a young lad in our own academy and sold them on for a good fee?

If all of the “good” players are poached by teams down south what are we left with?

Suppose it’s catch 22 really. Difficult to know what’s best for us as a club.

Not every player will be good enough to play for EPL or championship teams, but they might well be good enough to be successful in the SPFL.

Also, loads of players don't show their real ability until they're much older.

In the case of Ethan Laidlaw, I don't know how long a contract he signed, but it's unlikely to be more than a couple of years, if that, and it'll be for sweeties.

If he really is that good, he'll continue to hone his skills and just wait 18 months until he can sign a pre-contract elsewhere. If that happens, Hibs get the minimum development fee.

This way, it's a win win win.

[andudare2]

Until the club deem it to be an unwarranted expense, something i would not hold my breath waiting on,then surely they are the best judges on this ?

[SMAXXA]

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Until the club deem it to be an unwarranted expense, something i would not hold my breath waiting on,then surely they are the best judges on this ?

Prize for most obvious post of the week 😂, course it is but doesn’t stop people debating the merits of it 🤷*♂️

[Gaffer1875]

In my daughters year at school in prestonpans, wish him nothing but the best.


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[Stuart93]

Just want to say I wish the lad the best whatever he ends up doing, wouldn’t blame the lad or any young player for jumping at the opportunity to play down south.

Would be a shame for him or any of them to disappear into english footballing abyss.

Just seen the post above and the fact he’s a panner makes me wish nothing but the worst for him 😁

[calumhibee1]

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Until the club deem it to be an unwarranted expense, something i would not hold my breath waiting on,then surely they are the best judges on this ?

Well yes but if that’s the criteria for whether something can be discussed then we’d be as well just shutting the forum down.