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Post by welshrover on Oct 15, 2023 11:04:51 GMT
Wrexham AFC are pleased to announce Aaron James has signed his first professional contract with the Football Club. Defender James, 16, follows Wrexham AFC Youth team-mates Tom Jenkins, Will Mountfield, Dan Jones and Kai Evans in signing his first professional contract with the club – each having signed 18-month contracts. And on penning a professional deal, he said: “It’s really exciting. I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved over the last couple of years. “Half of my family is Welsh so they’re really proud that I’ve signed at a Welsh club, and I’m really proud of myself to have achieved so much. Taken from www.wrexhamafc.co.uk/news/2021/december/signed--aaron-james-signs-first-professional-contract/Half our team will be James soon. One shirt could cover three players and a nod to Robbie as well! |
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Post by twofootedtackle on Oct 28, 2023 21:21:08 GMT
Young Canadian born centre back for Bristol City has a Welsh mum according to Wikipedia. 18 and made appearance today
Jamie Mathieu Knight-Lebel
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Post by vaulksthrowfanclub on Oct 28, 2023 21:43:33 GMT
Young Canadian born centre back for Bristol City has a Welsh mum according to Wikipedia. 18 and made appearance today Jamie Mathieu Knight-Lebel Also states that here too canadasoccer.com/profile/?id=55761&teamId=2078 . Aberystwyth born mother apparently. Be interesting to know if the FAW are aware. |
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Post by twofootedtackle on Oct 28, 2023 21:46:05 GMT
Canadian social media all over him making his debut today. Will interesting to know if FAW are aware.
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Post by allezlesrouges on Oct 28, 2023 22:08:59 GMT
Young Canadian born centre back for Bristol City has a Welsh mum according to Wikipedia. 18 and made appearance today Jamie Mathieu Knight-Lebel Also states that here too canadasoccer.com/profile/?id=55761&teamId=2078 . Aberystwyth born mother apparently. Be interesting to know if the FAW are aware. are the FAW aware? |
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Post by morg on Oct 29, 2023 6:34:22 GMT
Good spot twofootedtackle.
Grew up in Bristol. Surprised if he hasn't been on our radar. I guess if it doesn't come from the player, then you can't pick em all up. Dad's Canadian and they're French speaking. Captain of City's U21s at 18 and has played U20 for Canada. Don't know how strong the Welsh ties are but never underestimate the 'Mam' factor. Might be worth an attempted steal if he's any good.
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Post by dragonsoccer on Oct 29, 2023 7:51:53 GMT
Knight-Lebel - info passed on
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Post by dragonsoccer on Oct 29, 2023 13:44:14 GMT
been told FA Wales are aware of the player
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Post by swindragon on Jan 6, 2024 21:25:38 GMT
Dylan Williams - Chelsea youngster in their match day squad today born in Shrewsbury. Got to have some welsh heritage there you’d think?
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Post by allezlesrouges on Jan 7, 2024 11:25:59 GMT
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Post by hooky on Jan 7, 2024 11:58:55 GMT
Different sport but in rugby, a highly talented Welsh born and bred 21 year old, who even speaks a little Welsh, has just committed to play for England. So sad
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Post by morg on Jan 7, 2024 16:19:59 GMT
Different sport but in rugby, a highly talented Welsh born and bred 21 year old, who even speaks a little Welsh, has just committed to play for England. So sad Feyi-Waboso Very sad. If Cardiff Uni had offered him a place, he'd probably be playing for Wales.Weird decision. English fans/media who poke fun at our English born players really need to remember their track record in rugby and cricket. |
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Post by hooky on Jan 7, 2024 16:32:58 GMT
Different sport but in rugby, a highly talented Welsh born and bred 21 year old, who even speaks a little Welsh, has just committed to play for England. So sad Feyi-Waboso Very sad. If Cardiff Uni had offered him a place, he'd probably be playing for Wales.Weird decision. English fans/media who poke fun at our English born players really need to remember their track record in rugby and cricket. I have worked it out Exeter offered him a long term 5y contract a week ago. At the time I thought that is a good sign for us as he can get 25 caps by then. I now realise it must have had strings attached - like - we can only offer you this 5y contract to match your medical studies in Exeter if you continue to be eligible for England (given restrictions on non-qualified players and quotas). We'll give you this but you need to be committed to team England - by the way its £25k a match and it will add several hundred thousands to your annual earnings. Coercion + £££ = Problem fixed for a shallow England back 3 Maybe England should work out why they have to plunder other nations players despite having 25x the playing numbers of Wales I mention here as in football England seem to be working harder to capture all dual qualified players showing even a small amount of talent in their system. To think they even contacted Neco to consider opting for England |
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Post by mortillsy on Jan 7, 2024 22:07:33 GMT
Feyi-Waboso Very sad. If Cardiff Uni had offered him a place, he'd probably be playing for Wales.Weird decision. English fans/media who poke fun at our English born players really need to remember their track record in rugby and cricket. I have worked it out Exeter offered him a long term 5y contract a week ago. At the time I thought that is a good sign for us as he can get 25 caps by then. I now realise it must have had strings attached - like - we can only offer you this 5y contract to match your medical studies in Exeter if you continue to be eligible for England (given restrictions on non-qualified players and quotas). We'll give you this but you need to be committed to team England - by the way its £25k a match and it will add several hundred thousands to your annual earnings. Coercion + £££ = Problem fixed for a shallow England back 3 Maybe England should work out why they have to plunder other nations players despite having 25x the playing numbers of Wales I mention here as in football England seem to be working harder to capture all dual qualified players showing even a small amount of talent in their system. To think they even contacted Neco to consider opting for England Yeah, what a shocker this is! What a mess. I’ve always wondered if you were Hookd from the Gwlad forum. They don’t give you an inch on there! 😆 |
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Post by hooky on Jan 8, 2024 11:01:39 GMT
I have worked it out Exeter offered him a long term 5y contract a week ago. At the time I thought that is a good sign for us as he can get 25 caps by then. I now realise it must have had strings attached - like - we can only offer you this 5y contract to match your medical studies in Exeter if you continue to be eligible for England (given restrictions on non-qualified players and quotas). We'll give you this but you need to be committed to team England - by the way its £25k a match and it will add several hundred thousands to your annual earnings. Coercion + £££ = Problem fixed for a shallow England back 3 Maybe England should work out why they have to plunder other nations players despite having 25x the playing numbers of Wales I mention here as in football England seem to be working harder to capture all dual qualified players showing even a small amount of talent in their system. To think they even contacted Neco to consider opting for England Yeah, what a shocker this is! What a mess. I’ve always wondered if you were Hookd from the Gwlad forum. They don’t give you an inch on there! 😆 I try to ignore the haters - you can't let them win by driving you off forums  and there are a few of them. I think it started happening when I disclosed I was an analyst working in a bank. My dad works on the council as a plasterer / tiler and my brother as a double glazing installer and I come from Bargoed though so that should balance their hostility! I can see they maybe get annoyed with me posting too much and my sometimes over the top passion for Wales / situations but they are sad in their intent as I almost expect their insults now when I post a certain type of comment! If they actually look back at what I write and when I wrote it they can see I pick up a lot of things they don't (not surprising given what I do) - the WRU loan covenants, the Feyi-Waboso issue and in time - the legality of what England are doing (no way that would not have to change if legally challenged!) People on here are so nice generally and respectful, even if you say something they strongly disagree with! |
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Post by morg on Jan 8, 2024 12:33:02 GMT
Good old Gwl@d what a flawed work of genius that is. Long time lurker there. Far too afraid to post most of the time How does he qualify for England anyway? There seems to be some talk of 'English heritage' all of a sudden. Good luck playing on the wing for England. Buy some thermals butty bach. |
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Post by hooky on Jan 8, 2024 12:40:37 GMT
haha - so true!
Vast majority think its residency grounds (which would not be sufficient) but a couple have referenced a grandparent. It would be hilarious if the grandparent is never documented / does not exist and they get embarrassed by this. I know the boy's circumstances of pursing medicine are a key part but I think there is definitely a bit of gun for hire mentality where he is seeing the cash in his hands (£25k per game match fee and other various sizeable incentives) and reckoning that is worth more to me than what being Welsh is. Really sad in my opinion but as you can see expressing such things gets you shot at by the usual bunch there. Funny that comments I have made get ignored at times then the next day they are basically putting pages down covering the issue I highlighted - such as the coercion of using a long term contract to induce him to sign up to team England. They really are quite odd and hypercritic at times.
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Post by fiveattheback on Jan 8, 2024 13:02:42 GMT
haha - so true! Vast majority think its residency grounds (which would not be sufficient) but a couple have referenced a grandparent. It would be hilarious if the grandparent is never documented / does not exist and they get embarrassed by this. I know the boy's circumstances of pursing medicine are a key part but I think there is definitely a bit of gun for hire mentality where he is seeing the cash in his hands (£25k per game match fee and other various sizeable incentives) and reckoning that is worth more to me than what being Welsh is. Really sad in my opinion but as you can see expressing such things gets you shot at by the usual bunch there. Funny that comments I have made get ignored at times then the next day they are basically putting pages down covering the issue I highlighted - such as the coercion of using a long term contract to induce him to sign up to team England. They really are quite odd and hypercritic at times. Quite poor if no contact from WRU is true though, can you imagine the FAW doing similar over a talented dual qualified youngster? WRU seems stuck in the idea that playing rugby for Wales is the greatest thing in the world and are reluctant to put in the kind of work the FAW do |
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Post by hooky on Jan 8, 2024 13:08:37 GMT
haha - so true! Vast majority think its residency grounds (which would not be sufficient) but a couple have referenced a grandparent. It would be hilarious if the grandparent is never documented / does not exist and they get embarrassed by this. I know the boy's circumstances of pursing medicine are a key part but I think there is definitely a bit of gun for hire mentality where he is seeing the cash in his hands (£25k per game match fee and other various sizeable incentives) and reckoning that is worth more to me than what being Welsh is. Really sad in my opinion but as you can see expressing such things gets you shot at by the usual bunch there. Funny that comments I have made get ignored at times then the next day they are basically putting pages down covering the issue I highlighted - such as the coercion of using a long term contract to induce him to sign up to team England. They really are quite odd and hypercritic at times. Quite poor if no contact from WRU is true though, can you imagine the FAW doing similar over a talented dual qualified youngster? WRU seems stuck in the idea that playing rugby for Wales is the greatest thing in the world and are reluctant to put in the kind of work the FAW do Who knows what has gone on behind the scenes. My only worry is that Gatland seems to have been away in New Zealand for a month and you wonder if an in person charm offensive from him (compared to that offered by gormless Steve Borthwick) would have made a difference. Probably not but his decision seemed finely balanced. We'd better stop talking about rugby otherwise I'll get the level of abuse I am used to on Gwlad! |
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Post by janglingjack on Jan 8, 2024 13:43:54 GMT
Our whole national team has been raised by the english league system,bit rich to start whining when something goes against us (i know that guy is not a football player just talking generally).Our whole nations team is dependant on that country you all hate so much,that stings huh but sadly it is a fact,maybe shock horror our national league might start producing a few players every decade to join decent teams and start the journey to maybe the national team,,won't hold my fucking breath though.
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Post by hooky on Jan 8, 2024 13:58:07 GMT
Our whole national team has been raised by the english league system,bit rich to start whining when something goes against us (i know that guy is not a football player just talking generally).Our whole nations team is dependant on that country you all hate so much,that stings huh but sadly it is a fact,maybe shock horror our national league might start producing a few players every decade to join decent teams and start the journey to maybe the national team,,won't hold my fucking breath though. The difference is though that English football is not trying to trap Welsh players into becoming England players given their financial dependency and do not have this joke residency rule either. Its so disgusting. We are all supposedly British - Exeter is an English but also a British university and yet they are using this and what appears to be discriminatory measures (a contract which may only be available to England qualified players) to ensure the guy falls into their pathway. I think the guy is swayed by the financial rewards a bit too to be fair but its quite incredible this is allowed and I doubt its legal. There are 20 or so Welsh teens attached to English rugby clubs and they are encouraging them to represent England U20s - already 2 from the Welsh heartlands - one of whom speaks Welsh is in their U20s squad. Disgusting but the WRU are so hopeless they do nothing about it Football is nothing like that. Such bullshit is the reason why rugby will only ever be a minority sport. Use Wales as a feeder club for team England is like what New Zealand and Australia (and European nations) do with talented youngsters from the Pacific Islands |
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Post by surge on Jan 8, 2024 13:58:49 GMT
Think Ireland, New Zealand and England share the approach of only picking players playing in their league.
Scotland and South Africa view things quite differently.
Never understood why the initial caps threshold was so high but could understand the want to protect the regions, players themselves and national team.
We can't blame England sports for contacting dual national players but it does stink a bit if things which are just not cricket going on at the same time.
Will also spoil international sport a bit if it's just becomes Africa in a French jersey playing UK in an England jersey for the cup. Makes the players who represent their "smaller" nations even more special.
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Post by garynysmon on Jan 8, 2024 14:26:49 GMT
Our whole national team has been raised by the english league system,bit rich to start whining when something goes against us (i know that guy is not a football player just talking generally).Our whole nations team is dependant on that country you all hate so much,that stings huh but sadly it is a fact,maybe shock horror our national league might start producing a few players every decade to join decent teams and start the journey to maybe the national team,,won't hold my fucking breath though. I find it all very depressing and extremely worrying tbh. But I'm not sure that slagging off the Cymru Premier is completely fair either. You can't have it both ways in expecting a league which is generally ignored/disrespected even by most football fans in its own country to start producing a string of international quality players. Taking a fleeting interest in their progress in the European club qualifiers in July isn't really enough. Its hamstrung enough as it is by the presence of the exiled clubs, but the league needs a drastic increase in support (and indeed respect) to notice any tangible differences. As things stand, other than the Welsh language broadcaster, the Cymru Premier (and certainly the feeder leagues) is generally an afterthought which struggles to even get the results read out on the national news. This is while a fifth tier English league club based in Wales can garner worldwide headlines and live broadcasts of its open top bus parade. It is what it is, but its mind boggling when you think about it. In what other country would the fate of 4th or 5th tier clubs enjoy substantially more coverage than your own domestic cup final, for instance? Cymru Premier clubs don't produce international players for exactly the same reason that National League North/South clubs (which is roughly the same level) don't. Anyone with any promise is pretty much immediately snapped up by bigger/more prestigious academies, even at an incredibly young age. Gareth Bale started his career at Cardiff Civil service and Nathan Broadhead at Bangor City. The only hope the Welsh domestic system has, as things stand, is a player from the most western areas of Wales who don't fancy a trek to the academies further east, (Tom Bradshaw, from Tywyn in south Gwynedd and an Aberystwyth academy graduate is one example) a late bloomer or someone who's completely fallen through the cracks (Will Evans springs to mind). Onto your other point, while every smaller country does it to a degree, I do share some concerns that we're way too reliant on finding Welsh grannies and grandpas for English born and bred players to supplement our national team. While I welcome every single one that declares for us, and not questioning their commitment for one second, 'luck' is not a sound strategy going forward. Of the 23 man squad chosen to face Turkey, 13 were Welsh born (or bred at least, and I count Tom Bradshaw in that number as a Cymru Premier academy product). Of those 13 players they came through the following academies: Swansea 6 Liverpool 2 Man City 1 Wrexham 1 Cardiff 1 Aberystwyth 1 Everton 1 Again, I don't want to create a Welsh born/others divide here, but an over reliance on lucking out on English/other nationality players declaring for us is a risky business. The Swansea academy has clearly been a godsend to us over the past decade. But on a wider point, generally the number of Welsh players featuring in the professional Anglo clubs' matchday squads is pathetic imo. When Leeds Utd and Spurs can field more Welsh players in a starting XI than Wrexham or Cardiff then something's wrong isn't there? There are two possible mindsets as a Welsh based club in the English professional leagues: - You can either be a Welsh club that happens to play its football in the English leagues - or an English league club that happens to play its football on Welsh soil (i.e behaving in the same manner and signing the same players as every other club in your league). At the moment, while the supporters like to fly the flag for Wales in their own way, their clubs are overwhelmingly exercising the latter. |
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Post by gimli on Jan 8, 2024 15:11:34 GMT
^ Great post
The FAW needs to be a lot more proactive in producing and developing players in Wales. I'd like to see them set up full time academies similar to the likes of Clairefontaine in France. I'm sure it would be expensive and take a while to bear fruit, but it's the only way the FAW can be self sufficient with regards to the development of players and avoid complete reliance on the whims of clubs in the English system.
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Post by saturn9 on Jan 8, 2024 15:13:34 GMT
Our whole national team has been raised by the english league system,bit rich to start whining when something goes against us (i know that guy is not a football player just talking generally).Our whole nations team is dependant on that country you all hate so much,that stings huh but sadly it is a fact,maybe shock horror our national league might start producing a few players every decade to join decent teams and start the journey to maybe the national team,,won't hold my fucking breath though. The difference is though that English football is not trying to trap Welsh players into becoming England players given their financial dependency and do not have this joke residency rule either. Its so disgusting. We are all supposedly British - Exeter is an English but also a British university and yet they are using this and what appears to be discriminatory measures (a contract which may only be available to England qualified players) to ensure the guy falls into their pathway. I think the guy is swayed by the financial rewards a bit too to be fair but its quite incredible this is allowed and I doubt its legal. There are 20 or so Welsh teens attached to English rugby clubs and they are encouraging them to represent England U20s - already 2 from the Welsh heartlands - one of whom speaks Welsh is in their U20s squad. Disgusting but the WRU are so hopeless they do nothing about it Football is nothing like that. Such bullshit is the reason why rugby will only ever be a minority sport. Use Wales as a feeder club for team England is like what New Zealand and Australia (and European nations) do with talented youngsters from the Pacific Islands Would one of these talented youngsters come from my neck of the woods? Plays for Hartbury, speaks Cymraeg as a first language and is from the metropolis known as CNE😁😁 |
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Post by surge on Jan 8, 2024 16:26:43 GMT
^ Great post The FAW needs to be a lot more proactive in producing and developing players in Wales. I'd like to see them set up full time academies similar to the likes of Clairefontaine in France. I'm sure it would be expensive and take a while to bear fruit, but it's the only way the FAW can be self sufficient with regards to the development of players and avoid complete reliance on the whims of clubs in the English system. To be fair, don't the FAW do something similar in a more limited way at youth level? There is a training camp where best players from north, south and other train and then play each other? Am afraid it will always likely come down to money. How do you invest enough to develop longer term security when empty seats common at league games and can become common at international level if we aren't competing at highest level? There is a wider political point to be made about transport links, HS2 and the like but don't want to start a politics chat that takes over things. |
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Post by conwy10 on Jan 8, 2024 18:16:43 GMT
Our whole national team has been raised by the english league system,bit rich to start whining when something goes against us (i know that guy is not a football player just talking generally).Our whole nations team is dependant on that country you all hate so much,that stings huh but sadly it is a fact,maybe shock horror our national league might start producing a few players every decade to join decent teams and start the journey to maybe the national team,,won't hold my fucking breath though. There's two sides to that though. English teams benefit from an underdeveloped Welsh system to easily get young players. They don't have Welsh players for the benefit of Wales, they have Welsh players because all they care about is getting the best players for their youth team. As soon as they aren't any value to those clubs they'll soon be disposed of. |
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Post by allezlesrouges on Jan 9, 2024 10:22:03 GMT
Our whole national team has been raised by the english league system,bit rich to start whining when something goes against us (i know that guy is not a football player just talking generally).Our whole nations team is dependant on that country you all hate so much,that stings huh but sadly it is a fact,maybe shock horror our national league might start producing a few players every decade to join decent teams and start the journey to maybe the national team,,won't hold my fucking breath though. The difference is though that English football is not trying to trap Welsh players into becoming England players given their financial dependency and do not have this joke residency rule either. Its so disgusting. We are all supposedly British - Exeter is an English but also a British university and yet they are using this and what appears to be discriminatory measures (a contract which may only be available to England qualified players) to ensure the guy falls into their pathway. I think the guy is swayed by the financial rewards a bit too to be fair but its quite incredible this is allowed and I doubt its legal. There are 20 or so Welsh teens attached to English rugby clubs and they are encouraging them to represent England U20s - already 2 from the Welsh heartlands - one of whom speaks Welsh is in their U20s squad. Disgusting but the WRU are so hopeless they do nothing about it Football is nothing like that. Such bullshit is the reason why rugby will only ever be a minority sport. Use Wales as a feeder club for team England is like what New Zealand and Australia (and European nations) do with talented youngsters from the Pacific Islands This is the thing that p*sses me off about the whole British thing. It gets so forced down our neck, and they control all media/government/ruling class structures. And yet when push comes to shove it's all a load of nonsense and they really just care about looking after England. It amazes me more of the public don't see this but this is yet another example |
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Post by wirralwelsh on Jan 9, 2024 18:02:37 GMT
Plenty of English born and raised players in the Wales Egg-chaser squad, some who have come through English system and one even used to play for their senior side so not sure what Wales rugby fans are getting in a huff about when we lose one the other way!
Getting back to the beautiful game though, we must be the only country in UEFA, or possibly the world almost with no serious national youth development program. Youth development strategy seems to consist of asking around English academy clubs which of their players have Welsh ancestry and then augmenting it with the meagre produce of Cardiff and Swansea academies. The whole North vs south matches they set up is at least half filled with players from England assigned to one Welsh region or another.
Our league has been around 30 years but is as poor a standard as ever, nothing has ever been done to develop it and it only even exists because the FAW was obliged by UEFA to run a nominal 'national league' to enable them and the Wales team to go on existing. We've always somehow been able to develop a few top class players but now predominantly just dependent on youngsters coming through that have never lived here (occasional exceptions like Neco aside)
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Post by vvm on Jan 13, 2024 16:35:14 GMT
What's the latest ruling on channel island born players? 19 year old attacking mid Joe Adams on loan from Wigan making his debut for Morecambe today. Looks like he's got a bit about him. Was born in Guernsey. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Adams_(footballer,_born_2004) |
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and there are a few of them. I think it started happening when I disclosed I was an analyst working in a bank. My dad works on the council as a plasterer / tiler and my brother as a double glazing installer and I come from Bargoed though so that should balance their hostility! I can see they maybe get annoyed with me posting too much and my sometimes over the top passion for Wales / situations but they are sad in their intent as I almost expect their insults now when I post a certain type of comment! If they actually look back at what I write and when I wrote it they can see I pick up a lot of things they don't (not surprising given what I do) - the WRU loan covenants, the Feyi-Waboso issue and in time - the legality of what England are doing (no way that would not have to change if legally challenged!)
