I understand the importance of experience but it has to function otherwise it is dead weight. Over the last several years we moved from being one of the youngest squads in the Prem to one of the oldest - we effectively swapped places with Spurs -and where did all that experience get us. Effective experience is great. Lazy, ineffective experience that forgets the need to move one’s arse to make a pass possible is why we failed on the field. We look like we are going to be fielding young but well organized talent not afraid to make a mistake and with some speed to spare ... that’s a winning combination.
I remember once at 18 coming home at Christmas and played on a team Ponty threw together to play a club from down the valley that were in the top three of the Neath and District Prem division - supposedly a very good experienced team. Our two CB were 16, our keeper was 18, our RB and one midfield was 17, one forward was 19, one midfield player was 21. Our experience was Ken Harris who was 30 something. Two others were fucking useless. We had never played together before. We were 3-1 down with 15 minutes left and we tied it 3-3. Conventional wisdom told us we were going to get hammered. Not so fast. A few more minutes and we would have won that game going away. A lot of experience trudged away wondering wtf.
I understand what you say but, so long as the experience is 'good', as you stipulated, I think it's necessary to blend that in with the youngsters zest and enthusiasm and give them some guidance until they start finding their own feet in the division. I also have a relevant memory from Ponty. Ivor had the entire squad at the Rec and mixed and matched two teams in a pre-season workout. For some reason, Barrie Hole came up and played in that game and he oozed class and experience. Unlike the rest of his family, he went to Cardiff before moving on to Blackburn and Aston Villa before finishing his career at the Swans under Roy Bentley. Along the way he gained 30 caps for Wales.
I remember that at half time in the dressing room, Ivor was berating Dai H, whom he'd detailed to stay with Barrie, for giving him the freedom of the park to wreak havoc. Now you and I know that Dai was a great man marker (literally) and he said to Ivor, "Have you ever tried marking him? The f*!#er is invisible!! One second he's there, the next he's gone. And it's impossible to pick him up again cos he keeps moving". So Ivor asked Herbie P, who was playing opposite Barrie in midfield, and he just replied with a grin, "He's good isn't he!"
And my point is that, if the youngsters
watch and learn from players with experience and class, their own game will come along in leaps and bounds. I reckon that was much of the value of having Michael Laudrup as coach. Barrie became a client of mine and we used to do his stock audit at his newsagent shop in Brynymor Road and we sold his family's pipe and tobacco shop at the cross in Morriston, so I had many a chat with him about football. By the way, did you know that his full name was/is Barrington Gerard Hole? A classy name for a classy guy and a classy footballer.
