Looking at the progress of
Ayr United’s young players under Mark Roberts
When
Mark Roberts was appointed manager of Ayr United in May 2012 it was intended to
herald a change in direction for club.
Chairman Lachlan Cameron, in announcing the departure of Brian Reid and
the promotion of Roberts, stated that the club wished to place greater emphasis
on the ‘youth pathway to the first team’ and talked of the ‘bubbling pool of
talent’ within the Academy, now in its 8th year. There was to be a
greater emphasis on young, home-grown talent.
With
Roberts under increasing pressure, fairly or otherwise, after a sporadic series
of heavy defeats and disappointing performances it seems an appropriate
juncture to consider this area of his remit, particularly with rumours that
Mark Shankland – one of the Academy’s brightest prospects – has asked to leave
the club (Roberts has subsequently quashed the rumour, indicating the 18 year-old
forward ‘needs to do better’ and ‘earn the right’).
Shankland,
and others, may have justification for their frustrations. In 58 league matches
in charge, Mark Roberts has fielded on average just one Academy player per game*. Taking account of the fact that Robbie Crawford was almost
an ever present last season, making 33 league starts, it would appear that
first-team opportunities are as limited for Academy prospects under Roberts as they
were under Brian Reid, despite the initial rhetoric.
In
Reid’s final season in charge, nine Academy players were used (taking account of
league games only), amassing a total of 4207 minutes playing time, albeit over
half of these can be attributed to Jonathan Tiffoney. This total is only 488
minutes less than Roberts’s first season in charge. Yet, at the end of last season Roberts
disingenuously claimed: “our remit at the start of the season was to bring
through the kids and in that aspect we have done brilliantly”. The claim doesn’t hold water. Robbie
Crawford’s obvious talent demanded he became a first team regular: Roberts’s
first choice midfield pairing at the start of the season was David Sinclair and
Ryan McStay. Otherwise, Ross Robertson was Roberts’s first choice as strike
partner for Michael Moffat at the start of the season, but was quickly withdrawn
from the first team (and eventually sent on loan to Glenafton). Mark Shankland also started the season,
playing on the left and scoring against East Stirlingshire, but he too was
dropped, only returning after a spell on trial with Birmingham
Even
fewer Academy players have been selected by Roberts so far this season. In 22 league matches, Academy players account
for just 6.85% of total playing time.
Robbie Crawford has been in the starting line-up on 10 occasions, Alan
Forrest 4 times (in addition to 10 substitute appearances) but beyond this,
appearances for Aaron Wylie (who has subsequently left the club), Jackson
Longridge, Mick Wardrope and Mark Shankland have been restricted to just a
handful of substitute appearances, totalling little over 100 minutes.
Beyond
examining quantitative data concerning appearances and playing time, further evidence
of Roberts’s reluctance to play Academy players is demonstrated in his
selections in defence. When Gordon Pope was
suspended after picking up a red card against Airdrie United in August, it
appeared to be the ideal opportunity to give Jackson Longridge a run in the
team. Instead, Roberts chose to play
Michael Donald at left-back. The loss of Donald’s presence in midfield was
keenly felt and United drew both games during Pope’s ban, including against 10
man Brechin City Dunfermline
and 3-6 at home to Stranraer.
Ayr
have been short defensively all season, with Martyn Campbell injury woes
continuing which has highlighted the absence of another youngster (albeit not
one who has come through the Academy) Josh McArthur, which is approaching
something of a mystery. McArthur started
Ayr ’s opening game of the season at Arbroath
and looked competent alongside Alan Lithgow in what was an easy victory for the
Honest Men. His withdrawal after an
hour, with the game won, seemed to make little sense. McArthur has played just once more this
season, as a 20th minute replacement for Campbell
in Ayr ’s narrow defeat at Partick Thistle in
the League Cup. He hasn’t even been named on the subs bench since the start of
December.
The
fate of Longridge, McArthur and many others follows a fairly familiar pattern. Glimpses of early promise – Longridge was
named man of the match on his debut at home to Dundee back in April 2012 –
followed by long spells of inactivity as far as the first team is concerned,
with Roberts often preferring to pick square pegs in round holes. There seems little prospect of 17 year-old
McArthur making an appearance any time soon, despite United’s enduring search
for a centre-back: “I’m looking everywhere for a central defender. I need
someone who has played a lot of first team games and is an organiser”. Roberts has also talked of the need for
another striker in light of Michael Moffat’s impending suspension, despite Shankland
champing at the bit for game time.
Of
course, the young players on the fringes of the Ayr United first team may
simply not be good enough. Roberts’s priority first and foremost is to win
football matches and to do this he needs the strongest team possible. He trains with these young players, regularly
plays alongside them in Reserve game so is perhaps is the best person to judge
whether they are ready for first team football. Conversely, there must be a
case that young players require a run of games to assimilate themselves with
the endeavours of senior football and opportunity to learn from mistakes. A player can only prove they ready for first
team football if they are given the opportunity to do so and at present only
Alan Forrest and Crawford (slowly returning from illness) are being afforded
this chance.
Introducing
young players into first team football is not straightforward. While it has borne dividends at Dundee
United, Hamilton , Falkirk, Kilmarnock
and other clubs, it can be a gamble. And Mark
Roberts may feel he is able to take what he perceives to be a risk.
Almost from day one, Ayr’s Challenge Cup defeat to East
Stirlingshire in his first game in charge, Roberts has been under
pressure. After just four months he admitted his job was at stake and since
December 2012 the calls for Roberts to be sacked have never really gone
away. Can the manager trust youngsters like Shankland (who demonstrated his value when coming
off the bench with his goal and performance against Partick Thistle in August),
Longridge (who could do a job on the left when Michael Donald is flagging),
McArthur or even Wardrope, Nisbet and others when they could make a mistake
that might cost the side vital points?
Or
the other way of looking at is: ‘what has he got to lose?’ Senior players are equally capable of making
mistakes, as evidenced at Stenhousemuir on Saturday. Signings such as Kevin Kyle, culpable for a
glaring miss at the end of the game, may be a ‘safe bet’ for Roberts but, in
restricting the opportunities for others, (particularly in this case Shankland,
a player who has previously attracted the attention of Liverpool, Rangers,
Celtic and a number of English Championship sides) demonstrates the
short-termism that has blighted Ayr’s on-field fortunes for too long. If
Roberts had afforded Shankland the same patience as Kyle you suspect he may
have had greater slack from United’s ever demanding support. As it is, fewer
and fewer of those supporters appear convinced of Roberts‘s aptitude for the
job.
Playing
young players may cost Mark Roberts his job – it is difficult to envisage how
he could continue in his role beyond the summer if the Honest Men fail to make
the promotion play-offs at least. At
the same time, Roberts was mandated to give Academy players the opportunity of
first team football and this is not happening. Roberts’s apparent failure, so far, to
integrate more younger, home grown, players into the team – or at least give them a
fair chance – must be seen as another of his shortcomings.
League appearances by Ayr United
Football Academy
Season
2012/13
(Brian Reid)
Apps
|
Sub off
|
Sub not used
|
Mins
|
|
0+(1)
|
0
|
0
|
11
|
|
1
|
1
|
0
|
66
|
|
2+(2)
|
1
|
13
|
196
|
|
1+(1)
|
0
|
0
|
161
|
|
30+(2)
|
2
|
1
|
2536
|
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
90
|
|
1+(1)
|
1
|
1
|
80
|
|
9+(11)
|
1
|
13
|
895
|
|
1+(1)
|
0
|
2
|
172
|
|
4207
|
Season
2012/13 (Mark Roberts)
Apps
|
Sub off
|
Sub not used
|
Mins
|
|
5+(4)
|
2
|
12
|
446
|
|
2+(1)
|
2
|
1
|
186
|
|
2+(1)
|
0
|
0
|
195
|
|
5+(8)
|
5
|
8
|
467
|
|
0+(2)
|
0
|
0
|
46
|
|
33+(2)
|
6
|
0
|
2970
|
|
3+(10)
|
3
|
5
|
354
|
|
0+(1)
|
0
|
0
|
31
|
|
4695
|
Season
2013/14 –
after 22 games
Apps
|
Sub off
|
Sub not used
|
Mins
|
|
0+(1)
|
0
|
7
|
18
|
|
4+(10)
|
3
|
3
|
545
|
|
0+(2)
|
0
|
13
|
46
|
|
0+(5)
|
0
|
12
|
42
|
|
0+(1)
|
0
|
8
|
1
|
|
10+(3)
|
5
|
4
|
839
|
|
1491
|
Source:
andysstats.co.uk
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