Saka is about 5'11

Baka is apparently 5 ft 10, which is average. And ACD is apparently 5 ft 7. Not sure I believe those numbers though, ACD definitely looks even shorter than 5 ft 7. Everything I've seen of Saka says 5 ft 10, but a few do have ACD at 5 ft 6. Either way, the mini part seems accurate, less so the Saka part. Though I can see the comparisons. ACD does have ability, and I think Championship could be his future level personally. He didn't look ready for it this season though other than in glimpses. Especially second half of the season he was very poor when given a chance, I think his confidence was gone.

Every first year scholarship is 2 years. (this is what Tyjon signed last season & also what todays intake signed) a 3 year pro contract can be signed once a player turns 17 (this is what Phillips signed, albeit with a release clause) Once a player turns 18, contracts can be as long as they like Higgins turns 17 in January, so we have more than a 6 month wait for that, we have a will he-wont he with Tyjon to keep us "entertained" in the interim period 😉 ps - I've updated my previous post with the details of Finneran leaving Just to emphasise how special/loyal he was, Adam Wharton signed his scholarship, a 3 year pro deal, and also two 5 years contracts, 1 year apart, all without a hint of him going elsewhere until he was pushed out of the door to keep the lights on

Oh did he? My memory is playing tricks on me then, sorry. I nearly googled it to double check but then I was like nahh I'm sure he did 😂 I suppose my sense of time didn't get its head around just how young he was when he had his debut. I've just checked these scholarships too and they actually run to summer 2027 not 2026. Hopefully we get him signed up once he turns 17 and don't have another saga to look forward to in 2027.

Finneran left before signing a scholarship Finneran has been lured to the North East, rejecting a scholarship offer from Rovers Had he signed one, he would have been named here with the rest of least years 1st year intake The rest of your post is still valid though

I wouldn't get too excited, it's only a scholarship. Finneran had one of those too. Until we can and hopefully do sign him to full pro terms when he turns 17 (and hopefully without a release clause like Phillips insisted on), we haven't achieved full protection on him. It's as good as we can do for now though, but it only really kicks the can down the road til next summer and gains us a bit more compensation if he leaves then.

yep https://www.leytonorient.com/news/2024/june/29/charlie-kelman-becomes-the-o-s-second-summer-signing/ sorry about the twitter post, that was from his first loan at Orient

May have played a part, apparently been in the academy for 10+ years too Not sure we can say Phillips hasn't got far, probably getting paid more than anyone currently at Rovers, and has played pretty much 1.5 out of 2 years at Championship level since he left https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/stoke-city-hopes-of-tottenham-ashley-phillips-transfer-agreement-played-down/ I would hazard a bet that like Phillips, Finneran will also be playing at a decent level next season, and also is on a wage much higher than he would be getting at Rovers

The system is absolutely broken when keeping hold of a kid you've developed since he was 8 years old is seen as a 'coup'. The authorities need to get a handle on this for the good of the game.

I'm ok with 5-7 spots in the 25 man squad being reserved for Academy graduates, yes. Your suggestion is how I would run it too - a number of graduates rotated through the bench and given minutes off the bench to see what they're made of when the result is no longer in doubt. As I said the problem we'll run into is that the 15-18 core players would have to be really good and we're simply not going to fund that. You can't have the likes of Forshaw. JRC (as much as it pains me to say it) or Buckley around the squad either, they're passengers.

It will have opened some eyes in Brighton too. They thought they had a superstar on their hands - he was billed as "mini-Saka" (which is amusing considering how small Saka is) and one they'd stolen from Arsenal. I'd be surprised if he plays most of his career above L1. He's a boy amongst men.

So we don't know that JDT signed off on Telalovic over La Liga man. And we certainly don't know (the main point) that JDT was happy with either.

He's a local lad no? So hopefully sees the sense in staying while he develops like Wharton did. Look at Finneran and Phillips who chased the big move too soon and haven't got very far.

Found another pic. Before my time (I was only 2 at the time!), who's the Rovers player in this shot?

Higgins, yes apparently he was wanted by Arsenal https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/34302744/arsenal-transfer-strikerharvey-higgins-blackburn/ https://dailycannon.com/2025/04/arsenal-harvey-higgins-blackburn-rovers/ https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/who-is-harvey-higgins-the-blackburn-rovers-starlet-eyed-by-arsenal/

Actually didn't realise he played his last ever game at Ewood. Had a quick mooch around & found this: https://www.facebook.com/groups/844940199360108/posts/2023494194838030/?_rdr

Was this the lad who was wanted by Arsenal? Seems like a bit of a coup keeping hold of him?

So you believe we should play youth players regardless of whether they're ready, to meet that target? If you don't, the target is meaningless, as it's just something we're hoping for. If you do, then we risk losing points to meet the target by playing young players ahead of better players. The strong core you mention only means lots of strong players ahead of them. If there's no injury crisis there may be no reason to play them beyond the arbitrary target. 3000 minutes btw is the equivalent of 33.33 full matches. So it's more or less like having one of the starting 11 be a youth player for 33 games of the season, and them not coming off. I know it wouldn't work like that, but the point is it's not the kind of minutes total that is likely to be reached with sub appearances even from a few young players. I'm in favour of bringing through players from our excellent academy btw, when they're ready. But unless we find we have a generational talent again like Wharton, the path looks like this to me: The best youth players are put into a development pool of sorts. They get substitute appearances when there is a need, or when the game is in the bag. They get starts and substantial minutes in cup games, especially against lower league opposition and especially at home. If in any of these appearances they display ability or form on par with the senior players, they get more substantial chances to play as they prove themselves. Results always come first. Reaching a minutes quota for the sake of it doesn't come into consideration. How the youngsters (and senior players) perform in training in the eyes of the manager does though. That's how I feel it should go.

The academy’s aim should be to produce first team players. This doesn’t (or shouldn’t ) equate to the first team having a target to use academy players.

Was at that one . Didn't we give him a guard of honour?

The late great Bobby Moore’s last game apparently.

Someone needs to ask Yasir what makes him qualified to tell Rovers' fans how they should feel about the club (as a publicly outed Arsenal fan) .

It's now Tuesday 17th of June.

I think to specifically lay out objectives of certain minutes played is the issue though. If it was a case of try and bring graduates through where possible, but its flexible, then theres less risk that we start bringing through kids that arent ready purely to hit the objective. We will have years where there are talented players ready to feature like Wharton and Phillips, but also dry spells. The issue is the likes of Vale, Garrett and even the amount of game time Leonard got were as a result of the inadequacies of the squad and budget, not because they justified those minutes. For example, we wouldnt have needed an objective in place to blood Wharton and Phillips as they were justifiably part of the team/squad.

I take it the FF that was scheduled for Monday has been re-arranged?