Youth players on fulltime contracts

I'm unsure what to do with these guys, is it a case of them been too good for u19 football or do people keep them inthe u19 and make them available for both u19 & reserve football?

I'm thinking the latter but I want to canvas opinion

BTW, my youth coach, JPA 20/20, is in charge of renewing u19 contracts so I trust his opinion without question

i usually keep them in u19s but try my best and loan them out. keeping them in the u19 gives them a guarantee of playing every u19 game plus many of the reserve team games, although that depends on your reserves.

usually my tactic is to loan out every young player so my reserve team is usually very empty which means my u19s play for teams.

btw, how has it worked out for you to let your youth coach handle the contract? when i did it, he signed up every person who has a hint of a talent while if im in charge of the contracts, only the cream of the crop get a contract and i release the rest

I agree with Theo - I'd never let my coaches anywhere near my contracts. Of course, I'm a small team with a small budget, so I like to keep my hands firmly on the reigns in that regard.

As for what I do: my favorite youth academy prospects, I sign on pre-contracts so that they go Full-Time from the day they turn 17.

From the time I offer them the contract, I mark them "Available for Reserves" while keeping them located in the youth team. I bring them up to the first team for two to ten substitute appearances over the season, usually in Cup ties against weaker opposition.

The day they turn seventeen, I mark them "Available for loan". They stay U-18 but "Available for Reserves". I start including the best of the lot on the (senior) bench at other times as well (e.g., fixture congestion through Christmas) and offering them out for three-month loans.

By the next season, I'm very aggressive about trying to place them out for loan, ideally a full-season loan to a team with good training facilities, a "need" at their position, and tipped for a promotion battle. (Morale, competitive matches, and training facilities all contribute to a young player's improvement .. there's only so much that they can learn in the Reserves.) Like Theo, I usually make so many loans out that my Reserve squad is virtually empty, usually consisting only of my U-18 "Available for Reserves" players, and any first-teamers who are recovering from injury, unfit, or obviously not going to start a match in the next seven days.

I've always had a coach looking after the u19 squad. Never felt that I needed to handle those contracts. All the right players are given full time contracts and the ones that dont make it get sold for a nice fee. If I was dealing with a very tight budget, I might start to get more hands on with those contracts but I feel that a good coach will handle things very well

I too loan out reserves where possible but with some players, I feel that stay within the current setup is best for them at the moment.