For a number of years now, the Irish television series Underdogs has operated on a simple, yet engaging format - a group of coaches conduct trials with a number of Gaelic footballers who, for varying reasons, have failed to make a full breakthrough with their native county, and try to mould them into a formidable panel, playing club teams at first, before taking on a top inter-county side in a live broadcast finale. The results have been mixed to date, with the Underdogs beating Kerry in Series One, but getting thrashed by Dublin last year. Still, could such a format work in the context of English football, and what would be the highest level opposition that such a panel could aspire to defeat?
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Glenn Hoddle runs a football school on similar principles I think, he takes rejected players and gives them another chance. I'd like to see a team of the players he's had through but iirc Sam Clucas was one. -
Jamie Vardy has the V9 Academy which aims to get non-league players signed up as professionals.
He's had a few players trickle through to the bigger leagues, including Andy Dales who signed for Scunthorpe from Mickleover Sports after impressing at a V9 open day/exhibition match. He's currently on loan at Dundee, but didn't look out of place at Scunny last year. Which is a bit of a backhanded compliment.Comment
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Cheltenham played a Glenn Hoddle Academy XI in the summer of 2011. It was basically a reserve team we had and we lost 4-2. I can't seem to find a write up of the game though as the local newspaper and the official website have renewed since.Originally posted by Antepli Ejderha View Post
A couple of players came through that had links to Cheltenham though - James Dayton played in our Conference winning team of 15/16 and is now at Leyton Orient, and Ryan Burge was the son of one of our directors and played for Newport and Port Vale. Last seen winding up Vale fans on Twitter.Comment
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