Dons youth

[BigAl]

On 29/11/2025 at 15:58, BigAl said:

Another goal for Marshall today 

The downside is that he'll be cup tied 

And another one for Marshall today 

[manc_don]

17 minutes ago, BigAl said:

And another one for Marshall today 

Really intrigued to see how this plays out our end. Any inkling on whether he’ll be coming back?

[BigAl]

32 minutes ago, manc_don said:

Really intrigued to see how this plays out our end. Any inkling on whether he’ll be coming back?

TBH Manc I often get a wee snippet of what's going on behind closed doors, but I'm hearing nothing on this one. Sure given his contract scenario there will potentially be others looking at him 

[Jute]

Aberdeenshire Shield semi final is at Deveronvale on Wednesday.

 

[BigAl]

Bavidge has scored FOUR first half goals this evening as ICT lead 7-0 away to Dumbarton with half time approaching 

[Jute]

Team for game against Deveronvale tonight. 
 

20. Theo Simpson, 3. Dylan Ross, 4. Lewis Carrol (C), 6. Cooper Masson, 11. Zak To, 12. Aaron Cummings, 14. Jack Searle, 15. Kenan Bilalovic, 21. Mitchel Frame, 22. Kjartan Mar Kjartansson, 32. Peter Ambrose.

Subs: 1. Conner Douglas (GK), 10. Jamie Mercer, 16. Samuel McLean, 17. Noah McDonnell, 18. Heath Duncan, 19. Bradley Chikomo.

Currently 1-0 up Bilalovic. 

[Jute]

Deveronvale did get it back to 1-1 but Dons now 2-1 up. 

[Jute]

Won 3-1 in the end. Bilalovic and Ambrose with last two goals. 
 

In to final against Fraserburgh.

[swaddon]

Good to see a Theo in goal again.

[Jute]

Youth team play Dundee at Cormack Park on Friday in quarter final of youth cup. 

[RicoS321]

Cooper Masson going to be the latest youngster to leave before kicking a ball? 

[Jute]

56 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

Cooper Masson going to be the latest youngster to leave before kicking a ball? 

Who is he being linked with?

Kelty fans were raving about him at start of his loan period but he had spell out injured and not been starting many since coming back.

[Slim]

Wolves are ahead of other EPL teams apparently. The last youngster who skipped town to join Wolves (Terry Taylor) is currently playing alongside Dean Campbell at Northampton having never kicked a ball in anger for Wolves.

[TheDonbytheDee]

Club with a new cooperation agreement with Cove, which has saw the three young lads, who were at Kelty, now at Cove for the second half of the season.

Apparently this allows the club to better monitor their progress.

Seems a bit strange to change it this late in the season, but as long as the laddies are getting good game time.

 

[Jute]

2 minutes ago, TheDonbytheDee said:

Club with a new cooperation agreement with Cove, which has saw the three young lads, who were at Kelty, now at Cove for the second half of the season.

Apparently this allows the club to better monitor their progress.

Seems a bit strange to change it this late in the season, but as long as the laddies are getting good game time.

 

They all played initially at Kelty but game time seems to have dropped of late. 

[tlg1903]

3 hours ago, TheDonbytheDee said:

Club with a new cooperation agreement with Cove, which has saw the three young lads, who were at Kelty, now at Cove for the second half of the season.

Apparently this allows the club to better monitor their progress.

Seems a bit strange to change it this late in the season, but as long as the laddies are getting good game time.

 

There's still half a season left, no that late.

[Jute]

On 13/01/2026 at 08:41, Jute said:

Youth team play Dundee at Cormack Park on Friday in quarter final of youth cup. 

Completely forgot to post that Dons won this 4-1 to progress to semi final.

[Reekie_Red]

On 18/12/2025 at 09:36, Jute said:

Team for game against Deveronvale tonight. 

20. Theo Simpson

That makes me so pwoud 

[TheDonbytheDee]

P&J reporting that Alfie Bavidge has been told his contract won't be renewed, at the end of the season. 

[RicoS321]

3 minutes ago, TheDonbytheDee said:

P&J reporting that Alfie Bavidge has been told his contract won't be renewed, at the end of the season. 

No surprise really. Never looked like he had the attributes to make it in the premier. Hopefully he'll go on to make a decent try of it elsewhere, as he seemed to have a decent attitude. 

[THFN1983]

Shame about Bavidge but if the team have been watching him and decided that he won't make it in the premier league then we have to accept that. Not sure what else he could have done though with scoring as many goals as he did.

Makes you wonder who the last forward that came through the system and made a real impact with us was? Bebo perhaps? And then there was Mackie but I would hardly say that either were prolific.

We've done quite well with midfielders and defenders in recent seasons but for whatever reason we just can't seem to produce a top quality striker.

[Mason89]

I’m still waiting on Andy Bagshaw to get us 40 a season 

[RicoS321]

20 minutes ago, THFN1983 said:

Shame about Bavidge but if the team have been watching him and decided that he won't make it in the premier league then we have to accept that. Not sure what else he could have done though with scoring as many goals as he did.

Makes you wonder who the last forward that came through the system and made a real impact with us was? Bebo perhaps? And then there was Mackie but I would hardly say that either were prolific.

We've done quite well with midfielders and defenders in recent seasons but for whatever reason we just can't seem to produce a top quality striker.

They're pretty thin on the ground in this country. Any young striker showing enough promise will now likely get snapped up down south. Pirie for example.

[THFN1983]

Just now, RicoS321 said:

They're pretty thin on the ground in this country. Any young striker showing enough promise will now likely get snapped up down south. Pirie for example.

Are they though? We can't blame every problem with youth development on teams from England swooping in can we? How many forwards that we've developed have been snatched from us in the past 20 years? And of those, how many made an impact anywhere either at our level or above?

If it was the case that any potential first team player that came through the ranks was poached then we'd never have a Ramsey or McKenna play for us ever again. If that really is the case then why operate a youth system at all as we never see the fruits of our labour.

If Bavidge was a Caley player and he had the very same goals return then there'd be a clamour by the support to take a punt on him, we're crying out to sign up and coming Scots but when we already have them we decide to put them out on loan and turn our backs on them.

Perhaps teams like Motherwell & Falkirk etc. are doing well is because they give their youth, or Scots in general, a real chance whereas we import players for vastly inflated fees/wages (Keskinen & Lazetic to name a couple) that are no better than what is available on our doorstep.

And lets not cite the expectations being higher at a club like AFC compared to Well or Falkirk, our expectations over the years have been eroded so much that teams out with the ugly sisters all share the hope to make the top 6 and get a good cup run.

[RicoS321]

15 minutes ago, THFN1983 said:

Are they though? We can't blame every problem with youth development on teams from England swooping in can we? How many forwards that we've developed have been snatched from us in the past 20 years? And of those, how many made an impact anywhere either at our level or above?

If it was the case that any potential first team player that came through the ranks was poached then we'd never have a Ramsey or McKenna play for us ever again. If that really is the case then why operate a youth system at all as we never see the fruits of our labour.

If Bavidge was a Caley player and he had the very same goals return then there'd be a clamour by the support to take a punt on him, we're crying out to sign up and coming Scots but when we already have them we decide to put them out on loan and turn our backs on them.

Perhaps teams like Motherwell & Falkirk etc. are doing well is because they give their youth, or Scots in general, a real chance whereas we import players for vastly inflated fees/wages (Keskinen & Lazetic to name a couple) that are no better than what is available on our doorstep.

And lets not cite the expectations being higher at a club like AFC compared to Well or Falkirk, our expectations over the years have been eroded so much that teams out with the ugly sisters all share the hope to make the top 6 and get a good cup run.

I was responding in context to Bavidge. When he signed his three year deal with us, Lewis Pirie (the striker with more potential) signed for Leeds. What happens when they go down there and languish on their B team bench, I guess is irrelevant. Again, we're specifically speaking about strikers, and there aren't many who came through the youth teams playing in the SPFL (our very own Bruce Anderson of course). If they show any potential in that position, they get snapped up. Even Wilson at Hearts, which is a strange one. Bowie went to Fulham from Raith. The Huns and Tims have both lost strikers in recent times. A bit like goalkeepers, it's a difficult position to break through in.