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Alex Ashton's avatar

He's been fun to watch, that's for sure. Crazy to have that many minutes at that age, but he got his shot because of so many injuries to the pros. We're gonna look back in a few years and tell everyone we were there when!

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Julian Khalili's avatar

Tonight the Richmond Kickers Pro team didn’t play ANY of the academy players except for Griffin for 50 minutes.

Playing the academy players isn’t the hard part.. improving them, and getting results while playing them is what’s hard.

They have not proven they are capable of that yet.

For me, they don’t deserve much credit for playing the academy guys or leaving them on the bench in games. This is a professional team, their main responsibility is to win games.

Further… Taking any credit for the development of the players that had already come up through Richmond United Academy before they took control of it is nonsensical.

Before they took control of the academy (when Mika was hired as the director of Richmond United), Richmond United and Richmond Kickers Pro were mostly separate and not working together well at all which was a charge led by the staff of the pro team who wanted to do it their way.

So why do they take the credit for the players that developed in an environment that is by the way much different than the one they have created now? Or why else would they want to be in charge of the academy? *Remember that control allows nepotism (for those who are not fit to lead). Keep an eye out for (more of) that in this organization.

With that being said I’m excited to see how players progress in the new academy environment nonetheless.

Tonight they lose to NOCO Hailstorm 0-2, who will now be above them in the standings with 3 games in hand. The Kickers sit uncomfortably in 10th place out of 12.. They’ve won 2 out of the last 25 league games.

They deserve criticism, and not pats on the back for doing something as simple as letting the kids play (or not play) while having the worst results in the history of the club.

I believe the article is giving them too much credit.

Griffin is an awesome player and person, as are the other academy players, most of which I know very well from being an assistant at Richmond United before the takeover. I believe they could be doing a much better job with them, and the team as a whole.

I think it’s criminal to not hold them accountable as a community. That is an important step in improving the team and culture in my opinion. I hope things improve. The reason I share these things is because I want the culture and club to improve, not to bash anyone for bashing’s sake.

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