I'm stepping out of third person mode to explain a little bit about what I'm trying with this dynasty. I've been fascinated with developing young players since I discovered Football Manager. I come by that fascination naturally, since I enjoy seeing players rise from a club's youth program to take their place in the first team in the real Premier League, too.
My philosophy with Rochdale will be based on finding talented young players that bigger clubs might have given up on and seeing if I can develop them into first team regulars. I spent a good portion of Rochdale's wage budget on teenagers who were released from Premier League youth teams. Here are the players I've brought into the team this way, along with the club where they were youth candidates:
Code:
Player Youth Club
Jamie Barker Everton
Herman Barstad Manchester City
Jamie Bennett Everton
Anthony Cox Bolton Wanderers
Kevin Jones Everton
Barry King Liverpool
Jack McDonald Chelsea
Max McKenzie Blackburn Rovers
Anthony Murphy Arsenal
Isaiah Murphy Crystal Palace
Brian Nelson Preston
Robert Owen Manchester City
Richard Pickering Liverpool
Daniel Salis Manchester City
Johannes Scherrer Manchester City
Florian Schlegel Derby County
Brian Speight Manchester United
Stuart Try Southampton
Laszlo Vass Liverpool
Andrew Whatley Manchester United
The other youngsters in the club were Rochdale lads from the beginning, with the exception of Robert Shillito, whom I signed in fall '13.
Note: I didn't use the "search" function or any of the editors to track these players down. My scouts found them, or I learned about them from news stories I received in my inbox.
Perhaps one day we'll be reading about the "Class of '14" that led Rochdale to greatness. Or, the experiment will fail miserably and I'll be sacked. Either way, it will be fun to see how it turned out.