Whatever happened to: The 2006 FA Youth Cup final team (part 2)

More on the subsequent progress of City's 2006 FA Youth Cup final team.

Paul Marshall
The second-youngest player in the team after Sturridge, Marshall is still at the club. Last season he was loaned to Blackpool and Port Vale, and he is currently on loan at Aberdeen. In September he was one of six Blues who travelled to Egypt as part of the England squad for the Under-20 World Cup.

Ashley Williams
Played every game in the Youth Cup run, but was released in 2007. Subsequently joined Vauxhall Motors, and now plays for Airbus UK in the Welsh Premier League.

Daniel Sturridge
The most hyped City youngster in living memory, he was the youngest player on the pitch. Though on the losing side here, he picked up a winners' medal in the 2008 final. He made his first team debut in 2007, and scored his first goal against Sheffield United in the FA Cup, a match infamous for the influence of a balloon in setting up the Blades' first goal. A regular on the subs bench for the next 18 months, the highlight of his City career was his impact as substitute at Blackburn at Christmas 2008, where he was instrumental in rescuing a point after City went 2-0 down. He was named Young Player of the Year for 2008/09, but his time with the club ended on a sour note. His contract demands (a reputed £60,000 per week) were viewed as excessive, and he joined Chelsea in the 2009 close season. A tribunal set the fee at £3.5 million, with up to £3 million in potential add-ons.

Kelvin Etuhu
Though now regarded as a winger, Etuhu played up front for the Academy. His first senior football was on loan at Rochdale in 2007. He made his first team debut in the League Cup the following season. He was then on the fringes for a while, making occasional substitute appearances, and ended 2007/08 on loan at Leicester. A surprise starter in Mark Hughes first league match, he made a few more first team appearances at the start of 2008/09 but lost his place following Shaun Wright-Phillips' return to the club. Since overtaken by Vladimir Weiss in the first team reckoning, he is on a season long loan at Cardiff.

Ched Evans
A first leg substitute, coming on for the last ten minutes. Evans first came to prominence with a successful loan at Norwich, where he scored 10 goals in 20 starts. This led to a call-up by Wales, meaning he was an international before ever playing for the City first team. Valeri Bojinov's continued injury problems gave Evans first team opportunities in 2008/09. He made a vital contribution at the start of the UEFA Cup run, when his shot was turned in by a Midjylland defender for an injury time equaliser to keep City in the tie. Mostly used as substitute, his only City goal came in the 6-0 rout of Portsmouth. At the end of the season he joined Sheffield United for in a deal worth up to £3 million.

Micah Richards
Richards missed the first leg - he was needed by the first team! The undoubted star of the side, who has now been a first team fixture for four years. Within six months of the Youth Cup final he had made his England debut. Unfortunately, his career has stalled somewhat since then. His last England cap was in 2007, and his tendency to wander out of position remains uncorrected. That said, he is still only 21, and still has the potential to become one of the club's all time great full-backs.


Of the 13 players to make the field, six are still with the club, of which two are regular first teamers, two are on loan to Football League clubs, one on loan to a Scottish Premier League club, and one is in the reserves. Of the other seven, One is in the Premier League, one in the Championship, two in the Conference, one in the League of Ireland, one in the Welsh Premier League, and one in the lower echelons of the non-league pyramid.

So far the team has netted us £7 million in fees (with Sturridge 2 appearances from another £500,000), and together they have made 275 appearances for City across all competitions. Overall, Liverpool's team appears to have fared less well, with just two Premier League starts between them, though two players (Hobbs and Anderson) are doing well at Championship clubs.

Whatever happened to: The 2006 FA Youth Cup final team (part 1)

In the first of what may become a regular feature about the fortunes of former Blues, a look at what became of the team which reached the FA Youth Cup final in 2006.

Four years ago Jim Cassell's Academy team faced Liverpool in the FA Youth Cup final, City's first since the win by the team containing Lake, White, Hinchcliffe, Redmond and Brightwell in 1986. Those 17 and 18 year olds are now 21 and 22, an age where you would expect them to have found their level in senior football. So where are they now?

Laurence Matthewson
Young goalkeepers can find it tough to break through. Most clubs only have two or three senior keepers, and many are still going strong as they approach 40. Released in 2007, Matthewson never came close to the first team at City, and has since played for a number of non-league clubs including Worksop Town, Alfreton Town, Belper Town and Glapwell.

Curtis Obeng
Former England youth international Obeng was released at the end of last season. After a trial with Wigan came to nothing, he signed for Wrexham, where he is a first team regular.

Sam Williamson
Made a single first team appearance towards the end of the 2008/09 season, coming on as sub against Portsmouth amid an injury crisis that saw Elano play right-back. The following season he went on loan to Wrexham, and made his move permanent in the January transfer window. He has since fallen out of favour at Wrexham, and is on loan at Fleetwood Town.

Garry Breen
Released at the same time as Obeng, Breen signed for Hereford, but failed to make a first team appearance. He has since returned to his native Ireland, where he recently signed for Dundalk.

Shaleum Logan
Of the defenders who started the first leg, pacy Logan was the one who showed most promise. However, he missed most of the following season through injury. He made several senior appearences in the 2007 preseason, and played twice in the League Cup. He also made one League appearance under Mark Hughes, deputising for the injured Micah Richards in a 2-0 defeat at Fratton Park. He has had a number of periods out on loan with Football League clubs, and is currently on a season-long loan at Tranmere Rovers.

Karl Moore
Still at the club, but has made few reserve appearances this season. Had a loan spell at Millwall last season under ex-City reserve boss Kenny Jackett.

Michael Johnson
Made his first team debut at 18 under Stuart Pearce, and established himself as a regular under Sven-Goran Eriksson, gaining England under-21 honours in the process. His impact was sufficient to elicit comparisons to Colin Bell. Unfortunately, right now he is closer to Bell in 1977 than 1967 - injuries have restricted him to two appearances since September 2008, and he is currently out for the season with a knee problem.

The impact of the new squad rules

As of next season, Premier League clubs will face restrictions on the make-up of their squads. The headline part of this is that eight of the squad of 25 must be "home-grown", but for most clubs, this will not the part which changes matters. To me it appears that the bigger effect will be upon fringe players, who may miss the cut due to the limit of 25 players.

25 players (plus an unlimited number of under-21s) effectively means two players for every position, with a couple of spare slots. So far this season 22 City players have made at least five Premier League appearances:

Goalkeepers: Given
Defenders: Richards, Bridge, Zabaleta, Lescott, Toure, Kompany, Onuoha, Garrido, Sylvinho
Midfielders: Ireland, Wright-Phillips, Petrov, Barry, De Jong, A Johnson, Vieira
Forwards: Tevez, Adebayor, Bellamy, Santa Cruz, Robinho.

Adding Stuart Taylor makes 23, though we can remove Robinho. If the system was already in place, he would have been removed from the squad during the transfer window. This leaves three slots, which for this season we can allocate to Michael Johnson, Benjani and reserve keeper Gunnar Nielsen. Boyata, Ibrahim and Weiss are free as they are under 21. Eleven of this squad count as "home grown", three more than the minimum of eight. Shay Given only just scrapes in here - under the rules Scottish clubs do not count. Given moved to Blackburn from Celtic when he was 18, and thus spent three years under the age of 21 with an English club. Had he moved at 19, he wouldn't class as home grown.

From this, it is clear that with the exception of Hart, and possibly Robinho, none of the senior players currently out on loan will be playing for the first team again. The likes of Shaleum Logan and Kelvin Etuhu will be too old to count as youngsters. Any returning player would have to displace an existing squad member. The summer will no doubt see some departures. Sylvinho may well retire, and on current form it is hard to see Vieira's contract being extended. However, while we won't see a summer like the last one, new recruits are sure to arrive.

This leaves some fringe players with uncertain futures. It is likely that Nielsen will be released, and his place taken by a player young enough to leave a squad spot free. Vladimir Weiss misses the age deadline by a few days, and will count as a senior player next season. I'd have no hesitation in giving him a place in the squad, but clearly he needs to break through next season. A bigger question mark is Michael Johnson. With squad places at a premium, can the club justify retaining a player with his injury record? The new rules will have a significant impact on fringe players, particularly those aged 21 or 22, a bigger impact than any shift in nationalities.

The Run-in

The win at Fulham places our destiny in our own hands in the race for fourth. City have nine games remaining, and six of them are at Eastlands. But how does this compare to our rivals?

City - 9 games, 6 at home. Maximum points achievable: 80.
Spurs - 8 games, 4 at home. Maximum points achievable: 79.
Liverpool - 7 games, 4 at home. Maximum points achievable: 72.
Villa - 9 games, 4 at home. Maximum points achievable: 77.

Promising, particularly in view of our home form, but what are the fixtures like?

City may only have three away games, but all are against teams with something to play for - Burnley and West Ham at the bottom, and Arsenal at the top. At home, the Villa and Spurs games look likely to be the deciding factor. There's also the small matter of a derby.

Spurs face Arsenal (h), Chelsea (h) and United (a) in the space of a week. Like City, they finish the season away to a team currently in the bottom six. Probably the toughest run-in.

Liverpool face only one of the top eight (Chelsea) and three of the current bottom six. Theirs looks to be the easiest run-in. Their continued presence in the Europa League could be a factor; they face Birmingham at St. Andrews on the back of a trip to Lisbon.

Every Villa away fixture is against a team who currently have something to play for, though Bolton may look safe by the time they play Villa, and Portsmouth will almost certainly be down. Like City, they have a derby at home. Chelsea away is their only meeting with a "Big Four" club.

The bookies reckon it'll be City or Spurs, with City now favourites, and shortening. On Betfair, City are 11/8, Spurs 2/1, Liverpool 5/1 and Villa slightly longer than 6/1. Lets hope they are right.

Taking stock

Amidst all the attention being paid to the fight for fourth place, it is easy to forget how long it is since we've been in this position. City have never qualified for Europe by right in my lifetime, our two recent sojourns coming via the Fair Play League. This season seventh place will secure a European spot, unless Fulham grab one of them through their cup exploits. That finishing seventh would widely be regarded as failure shows the level of progress, money or no money. We also reached a cup semi for the first time in 28 years. Unfortunately, that last step is also the hardest.