Where are they now? Former AFCB youth team players

kirsikka

UTC Legend
An occasionally updated thread on some of our former youth prospects and their careers in the pro game. Some will already have their own thread which has been updated relatively recently so I've mostly passed those over.

This isn't comprehensive as there are a few who knocked around League 2 a bit before dropping down further and absolutely loads at non-league level who I haven't covered.


Zeno Ibsen Rossi
Made some first team appearances during the injury crisis at the start of the Parker Period. Seemed to come from nowhere but I thought he looked the business but unlike some of the other youngsters, dropped out of contention when others came back.

At the end of that season, he joined Cambridge United in League One for an undisclosed fee. Now 24, he's gradually made more appearances each season but still isn't an automatic choice - 14 league appearances out of 26 league games so far this season.


Alex Dobre
Romanian winger who made one cup appearance the year we went down from the PL. That summer he was sold to Dijon for a reported £900k but, despite 53 appearances over three seasons, didn't quite cut the mustard so they sold him to Portuguese club Famalicão for €600k.

12 months later he was on the move again, this time to Rapid București in Romania. He's made 9 league appearanaces (out of a possible 10) and scored two goals so far but looks like he hasn't started a game yet.

At the time I wondered if he would be "one that got away" but looks like the club made the right call.


Filippo Costa
Signed on loan during our first PL season as one for the future but never got near the first team squad and returned to Italy at the end of his loan. He has bumped around many clubs down the years and did made 39 appearances in Serie A but the last of those was in 2018/19. Now plying his trade in the third tier of Italian football with Vicenza.


Baily Cargill
Centre back who once suffered a hair accessory malfunction during a live match which caused some odd speculation online afterwards. Left to join MK Dons and made 52 League One appearances over three years before moving on to Forest Green where he also spent three years split between Leagues Two and One.

Now at Mansfield in League One where he seems to be a regular starter. The kind of career where, in a former incarnation of AFCB, he'd have spent most of his career with us and racked up a couple of hundred appearances.


Matt Butcher
Midfielder who made a couple of cup appearances before finally moving on to Accrington Stanley. Played consistently there for two seasons before moving to Plymouth and making 40 appearances as they got promoted to the Championship. After 14 appearances at that level moved to Wycombe back in League One where he currently appears to be mostly a sub.

Solid League One career so there's another we'd have used a lot!


Kyle Taylor
A couple of FA Cup appearances for AFCB. Eventually signed for Exeter City for the 2021/22 season in League Two where he made 14 appearances as they got promoted.

Missed 16 months with ruptured knee ligaments and damaged bone and cartilage (which sounds horrendous) but I'm happy to hear he's back playing again and now making his mark in League One - 24 league appearances so far this season. Sounds like it was a tough journey so good luck to him! Only 25 so still plenty of football to play in his career.


Nnamdi Ofoborh
Been covered on his own thread but suffered a heart issue that was discovered after he left to sign for Rangers. He felt the medical team at AFCB let him down if I understood some of his comments correctly. Never played a single minute for Rangers in Scotland due to this but picked up his career in League 2 with Swindon where he's started ten and come on as a sub in ten this season.


Gavin Kilkenny
Also covered on his own thread and also now at Swindon where he's started 22 out of 24 league matches this season. Hope it works out for him as he waited so long.


Christian Saydee
Bulldozer of a striker who moved on to Portsmouth. Once upon a time that would have meant he was a crown jewel player for us but times are currently upside down. Played 36 times in the league as they got promoted from League One but often as a sub. A similar story this year, even though it's in the Championship, as he's made 21 league appearances but only 8 of them as starts.


Nathan Moriah-Welsh
Another with a couple of AFCB cup appearances to his name before moving on, he took the multiclub plunge by going to Hibernian. Having seemed to be an important part of things in the second half of last season looks to have dropped out a touch this season with only 8 appearances so far and only 1 of those being a start.


Ajani Burchall
Slightly different case in that he moved to the youth system of a bigger club after making a first team appearance and rejecting a contract from us - Aston Villa. Was reportedly doing well there but then did his anterior cruciate ligament which kept him out for 15 months. Signed a new deal with Villa last summer. Now 20, he'd surely have a bunch of first team appearances with us if he'd have stayed. One to watch to see if the long game turned out to be the right one.
 
Sam Sherring at MK Dons.

Jayden Stockley at Port Vale.

Ollie Harfield at Aldershot.

Ben Whitfield at Burton.

Joe Quigley at Forest Green.

Jack Simpson at Leyton Orient

Quite a few have ended up at Weymouth (Ben Greenwood, Euan Pollock, Corey Jordan, Brandon Goodship, Brooklyn Genesini, Jake McCarthy), and Brennan Camp’s at Dorking.
 
Howard Goddard went to Swindon and Newport

Admittedly less research
Part of Reg Tyrrell's youth team from the seventies which was surely the best ever in terms of players produced?
Howard Goddard, Mark Nightingale, Steve Gritt, Steve Chalk, Kevin Reeves, Ian Cunningham, David Stride who went to Chelsea, Kevin Hodges who went on to be a Plymouth legend and the ultimate "one who got away", Graham Roberts. Apologies to any I have forgotten.
 
Sam Sherring at MK Dons.

Jayden Stockley at Port Vale.

Ollie Harfield at Aldershot.

Ben Whitfield at Burton.

Joe Quigley at Forest Green.

Jack Simpson at Leyton Orient

Quite a few have ended up at Weymouth (Ben Greenwood, Euan Pollock, Corey Jordan, Brandon Goodship, Brooklyn Genesini, Jake McCarthy), and Brennan Camp’s at Dorking.
Here is Genesini in action

 

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