RICHMOND, VA ? (Thursday, March 24, 2011) ? The Richmond Kickers are pleased to announce the signing of goalkeeper Ryan Jones. At age 18, Jones marks the youngest player to sign with the Kickers professional team and will be available immediately upon Visa approval.

"Ryan is another historic signing for the Kickers and certainly a player to watch this season," comments Leigh Cowlishaw, Richmond Kickers Head Coach and Director of Soccer. "Although still relatively young, Ryan possesses significant professional experience and clearly has a tremendous upside. I know he is looking forward to the challenge of igniting his professional career with the Kickers and we look forward to his arrival in the States."

The 6?6? native of Liverpool, England brings a wealth of professional playing experience to Richmond, having begun his career at the Liverpool Academy, winner of the FA Youth Cup in 2006 and 2007. Signing with Leeds United of the English NPower Championship for the 2008-09 season, Jones featured several times for the first team as a substitute before being released as a second year apprentice. Most recently, he played with NPower League 1 side Rochdale AFC before making three appearances with Northwich Victoria of the Evo-Stik Premier League.

Current Philadelphia Union and former USA National Team midfielder, Justin Mapp, still holds the record as the youngest player to represent the Kickers, when he made one appearance on loan from D.C. United in 2002 at the age of 17.

It is well known that there are more footballers than there are spaces at football clubs. Some players develop later in their youths and arrive in the game relatively late compared to those players who have progressed through academies from the age of 7. Currently MyFirstAgent.com has been representing a player who has been training with Newcastle United for several weeks and has also caught the eye of the Manchester United scouts. This player was spotted playing for Durham County at under 18 level, even though he hasn?t been with any professional club in the past he will now be hoping to seal a contract with a club. This shows that there is no replacement for hard work, and for those players who have been released or aren?t with a club have to work extra hard training on their own in order to get the chance they need. Dedication to training and never giving up will pay off if the player has the talent.

Watford defender Tom Aldred has today moved on loan to Npower league 2 side Stockport County. The defender who recently moved to Vicarage Road from Carlisle United in the summer will hope to make a positive impression and earn some regular playing experience. Tom signed a 2 year contract with the option of a third in the summer in which Watford fought off competition from other teams to sign the 6?2 defender. Tom caught the attention of many clubs after several impressive displays for Carlisle United. On his full debut he landed the man of the match award and had positive comments from his time on loan at Workington early in his career. Tom has also impressively featured for Scotland at Under 19 level after impressing in Carlisle United?s youth and reserve teams. The centre back has moved to County until the 5th January 2011 and will hope to feature on a regular basis and gain vital match practise in order to break into the Watford team when he returns.

Luke Ashworth made his first start of the season against Wycombe Wanderers at the weekend in a thrilling match in which Wycombe won 4-3. The MyFirstAgent.com defender was drafted in before kick off after the millers captain Ryan Creswell suffered a back injury in the warm up. Luke has featured amongst the substitutes several times this season and will hope to capitalise on his first start and feature on a regular basis. Luke who begin his career at Wigan Athletic where he impressively won their young player of the year award before he left in 2009. The defender then went onto play for Leyton Orient where he played 13 times between 2008 and 2010 scoring one goal. In the summer Luke penned a one year contract after impressing on trial and has an option of a further year if he impresses.

For any football player to be in the game, especially at the youth level, you don't have to be the biggest, strongest, or fastest to be successful. A positive attitude goes a long way in helping not only your game, but your teammates as well. For any young footballers there are other aspects which have to be monitored in order to succeed. Playing football at any professional level requires hard work, if signing a professional contract is the young players aim, then the hard work will be worthwhile. Hard work includes working on different parts of your game game, such as fitness, technique, tactical awareness and other aspects of the game which aren?t your strongest in order to become a better player. As professional football can be a relatively short career players need to be at their best abilities at all times in order for them to be recognised and not replaced by other players at youth level.
In the current game many young players are released as teenagers, some are released before and after signing youth term contracts. Players who are released find it very difficult to bounce back from such a disappointment, so all young players need to be mentally strong in order impress when given a chance at other clubs. Some players stop playing completely once released whilst mentally stronger players continue, these players will continue trying to impress no matter how many setbacks they have and this can be an important aspect for any professional player.

The FA have recently reformed the player?s agents system through a new approach based on the concept of intermediaries. It may be that the current players' agents licensing provisions will be abolished and replaced by a different system. It is likely that under these proposals the current requirements for individuals to become licensed agents will no longer apply. In the event that these proposals are approved by FIFA, they are likely to take effect from October 2011. In the intervening period, agents will still need to be licensed in order to conduct Agency Activity, as defined in the current Regulations which can be found on the current FA website.
Fifa's current players' agent regulations only came into force on 1 January 2008, but over the last year a working group for the world governing body has met a number of times to review how the current system is working.
But with 70% of international transfers concluded by non-licensed agents, Fifa has effectively signalled that the current system is not working and changes have to be made. Fifa stated that a possible new approach could be to regulate the conduct of clubs and players, and extend the scope of the regulations to include all kinds of intermediaries.