BuzzerBeater Forums

Well I don’t think I need to introduce myself given I’ve been in the role for 14 seasons, but here it goes.

I’m Arrows and as I said I have been the u21 manager for the past 14 seasons. I’ve played BB for many years across 2 stints, but this time season 2018. I have won 1 EBBL and 2 cups in that time, and spent the last 14 seasons in the EBBL. In that time I’ve achieved the 4th best wins per season record of all time in England, first amongst active teams. I’ve done plenty of winning at club level at the top of this countries competition. As well as the wins, I have a strong record of training great players for both our NT team and U21 teams. NT players include Kanjilal who is 3rd all time top scorer, Palit who is 6th all time in assists and currently stars Turner and Hanes who are ready to dominate NT competition. For the u21s I trained the previous monster big in Boddie who features in the top 10 all time for both points and rebounds at u21 level.

In my time as England u21 manager, I have recorded 132 wins to only 64 losses. While my NT record doesn’t compare to Alonso with Israel, I’ve managed to come close on 3 occasions of reaching the 2nd round of the EC, each time being only 1 win or less away from qualifying (and 1 time losing out on points scored!).

This season we have a team I have high hopes of breaking that 2nd round drought and possibly even pushing for a medal. Both of which would be a great achievement for a team ranked in the 30s. We have the biggest and baddest u21 in BB this season in Ray to lead the way, along with many other bigs and guards trained specifically to help us succeed.

Away from the court, I’ve have spent many hours each season scouting 100s of players at each age group trying to find a way to create strong teams. Unfortunately those teams have been few and far between in recent seasons. I have also created pathways for star players to get the right training plan to reach our NT team. With me you don’t just get commitment to the u21 program, you get commitment to the whole England NT setup from 18yo to 35yo.

If I do get voted in, I’d be happy to look to add more people to the u21 group to help with training plans and tactical discussions. Feel free to message if interested.

I hope I earn your vote!

Arrows

Last edited by arrowspg5 at 10/15/2025 5:10:01 PM

Alonso, firstly I have to say I’m disappointed you’ve decided to disclose this publicly. We had a reasonable chat in private about your opinions which I don’t think needed to be announced to everyone else. There was also no need to bring JS8 into this. It’s an u21 election, not a NT one. What he’s done, and is doing, with the NT team has no relation to winning medals with the u21s. JS8 is doing a very good job in creating a NT generation who haven’t quite made it to the team yet. We hope this will be a successful team for us.

As for your post above, I’d like to know what you would do differently to me in order to create this success you speak of. I’ve exhausted every option I believe I can in order to engage with managers to try and create a successful u21 system. I get very little response from managers. If you want to help England U21/NT long term, I’ve offered you the chance to help me this season and even take over in a couple seasons time.

I'm not going to be as kind as Testudo or Arrows have been because you've unnecessarily brought me into this conversation and in all honesty, I find your message incredibly disappointing and insulting.

There's no doubting your credentials and achievements with the Israel U21's but let me tell you the honest truth about why we struggle in England and aren't at the level we could be. To put it simply, Israel has many managers who are focused on solely on training for the NT/U21's, whereas in England we have many managers who prioritise other things, which is entirely their choice and what makes the game great. It isn't for the want of trying that we can't produce teams that are competing for second round qualification or medals, we just don't have the resources that countries with similar users have.

To also question mine and Arrows dedication is ludicrous, because we've clearly shown that the NT/U21's is our priority with the number of English players we've produced. Arrows has produced four players in Kanjilal, Georgas, Hanes and Turner, whilst I currently have five players in training.

You talk about 'community' and 'working for one big dream', yet in the same message you throw two of the most dedicated managers in England under the bus; coaches who have explored every possible angle in trying to drive community engagement and to get fellow English managers to train for the NT, spent countless hours scouting, creating and communicating training plans and analysing opponents and discussing tactics. It's also hilarious how you've only now shown an interest in our nation because we've got a team that has the potential of competing for second round qualification and a medal. If you were so interested, why haven't you been involved in recent seasons and trained an English player yourself? That shows commitment, not running in an election because we've got a good team.

I'm thankful you've decided to step away, because we don't need arrogant managers like you involved, but don't dress it up as a noble act while throwing cheap shots on your way out. That's not leadership, it's ego.

In all honesty I don't know why I'm wasting my breath on someone who I have no time for, but I'm going to continue to defend myself and Arrows.

In five seasons of European Championships, we've qualified once - I will be the first to admit that it's not good enough but the competition in Europe is ridiculous. Poland didn't qualify for the second round this season despite having the third biggest user base on BB. In the same period as us, Greece have qualified once (5th biggest user base in Europe), Turkiye have qualified once (6th biggest user base in Europe), Germany haven't qualified (8th biggest user base) and Estonia have qualified once (9th biggest user base) and that was with HCA.

As for the U21's, you said yourself, this is the best side we've probably had, yet it's not as good as your worst Israeli team, that is what we are working. You say your English is good, but you're clearly not understanding that we have tried every possible angle to get more managers involved and unfortunately for us, they are not interested.

I have one more thing to add - I've been in charge ten seasons. Creating balanced, versatile and elite teams is a long process and we're in the middle of our project. We have many players coming through who could create our best ever team, maybe come back and judge us then and in the mean time, go find another forum to cause issues like you constantly do.