Quote:
Originally Posted by louisleftboot
On the flip side, would any manager aiming for promotion start playing a load of first year youth lads and expect results? We can be honest with ourselves and say the absolute cream of the crop would get pinched much lower leaving us with the likes of Rob Evans, Leo Smith, Reynolds etc. I don’t think any manager would have put faith in them to win promotion. And you’re right, dumping the reserve team was a mistake but we’ve been geared towards promotion at any cost.
I’m not defending the youth policy under the Trust but let’s not pretend we’re in the position to start filling the team with 17 years olds. If a championship team comes in for a 12 year old, what can a conference team do? Hold them off for a couple of years? Maybe now we have the cash to keep them.
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I don't think anyone would argue playing a lot of first-year pros. But, give them time to develop, players like Matty Sargent and Jack Thorn would have been 3rd year pros by now, Doug Tharme even more. It's the fact we don't seem interested at all in playing them and then get rid of them.
Nobody gets good in the professional game without some professional game time. We're not going to keep the likes of Jonny Smith or Pat Jones once clubs higher up come knocking, but surely we have a few guys that can play at National League level given the right training and experience.