Duncan Idehan

Quoted from acko338

Going out on a loan to get experience against seasoned pros in lower leagues, or playing in more regular reserve games, must be the way forward, especially in the 2nd year of their contracts.

Perhaps an agreement with the likes of Cleethorpes Town, Scarborough and Bridlington to give youngsters a definite "live and play away from home" experience, giving them a taste of a 1st out of Town transfer.

Use it as part of a hardening up process to show them the reaiities of professional football. Teach them independence and give them experiences that will help to shape them properly.

Clee town as a live and play away from home experience?

Andy Reid, head of Forest under 23s, was talking about this on the radio on Saturday. They prefer their youngsters to go out to stable clubs, who have a set way of playing and a settled management and 'brand/philosophy'
He spoke very positively about Lincoln, whose CEO had actually gone to Forest and given them a presentation on the club's philosophy and set up ,plus how loanees would be looked after.
interestingly Pete Smurthwaite, chairman of Bridlington, was a guest at GTFC earlier in the season, about the time Goundry and Adlard went there on loan; maybe there's the beginning of  a relationship there?

Quoted from forza ivano

Andy Reid, head of Forest under 23s, was talking about this on the radio on Saturday. They prefer their youngsters to go out to stable clubs, who have a set way of playing and a settled management and 'brand/philosophy'
He spoke very positively about Lincoln, whose CEO had actually gone to Forest and given them a presentation on the club's philosophy and set up ,plus how loanees would be looked after.
interestingly Pete Smurthwaite, chairman of Bridlington, was a guest at GTFC earlier in the season, about the time Goundry and Adlard went there on loan; maybe there's the beginning of  a relationship there?

This approach from Lincoln wasn’t a one off as far as I’m aware, they did to other clubs, coupled with the relocation of the training ground, it proved to be a contributing factor to gaining promotion.

They’ve struggled this year and find themselves in a relegation battle, probably something to do with clubs not sending as many players out on loan or recalling them, and a manager becoming seriously ill during preseason…

Yeah the Bridlington Chairman was very complementary about Goundry and it's positive that they've also taken Adlard also. Let's hope it's the start of a longer term relationship as season long loans are likely to offer the best chance for the players to acclimatise to mens football.

Quoted from Kris2

I'm not sure I would consider Wright a first team player, he's barely in the team enough. More of a backup/super sub who can come on and make something happen. The idea of training youngsters and using money from transfers is nice enough but we don't really have that luxury right now, fans demand we get promotion and most of the budget is being used on the first team. A lot of people have this ongoing fantasy about a team full of local lads because we have this obsession with players also being fans of the club. I'd prefer we spend the budget on getting promoted, don't care if players come for the money as long as they do the job they are paid to do by winning games for GTFC. If we are up there again in higher leagues then maybe we can focus more on development of players and shifting a much larger budget around.

95% of young players will not make it in football, big teams just have the budget to develop them and get a few gems from it per year.

But then we get stuck in that cycle don't we?  We look just at the immediate promotion and when we get it, we have to rebuild again.  Then it's gamble if it works or not.  The promotion in 2016 was badly needed, I honestly don't think we would have ever got out the Conference if we hadn't done it that year.  It felt like that one last huge surge.  But when we got into League Two, we had to start again because that side had been built with the sole intention of getting promoted.  The likes of Monkhouse, Clay, Arnold, all geared up towards one objective.  We didn't get the rebuilding right and we sloped back into the Conference within 5 years (with other factors at play too, of course).

Naturally, if we have the choice of a side that's flying high in, let's say, League One where not a single player was born within 50 miles of Blundell Park or a fully home-grown squad that's absolute dogshit and struggling at this level, then it's a no-brainer.  I don't think anyone is really, or at least realistically, expecting a Crewe style set-up where we field an all-local XI.  

For me it has to be about that philosophy of giving young lads a chance and that we're a club that bloods youngsters with a view to developing them.  Now that development can be as first team players for us or it can be so we can sell them for a tidy profit that we reinvest back into the set-up (be it first team transfers or the youth set-up).  The ethos over the last 20 or so years has been short-term, looking no further than the end of the season with no real plan for developing kids.  The only brief period we had was under Buckley Mk III when he blooded Bennett, North, Taylor, Hegarty and a few others.  

If nothing else, experience tells us that the more successful Town teams of modern history have a core running through them of talent grown from within.  

Just to add, I completely get the balance between the finances.  No-one is going to settle for a 16th placed finish at this level on the caveat that Khouri, Adlard and co. got another years contract.

I'm just highlighting that I think it's a real shame we're looking at it through short-term lenses.   I don't want to drag up old arguments but the profits of Pollock and Grist could really have made a difference at a time when we genuinely seem to be bringing a glut of talent through the ranks.  Someone like Khouri, for example, looks to have something about him.  He's not the finished article but there's a lot to work with.  In 4 months time he's out of contract and will likely have had a sprinkling of first team appearances this season under him.  When Hurst looks at renewing his contract in the summer, it's likely be having to look at it through the same angle as when looking at Scanell and Grant, i.e. what it is they've contributed to the first team.  Not with an eye on next year, or the year after.

Quoted from acko338

Going out on a loan to get experience against seasoned pros in lower leagues, or playing in more regular reserve games, must be the way forward, especially in the 2nd year of their contracts.

Perhaps an agreement with the likes of Cleethorpes Town, Scarborough and Bridlington to give youngsters a definite "live and play away from home" experience, giving them a taste of a 1st out of Town transfer.

Use it as part of a hardening up process to show them the reaiities of professional football. Teach them independence and give them experiences that will help to shape them properly.

Whilst I get your point to some degree, we need a couple of promotions under our belt first as most teams below us are part-time. Moving away to Bridlington and twiddling their thumbs most of the week in anticipation of training on two evenings isn't going to be good for development.

You have to consider that we loan a number of players ourselves and moan about the idea that they must play so I think anyone going out on loan needs to be kept on their toes and work for their place. After all, it's supposed to be an experience that prepares them for a career in the game. I also think it's important to seek regular and honest feedback whilst also having a team of staff that get out and watch these players regularly so their performances can be critiqued and improved. It's no good sending them out on loan to Timbuctoo and not checking up on them unless they think the government decide when it rains.

My take is that we must trust the judgement of the people who get paid to make these decisions and there will be more to it than the fans know about.

Most fans are terrible judges of a player anyway.

Unless said players are obviously a cut above and will almost certainly make the grade, it's a gamble for the rest whether they are going to make it as a pro or not. Promising younger players sometimes fizzle out, whilst ones who don't look particularly that good, go on to make a career, often developing when older and stronger.

The ones that look particularly good will be hoovered up anyway and we won't be able to stop teams higher up taking them if they want them enough.

Not many players who are released by clubs go on to make a decent career in the game, which suggests that the people who make these decisions get it right more often than not.

There is evidence in Wright and Clifton that players can step up to the first team and win a pro contract: It's just that most of them simply won't.

Just to add that I'Anson is apparently playing in the Spanish 3rd division at present, which is semi-pro level. Well, I assume he's playing but there aren't any indications he's played a match since 2020 from his Wikipedia page. Whether this is due to injury or not, I don't know, but probably another indication that he perhaps wasn't up to the required standard after all, just like the other youngsters who left us.

I suppose the difference between these days and 20 or 30 years past is that, back then, you'd often have young players as the back-up who came in when the first choice or cover wasn't fit. In recent years, rather than playing an 18 year-old full-back when you have injuries or suspensions, we end up playing an older midfielder (often a winger) or central defender in the position. I say full-back specifically, because I always remember that the young players who did get a chance tended to be full-backs or wingers. You'd rarely see young central defenders given a chance with Bennett and Pollock the notable exceptions.

Quoted from jamesgtfc

Whilst I get your point to some degree, we need a couple of promotions under our belt first as most teams below us are part-time. Moving away to Bridlington and twiddling their thumbs most of the week in anticipation of training on two evenings isn't going to be good for development.

You have to consider that we loan a number of players ourselves and moan about the idea that they must play so I think anyone going out on loan needs to be kept on their toes and work for their place. After all, it's supposed to be an experience that prepares them for a career in the game. I also think it's important to seek regular and honest feedback whilst also having a team of staff that get out and watch these players regularly so their performances can be critiqued and improved. It's no good sending them out on loan to Timbuctoo and not checking up on them unless they think the government decide when it rains.

Would they have been twiddling their thumbs? If Bridlington only train twice a week wouldn't they have been training at Town the rest of the week?