Gardner signs 3 year contract

Is it right that youth players can't sign a professional contract until they are 18, but they can be poached by the big clubs for next to nothing?
If Grayson Giles carries on the way he's going, we will lose him to a big club for next to nothing

Essentially yes.

For Giles we would be entitled to some compensation based on the development time with us, which at present is sod all.

The best hope is if you can get a bidding war going, which is what happened with Grist when he went to Leicester. To secure his signature and get a direct route to him, I'm told they paid far more than perhaps would have needed to.

Drinkell, Wilkinson and Lund were all in the first team at 18. If he’s good enough get him in there

Quoted from HerveJosse

Drinkell, Wilkinson and Lund were all in the first team at 18. If he’s good enough get him in there

Can't be a worse striker than Pyke

I know his time isn't looked upon too fondly, mainly because we never really got going (and it was in the Fenty era) but Michael Jolley did a lot for our younger players at that time.

He not only played Clifton but gave him a two or three-year deal (can't remember which it was); he gave Akheem Rose his chance (when he was eligible/fit); he played Max Wright and also brought Mattie Pollock into the first team, then gave him a 2.5 year deal.

I think that was part of his remit - to develop our younger players, and I think he did it as well as any other manager in our recent history.

Hurst tends to get youngsters on the cusp of the first team, then ultimately releases them. The last decent striker to come through our ranks was Dayle Southwell. He even scored a hat-trick for us in a cup game, but still that wasn't enough to keep him on.

These days, anyone with real potential gets snapped up before they ever make an appearance for us, so the ones that do make it are somewhere in the middle — not outrageous talents, but better than average.

You hope that a bit of first team exposure helps kick their development along so they become an outrageous talent that we can ultimately sell for a big profit.

Fair point on Jolley.  I can't imagine it was easy to appease Fenty with that development line when the constant demand was for success (on a shoestring too).

Common denominator in all our youth development in the last 20 years is Neil Woods and his team.  Even in points of time when we had no funding, we somehow managed to continue to produce.  The likes of Clifton, Wright, Pollock (albeit from a later stage) all had their development at a point when our central youth funding was non-existent.  

Quoted from RichMariner

I know his time isn't looked upon too fondly, mainly because we never really got going (and it was in the Fenty era) but Michael Jolley did a lot for our younger players at that time.

He not only played Clifton but gave him a two or three-year deal (can't remember which it was); he gave Akheem Rose his chance (when he was eligible/fit); he played Max Wright and also brought Mattie Pollock into the first team, then gave him a 2.5 year deal.

I think that was part of his remit - to develop our younger players, and I think he did it as well as any other manager in our recent history.

Hurst tends to get youngsters on the cusp of the first team, then ultimately releases them. The last decent striker to come through our ranks was Dayle Southwell. He even scored a hat-trick for us in a cup game, but still that wasn't enough to keep him on.

These days, anyone with real potential gets snapped up before they ever make an appearance for us, so the ones that do make it are somewhere in the middle — not outrageous talents, but better than average.

You hope that a bit of first team exposure helps kick their development along so they become an outrageous talent that we can ultimately sell for a big profit.

I have said this numerous times over the years, but Slade threw Harry Clifton on when we were dead and buried against Yeovil I believe. He didn't really get a proper chance until Jolley came in and really grabbed it by the horns in those final 10 games of the season that saw us survive relegation and then a JJ Hooper hat-trick in the final game when we had nothing to play for.

I am certain that Harry Clifton would have been released if Slade was still manager at the end of that campaign, and probably drifted down the leagues. By the time Hurst came back, Clifton was a well established first team player.

Joe Starbuck picked up by Tranmere today on a short term deal.

Quoted from Madeleymariner

Can't be a worse striker than Pyke

Who knows, Gardner may be the reason we haven’t signed another striker on a 3 year deal. And Pyke may be seen as a utility stop-gap with the club expecting Gardner to make the step-up soon.

Quoted from RichMariner

I know his time isn't looked upon too fondly, mainly because we never really got going (and it was in the Fenty era) but Michael Jolley did a lot for our younger players at that time.

He not only played Clifton but gave him a two or three-year deal (can't remember which it was); he gave Akheem Rose his chance (when he was eligible/fit); he played Max Wright and also brought Mattie Pollock into the first team, then gave him a 2.5 year deal.
.

Also Rumarn Burrell who has't really kicked on since leaving us, but still only 22