Another one into the Black Hole.

[sinkov]

Aiden O'Neill, a year ago he was playing against Chelsea and Liverpool, there was speculation that he might be given an extended run in the first team, after all shouldn't we be giving youth it's chance. Instead of PL football though he was loaned out to Oldham. Now he's gone out on a season's loan to Fleetwood. Not looking good is it ?

[Altobelli]

I don't know how old O'Neil is Sinkov, but he was not good enough as you'd probably agree when he was thrown into our first team because no one else was available at the time, he seems a reasonable player, maybe another loan will bring him more up to standard as only playing can do, only time will tell.

[sinkov]

He's only just gone 19 Alto, so plenty of time yet. He was a regular on our bench well into October, got a few minutes in the Cup in January, then Oldham, now Fleetwood. Just seems to be heading in the wrong direction to me.

[Altobelli]

So many do head in the wrong direction and crash and burn or end up in League One or lower, I was surprised that someone mentioned that we had not had a home grown since JayRod which seems too long ago.

[CaspertheClaret]

Unfortunately its a fact of football that somewhere along the line you plateau.

Most people don't get as far as ONeill - hopefully he hasn't plateaued yet.

Its not just at Burnley this happens but at every club. In fact the higher you are as a club the higher the peak is so more fail before they get up there!

I don't know any stats but I would hazzard a guess we are average or above in bringing through talented youngsters.

[1959_60]

Give the lad a break, eh?

He was just 18 years old when he last played for us - in the Prem!

And Fleetwood are a better outfit than Oldham. With our current crop of midfielders he is hardly likely to break into the first team at the moment.

A good move to give him plenty of competitive game time.

One for the future - watch this space.

[sinkov]

Give the lad a break, eh?

No use asking me to give him a break 59-60, I didn't send him out to D1 on loan, I'm just pointing out that he has been. No use asking our youth development coaches to give them a break either, they cull them with ruthless efficiency every year. They don't need to worry about me, I'm a *****cat in comparison.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

Deli Alli went to MK Dons and Harry Kane had several loan moves to gain first team football and it didn't seem to harm them much.

Right now young O'Neill is behind Westwood, Hendrick, Defour, Cork, Arfield, Brady, Marney and Gudmundsson in the pecking order. Perhaps you all think he would be better playing in the Development Squad or cleaning the first team's boots?

[sinkov]

or cleaning the first team's boots?

A year ago he was playing for the first team, never mind cleaning their boots, this year he'll be playing for Fleetwood, providing he can get into their team. Instead of taking this thread as some sort of attack on our young players, why not take it as I intended it, to point out the difficulty our young players face breaking through at this level. And instead of pushing for them to be promoted, as in the case of O'Neill, Agyei, Whitmore and Anderson, piling pressure and unrealistic expectations on them, just accept they're not good enough yet, and they're being loaned out to lower league clubs because that's the level they're at, and it's a long way from PL level.

[sinkov]

I don't know any stats but I would hazzard a guess we are average or above in bringing through talented youngsters.

It's just a few months short of ten years since Jay made his debut Casper, since then we haven't brought through a single one. I don't know what the average is for bringing young players through, but I would think over a ten year period it's above our average of zero.