One of our first year scholars now arrived on loan at Clitheroe. Usually I'd say that if we're loaning them out to this level then they're being sucked into the Gawthorpe Black Hole, normally the loanees are 18 year olds, and if you're only good enough for this level at 18, then that's probably where your future lies.

But Finlay isn't 18, he's only 16, and just had a month at Padiham, now he's going up a level and really playing with the big boys. They don't play for fun at this level and at Clitheroe he'll be playing alongside Craig Stanley, 36 years old and a vastly experienced ex league player with Morecambe and Bristol Rovers amongst others. Finlay will learn more in a couple of months playing alongside Stanley than he would in a year playing with schoolkids at Barnfield. He's also coming into a very successful and rapidly improving Clitheroe team that just can't stop winning, Ossett United were pasted 6-1 in Finlay's first game yesterday, hopefully this will bring him on in leaps and bounds and his next loan spell will be at a much higher level. Good luck to the lad.