McLaren and youth

[WhatsGoinOn]

Don't worry this topic isn't a Jimmy Jewell NOTW esque bombshell.

Genuine question and I am a massive McLaren fan:

In the time McLaren has been here, has he bought many, if any youth players through to the first team?

I know he has signed a lot of youngsters for the u21's, but I can't think of anyone who he has bought through. Kwame Thomes doesn't really count because Nige had him on the bench a fair few times.

Not saying it is a bad thing if he hasn't, we are in the middle of our second excellent season under him.

[wristslasher_909]

I don't think this is McClaren's remit.

McClaren's job is solely to get us in to the PL.

When you have no cash and the team is mediocre, it is a lot easier to bring young players in to your set-up as the expectation level is lower.

It was easy for Clough to bring in Hendrick, Hughes, O'Brien and Bennett as he didn't have the resources to bring in better players. If Clough had've had the option to buy first team ready players he would've done so.

It is the job of the Academy and U21 coaches to supply the first team coach with players good enough to compete at that standard.

In the last couple of years they haven't done that, but we have to consider what a difficult challenge that is. We have altered our strategy by bringing in young foreign players, but it isn't going to supply first team players overnight.

[Rattea]

I wouldn't agree its not his remit, although he could have been told to completely ignore it, but any manager working on a budget is most successful bringing players through to optimise spending.

If it were promotion at all cost then the financial backing would have been more.

I dont think its being ignored as we have seen some young players come through but I think after 18 months nearly its an evident hole that is appearing.

I bleat on about improvement and by that I mean as an all round club including development. I have started to be concerned this side is falling back quite substantially.

[wristslasher_909]

The financial backing IS significant.

Although revenues have increased in the last 18 months, due to improved results on the pitch, I think we will find when the next set of accounts are released that the wage budget has increased significantly due to improved contracts for players and management.

It most certainly isn't McClaren's remit. He is Head Coach. He asks for what he wants i.e. players etc and the structure is in place to get him those resources. This could be youth players, development players or first team players.

THE ACADEMY is there to deliver players who are capable of becoming professional footballers, so over the last couple of seasons we have had a pretty disappointing crop. I don't think this will be allowed to continue for much longer and I have heard whispers of Wassall's head on the block. I think we will be seeing an imminent change.

[AdiSalisbury]

It is in Mac's remit, however this is youth, and so you can't judge him until a few years down the line. Our youth system hasn't really produced much in the last decade - Huddlestone, Hendrick and Hughes are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head who are proven at this level or above. It's important but fruition is a long game.

This goes beyond our own youth system though, as much of the current talent has come from abroad, with homegrown players mostly being average or not good enough. You could count on one hand the current homegrown players who are brwaking into the top sides.

[WhatsGoinOn]

Our most successful youth player over the last few years has been Jordan Mutch.

He left us as a youngster but he has had a 5 million pound move and has played a lot of prem footy.

I always wonder if we had given Terry Westley a chance, what youth would he have bought through.

Instead he took Mutch to Brum.

[Rapid]

you don't win anything with kids ;-)

[hamster83]

Because we were a mid-table side under clough he had nothing to lose so he gave the young lads the chance Given that we are pushing for promotion now to much is at stake to be playing untried kids. Also given the macs an Evans contacts in the game we don't have to rely on youth players as much.

[swaledale]

How many young players did Clough actually bring through that became regulars in the first team?

McClaren has brought i some potentially good young players, whether they will turn out to be good enough is another thing.

[HungaryRam]

I think we've got loads of talent coming through, Bunjaku doesn't half look promising. The lad's got amazing technique.

The youth team have never had the same amount of exposure that they have now. This is partly due to the youtube channel and so forth. I reckon most fans can at least half a dozen of the youngsters, when has it been like that before?

It's just about timing and priorities. Earlier on against Charlton in the cup we gave Santos and Calero their debuts, we could have done that more but we have a larger squad now. The priority yesterday was to experiment with whether or not we could play 352 and we did that.

Unless we have an injury crisis the likelihood is we won't see the youngsters coming through for a little while, but in Bunjaku, Calero, Lowe, Vernam, and Koblenz we have real cause for optimism.

Don't think it will be long till we start seeing these guys involved and the fact we have three lads out on loan at the moment is testament to just how close th