Brooks Gone to Gateshead

[kill_the_drum]

Very disappointed with this one but not surprised. Notts haven't cared about our juniors since the Warnock days. They never give them any game time yet over those years have recruited hundreds of journeymen. Shame on you Notts! Another wasted opportunity !!

Youth players generally don’t get pushed into first teams unless there’s no alternative or they’re exceptional.
A manager is never more than 2/3 bad results from crowds turning on them, so they’re naturally going to be very risk averse when taking gambles on youth players.
In the case of TB, I don’t think he was good enough to be playing for a team with aspirations of promotion.
And the message it sends to the youth squad is you’ve got to be exceptional and take your opportunity if/when it arises.

[nw6pie]

Youth players generally don’t get pushed into first teams unless there’s no alternative or they’re exceptional.
A manager is never more than 2/3 bad results from crowds turning on them, so they’re naturally going to be very risk averse when taking gambles on youth players.
In the case of TB, I don’t think he was good enough to be playing for a team with aspirations of promotion.
And the message it sends to the youth squad is you’ve got to be exceptional and take your opportunity if/when it arises.

Exactly this. TB now has the opportunity to establish himself as a pro keeper in the National League, so his football career continues at the correct level for his current skill set. Not sure what else Notts could have done in his case.

However, we could do with building a relationship with a like-minded club in the NL system, where we can send young players on loan and help their development. Right now, the jump from our development team to the first XI is too great - especially as the days when we might have a special talent like Pennant, Kilcline or Draper on the youth books are presumably long gone. James Sanderson will be an interesting test case this season.