I'd go with a mix of youth and experience. Jakupovic - Just to keep his confidence going and keep him fit. East - Hopefully can do better this time than the Macclesfield debacle. McShane Bruce - these three need game time and wouldn't be troubled much by Orient. Dawson (c) Cairney McKenna Evans Margetts Proschwitz Simpson/Clarkson Bench: Oxley/Amos, Rosenior, Hobbs, Aluko, Simpson/Clarkson (whichever one doesn't start), Emerton, Koren.
We should be seeing more of the youth team coming through rather than purely squad players. The squad players (Cairney, McKenna, Daws, etc) should be making up the core to support the young guns. Never mind Liam Cooper (21), we signed an 18 year old defender from East Leigh at the beginning of the season (Will Aimson), at 18 surely him and the other younger lads should be knocking on the first team's door... Max Clark should be 16 now I guess (?) whilst he shouldnt be dumped in the deep end, such games should be a great learning curve for him, even a 20 minutes cameo. Cairney seems to be the only youngster which has made it through our youth set up recently, at that rate its a bloody expensive set up!!
Clark is 16. If he hasn't made the first team in the next year, even if it's 45 minutes of a League Cup match, it's a disgrace.
Stephen Clemence said none are good enough to break into the first team squad. So I can't see a load of youngsters coming in. Lets not underestimate Orient, I want a cup run.
Whats the point in keeping any of them on then? **** the ones who wont make it off (pretty much all of them) and focus on the next generation. Ferriby have a decent youth set up for their size, I'm sure most would be signed on there.
I'd go with: Jakupovic McShane Bruce Cooper Rosenior McKenna Cairney Olofinjana Dawson Proschwitz Simpson Amos East Townsend Quinn Stewart Aluko Margetts Mix it up a bit, but still have some quality on the bench in case things aren't going quite to plan.
Didn't Bruce say there was interest in McKenna, Stewart to come back and go straight back out on loan and McLean to Millwall, if this is the case none of these will feature along with others he's trying to offload likr Oli etc
Personally I think we'd be better off out of the cup, so IMO we might as well chuck a load of youngsters in, if they win great, if not its no Big Deal, I'd also start the likes of Amos, Olofinjana, McKenna,Dawson and Stewart if available. With the size of our squad I don't think a cup run would be a good idea. Other than the financial aspects.
I would prefer to see Oxley over Amos, I could see Amos going back to Man U this month, especially if we manage to get Stockdale back. They wont have sent him here to warm our bench, or not feature whatsoever!
i personally think that as our fringe players have gradually been 'farmed' out this season, there is now a massive age and experience gulf between our second string and first team squads. It would be too much of a jump for many of our 'kids'. Many of the 'development squad' names mentioned previously, ie Margetts, Clark and Clarkson for instance, are great prospects if nurtured correctly from now, but they are miles away from first team debuts.
Why are they miles away from a debut for a championship club mussy? How old are they? If nurturing them means sending them to Alfreton, then we should be sacking Russell and Mann now and getting in coaches with real know how.
Billy Russell's comments about the best squad for years referred to the current youth team, not the likes of Atkinson, Devitt, Cullen, Holohan etc
Within the next couple of seasons they should be getting ready for loan moves to League One as a minimum. I fail to see how sending them out to the likes of Grimsby and other lowly positioned clubs helps, other than having chunks kicked out of the most weeks. Surely around 18 years old is make or break for the kids. Whilst they probably wont be ready for Championship\Prem League action at that age they should be getting first team playing time under their belts somewhere. I havent been to the ressies this season, but noticed Max Clark has played in a couple, so hopefully we will see more of the current crop in the next couple of seasons.
http://www.thisishullandeastriding....eaps-rewards/story-11964981-detail/story.html http://www.thisishullandeastriding....look-rookies/story-11958414-detail/story.html "Danny Emerton, Dean Deagle, Joe Fox, Daniel Wilkinson and Danny East have all been handed the chance to make the grade after impressing for Billy Russell's under-18s last season. Piss poor, youth development.
"Alongside the hugely impressive Cairney have been the names of Liam Cooper, Nicky Featherstone, Will Atkinson, Mark Cullen and Jamie Devitt etched on a senior team-sheet." LOL, just lol. Jury is still out on Cooper, I think his Hull City boat may well have sailed.
The annoying thing is if we had sent these kids out on loan we might have actually got some decent fees for them. Obviously it would be nothing major but every little helps as they say. People like Cooper could have brought a chunk in instead of losing them for nothing. How Cullen manages to go on loan to another L1 club is beyond me
I like to look of Danny East, did really well at Northampton from what I heard. I went to school with Lewis Clarkson, him and Margetts seem to be coming along nicely and I have seen Emerton play once and I thought he looked pretty good. Amos East Macca Bruce Cooper Townsend Cairney Mckenna Oli Simpson Proschwitz
