Do we let decent players slip away due to our reluctancy to gamble on a player. Theres obvious examples of local talent such as Cody and Chris Smalling, but there are players that we have actually had at the club. Such as Frannie Collin and Andy Pugh. We released both of these and they are now looking like 2 handy strikers. We also had Charlie Sheringham on trial and let him go, he's now at Bournemouth. Youngsters like this will never be on a high wage, so should we take more risks on the kids?
Hard to say that we made a mistake releasing Pugh and Collin when their playing Conference South Football, they had a chance at the club and obviously didn't do enough to warrant a contract, unlike Rooney and Payne. Also Charlie Sheringham hasn't yet proved himself at Football League level. There will always be a few that will slip through the net being a lower league club, that's just something we have to accept. Think we should look at the brighter side of things, we have Jarvis and Jackson who are now in the Premiership after proving themselves here. Rooney and Payne are also looking like real decent prospects, and are only going to improve getting first team football. We are on a shoestring budget and I feel that immediate success would be a higher priority than to investing in youth. This is controversial, but we cant afford to use funding for the first team to take a gamble on youngsters and potentially suffer another relegation which could prove disastrous for the club. I feel the club already has a pretty decent youth set up and we should just continue doing what we are until we're in a better position.
