I know it's only the development league but..

I think the u23s is a poor concept full stop. We've seen what sort of jump it is to make for players like Moon, Adeboyejo, Simoes etc... and also we've had players from Liverpool, Burnley, Derby and Leeds u23s that have struggled to make the jump to the championship. Sraha is probably getting more out of a loan to non-league than he would've done playing in those games. Same applies to Ackroyd and his loan.

It's no coincidence that out of the England squad, there's probably only Foden that hasn't started, or had a loan at an EFL club as they were coming through. It's why the football pyramid should be protected, and money distributed more fairly than the current parachute payment system.

It also doesn't help that we sign an awful lot of players that are under 23 to play in our first team. It just blocks the development of our academy players.

 

He's got lots of maturity for his age. That's why they call him mellow Jalo.

 

The best junior/coach was big Eric,we always brought players through when Eric was here,yes we have brought the likes of Stones/Holgate and hopefully Wolfe will prove to be another.

 

Yes, I think the older system seemed to work better than the current one in some ways. Although the problem with the reserve setup was sometimes you end up with a reserve team full off 1st teamers who aren't cutting the mustard not allowing the next generation to come through. It's finding the right balance I think. I just don't think that using the U23's for 16 year olds en mass is the right thing to do.

I also think it's a bit tragic really that all the money spent on the academy over the years and we can only really point to Stones & Holgate coming through the ranks having made a decent impact. Hopefully Wolfe wil be another, but if the academy has been in place since our stint in the prem, that's 2 maybe 3 players inc Walton in 25 years. It doesn't look good value for money.