Should we have kept these boys on and played them last year? Why release the few promising youngsters in attacking positions that we develop, just to bring in endless loanees and Keith Treacys?
Good question - personally I would have kept Rose and from the little I saw of him Oats as well - RNL had enough chances so wasnt too upset when he moved on I never saw enough of Jordan Clarke to have an opinion
Rose wasn't released, we sold him, for decent money apparently and a sell on clause. We were offered what we thought he was worth and gave him the option to stay or go. He's started 2 games for Bury this season and come off the bench twice. He's usually an unused sub, but he wasn't even in the squad for the last 2 games, although he could be injured. I wouldn't have been happy had we released him and I think it's still too early to tell if we made the right decision to take the money although it's looking like it was. RNL had stagnated at Barnsley and needed a fresh start. I thought he made a poor choice by moving to Rochdale under a manager that rarely selected him when he was at Barnsley. He's only started 4 games for them since his move in January. I think we made the right decision. I would have liked to see us offer contracts to Clark and Oates though.
I don't know if any of them were good enough but I do feel all of them deserved a chance in the first team when you consider some of the garbage we've signed on loan / permanent deals over the same period & given more games to. Rose for me would've been a far better option than Hemmings & Lita last year & better than Wilkinson this year.
I wouldn't have kept any based on what I saw of them. don't think any will play regularly above this division.
I've seen worse players signed in their positions since their respective departures. Nothing else to add.
Other than Reuben who had to move for his own sanity the rest look like errors to.me. Rose scored double figures last year and has 2 already this year and would be a better option off the bench than Wilkinson. No one gave the others a go and we've signed worse replacements.
People will say they've gone on to show they wouldn't have made it but what the first 3 have had is about 3 or 4 years maybe even more in RNL's case of their development ruined because they were only making 2 or 3 appearances for us & weren't going out on loan. They'll have lost confidence & several years of game time. No one knows how they'd have gone on if they'd have played plenty of games during their time at Barnsley. And we're making the same mistake with Digby who even though we won't play him we don't have him out on loan gaining experience. We're fantastic at developing other teams players but **** at doing it with our own, the only positions we'll play youngsters is at full back.
