Quote Originally Posted by splott parker View Post
Crole is a name that keeps cropping up, would a step up be a step too far at this moment in his development? He does seem to know where the goal is and from reports he seems to be a confident type, ie bollocking others if he feels they’re slacking. The whole object of the academy is to be a stepping stone not for a player who’s shining to be a permanent fixture in that set up. Having not seen the lad I can only comment on the reports from this thread and he certainly gets air time on here. So is it a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ from the regular watchers of the age group he’s involved with? If it’s a yes, the next question is ‘when’, if he’s good enough etc etc.
I've been surprised to see that he's been on the bench for some recent under 21 matches. We've been hopeless at producing our own strikers for ages (not sure Isaak Davies and Mark Harris qualify as genuine strikers), but Crole is up there with the better ones we've had in my opinion - think it might do him good to go out on loan although I wouldn't have thought he'd play every week for, say, a League Two side. For now, he's the type of player who may end up getting some first team experience with us in the FA Cup this season or if this season turns out to be like the last one with a series of meaningless games to end the league campaign.