Quote Originally Posted by thehumblegringo View Post
Look, I know what you're saying but it doesn't change the fact that he has lost a year of his development because of lack of planning by the club. It also doesn't change the fact that Bellamy himself said that if a 17/18 kid at a championship club and he's not playing first team football then he's at the wrong club.

Bluebelief said on here a couple of weeks ago that Spence had been playing through an injury this year and had pulled out of the Wales u-19 squad so he could rest up. It's difficult to judge the Spence situation (and so much else going on at youth levels) with little reliable information.

I saw the Bellamy debate, it reminded me of threads like this with the three of them going round in circles trying to find simple answers to an incredibly complex problem. They seemed unanimous that the big clubs are making it increasingly difficult for everyone else to bring their own youngsters through although I'm not aware of that being a big problem here yet (Matondo apart). Bellamy's comment was that 17-19 year olds were at the wrong club if they're not in a first team environment, presumably he includes loans in that but we seem to have a problem even sorting them out at present.

Good post earlier by the way. If you're convinced that the raw talent is here then that's encouraging and yet depressing that we haven't been able to bring it through to the first team in recent years. One thing you said completely threw me though; '...with our catchment area predominantly being of smaller, less athletic kids...'. You said it like it was a well known fact but I've never heard of that before and there was a collective jaw-drop at Loramski Towers when I asked if anyone else had. I'm not doubting you but it's news to me.