Darren Purse said signing Conte and Antwi, for instance, was supposed to bring some "experience" to the team, if that makes any sense. A little while ago a couple of teams (I think one of them was Brighton) actually brought in some proper experience - ie. a 30 something old pro winding down his career - to direct the younger players while playing for their U23s. Not sure if it caught on or was seen as beneficial in the end. It should be noted that Denham was signed after his release from Man U so it's not a complete waste of time as a policy but there's often a feeling of making up the numbers with some of these players.