Quote Originally Posted by Loramski View Post
You've made Ralls sound like Malky's Archie Gray there but he only made six league starts as a teenager here and only started two games in that league cup run (and didn't even get put on the bench for the final).

What sets him apart from King is that when they were both 19 they got sent on season-long loan spells. While Ralls had a good season in the Championship with Yeovil, King struggled at League 2 Crewe and was back here by January (and unable to go out on loan again because he'd already played for two clubs that season).

So, as 20-year-olds the following season, Ralls was ready to 'melt' into our Championship side while King was having to start again with a League 2 move followed by a spell in the Scottish Prem. Both successful this time round but does that mean he's ready to start in the Championship? Especially when the position he plays in is occupied by the manager's own, seemingly immovable, signing? Maybe, maybe not, but surely it's better for King to be playing regular football in League 1 than potentially bench-warming here.

Mark Harris was 21 when he got sent back from a failed National League loan spell but he seems to have turned it around. We let Ajayi go at 23 but the best was still ahead of him, Lockyer didn't become a Championship player till his mid-20s, Regan Poole would've been the same if it wasn't for last season's injury. I'm sure every club has got similar stories. Loans can be a bit of a cop-out in that they save a manager from having to develop a player himself but, to me, it's a better option than a) playing someone who's not ready or b) not playing or releasing someone who may have the potential to come good, whatever age they are.
To what purpose is King being loaned out at 21/22? If we had a history of loaning out players of that age just before they broke into the first team as a regular starter, you'd think there's a point to it, but I can't think of a signle player that's happened with in the last decade or so.

Going back to Ralls, nothing I said about him when he was a teenager is untrue - he was in the first team at 17, started in a League Cup Semi Final at an age when current players tend to be considered whether they're good enough for the step up to the under 21s and was being played out of a position in a promotion winning side before he was out of his teens.

People who like to give the impression they are in the know say that Bulut teally rates Kpakio. However, what is his season going to entail if, as he's done with all but Rubin Colwill and Ashford (him coming on at Derby represented a progression in his career given the way this manager operates) of the seemingly above average crop of Academy products coming through, Bulut only all os him to play the occasional game for the under 21s because he's not trusted yet to play in the Championship in a "proper" game.

It's the same for Giles, until quite recently, he and Kpakio would have come into consideration in meaningful league games (not the end of season stuff Bulut felt he could let youngsters play in last year), especially in a team where senior players are struggling as much as they are currently. There is nothing to indicate though that, no matter how bad things get, our manager is going to seriously consider picking either of them in a league game this side of April. It's players like Kpakio and Giles we should be looking to loan out if they're not going to get into the League team yet.