Louis Page

[Fox on the Rox]

3 hours ago, honeybradger said:

Now we have to reward that loyalty with an actual pathway to the first team.

 

I remember all the noise last summer about how Will Alves was promoted to the first team then once he signed a new contract he was left out in the wilderness. Similarly Nelson has been left to rot.

Yep. How the club have developed the careers of Alves, Nelson and Braybrooke won't be providing much inspiration for the next crop. 
 

It's almost as if the club don't have the confidence in those young players to play them, but don't want any other clubs to have the opportunity to either. As a young player you are kind of trapped unless you're a generational talent that's attracting serious interest at 15 or 16 years old. If you don't sign a contract then the threat is that club won't play you or even have you around the first team, and they certainly won't allow you out on loan. So you have to sign if you want to progress. But then if they don't allow you to develop, there's nothing you can do as you're under contract. You can't leave and you can't force the club to loan you out. Look at how last minute most of the young players' loans are. Alves didn't even manage to get out on loan till Jan last season, it was all so last minute. It's a real issue for young players. What other job is there that you can't leave even if there are other employers who want you? I can see this having to change in future, it's restricting freedom of employment.

[Uncle Monty]

Did he sign a new contract??