So Luther Wildin has gone on loan to struggling Grantham Town for a month. Like Montel Gibson, I'm a little disappointed that he has been loaned out so low although he will be getting some football and hopefully this will only be for a month so he can then go somewhere higher up the pyramid to help with his development. People on here have spoken highly of him previously, so I would not like to see another promising youngster discarded from the club in favour of "experience".

totally agree @Fozzy. Montel and Jack have returned but with a lack of Reserve team fixtures, how are our early pro's to progress? Luther will be good enough to challenge for the Right Back spot this season and hope his career is not hindered by Notts for lack of opportunities

 

I'm surprised more fans haven't attempted to get him tested in the first team.

Considering its a position which most would feel is going unclaimed (due to inconsistent performances by those that play there) Wildin could be the answer to the problem. At this stage John Sheridan seems to be wary of points - which is the issue that other managers have experienced. Someone young, keen to impress might be part of the solution for us. I know a fair amount of fans that would like to see Curtis Thompson tested.

Yet JS is so far only going with experience and the players who are vastly inconsistent, some of which wouldn't make my bench.

I hate to say it but most of the young professionals at our club seem to be only rated by the fans, not the staff.

Good luck to him.

@Anti-Red The fall out rate of first year pros at Notts is a major problem. I thought full membership of Final Third Development League was part of a strategic plan to help develop our talent. Then guess what, we drop it after the first season. Unbelievable 

10 hours ago, Anti-Red said:

I hate to say it but most of the young professionals at our club seem to be only rated by the fans, not the staff.

Good luck to him.

And there lies the problem really - it's so difficult for us fans to rate these youngsters with any degree of confidence.  I've been impressed by what I've seen of Wildin in the reserve games and friendlies, but I have no idea at all about the strength of the opposition he has faced.  I hope we get the chance to see how he copes in League 2, especially as right back is something of a problem position for us, but if he doesn't make the breakthrough this season I doubt he ever will.  We have to trust the professionals on these issues, and in fairness to them I can't think of any kids we've released who have gone on to bigger and better things.

@Elite_pie

10 minutes ago, Elite_pie said:

I can't think of any kids we've released who have gone on to bigger and better things.

Wes Morgan  ..Seriously though, I agree with Elite's sentiment on recent times. I like to think of myself as a good judge of a player and do believe Luther is one of our best hopes, as he proved in Reserve team football, his ability to cut out crosses at source. The lack of playing in the Final Third Development League is a big fail from Notts and does nothing to help our youngsters getting more competitive game time. The "gap years for development - early pro years" need to be funded by Notts somehow to enable them to start establishing themselves as first team pros

Someone on Mad has posted we are playing Donny Rovers reserves this afternoon behind closed doors. It will be interesting whether our Media Department seem fit to relay any news.. Let's call it a test of their professional integrity

We've had a lot of players in the past that have played a few games for the first XI, but never really looked convincing. Galloway, Sherlock, Gallagher, Holmes, Simpson, Brough and Slawson all made debuts for the first team when they were 18/19 but probably only Simpson (and Jimmy Walker) made a decent living from the game. The thing is that they all did get a run for Notts before being discarded and that does not appear to happen nowadays and there never appears to be any time for the kids to develop. 

Finances are a key, but how can you be expected to breed your own talent if they can hardly get a senior game at Notts?

I think clubs at our level are discouraged from investing too heavily in youth development by the rule change that allows Premier League clubs to nick any really promising kids for peanuts.  We sold  15 year old Jermaine Pennant to Arsenal for £2 million back in 1999, these days we would be lucky to get a tenth of that amount for a similarly promising youngster.

@Elite_pie Very true Elite, but I am unsure that we got anything like that (£2m) for Pennant. Lots of stories how he ended up at Arsenal at expense of other interested parties.... I seem to recall, although my mind is going a bit hazy on this, that allegedly, Storrie went to Arsenal so that the payment plan was amended, to be more front ended, at a major cost to Notts, just to get cash into Notts coffers at the time. I dont believe it was near enough to have staved off the days of administration... open to be corrected on any point of fact here. I imagine we only got 600-700k in total???

24 minutes ago, Elite_pie said:

I think clubs at our level are discouraged from investing too heavily in youth development by the rule change that allows Premier League clubs to nick any really promising kids for peanuts.  We sold  15 year old Jermaine Pennant to Arsenal for £2 million back in 1999, these days we would be lucky to get a tenth of that amount for a similarly promising youngster.

You wouldn't even get that, you would get a payment of £5000 max. The amount could rise to a think its a maximum £50,000 if the make to the national team

38 minutes ago, Fozzy said:

Finances are a key, but how can you be expected to breed your own talent if they can hardly get a senior game at Notts?

Because we like all clubs want instant success. 

 

1 hour ago, Elite_pie said:

We sold  15 year old Jermaine Pennant to Arsenal for £2 million back in 1999, these days we would be lucky to get a tenth of that amount for a similarly promising youngster.

I don't think the extras within the deal was ever activated @Elite_pie, so the amount was lower than what ended up being reported after he initially made the move to Arsenal.

Notts really should be fast-tracking youngsters and getting them fully prepared for life in League Two, its the basement division and a good learning point. Its harder for players to go missing higher up, but your right, we probably wouldn't get much these days.

1 hour ago, Northants Pie said:

Because we like all clubs want instant success. 

it dont help that some fans are encouraged and go on about this themselves but notts dont seem to want to build the right way going forward.

i thought luther wildin made an appearance last season?

notts seem to only play youngsters in safe positions or ones where they have no other options, which is not the right way to try and get them settled imo.

1 hour ago, Piethagoram said:

@Elite_pie Very true Elite, but I am unsure that we got anything like that (£2m) for Pennant.

I should really have put that we sold him for a 'reported' £2 million.  I don't suppose we'll ever know the real figure, but his Wiki entry still says "Pennant was signed at the age of 15 by Arsenal from Notts County for £2 million, a record fee for a trainee at the time".

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jermaine_Pennant

@Elite_pie I do recall speaking to someone in the know, during the dark days of admin, all I can say do not believe the initial wiki indicative price. we may never know the real price paid