Quote: peter parker "In the past I've been all for the youth development at Cas. We've brought some good youngsters into the team in the past couple of years and admittedly, right or wrong, let some go elsewhere (Lunt, Gledhill, Watts, Boyle). However, with all the spin the club was giving at the start of the year (Davies, Thompson, Brierly etc) I was expecting to see some exciting fresh blood in a Cas shirt this season. I can't help but feel let down.
The current injury situation seems like the ideal time to be bringing in the youngsters, but instead, we seem to have gone for loan options (Ainscough over Thomson, Cooper over Davies). Now don't get me wrong, I am happy with the loan signings, they are decent players, but it makes me wonder why we have signed them when we have youth on the sidelines.
Presumably, these players are not ready in the eyes of the coach, which begs the question; why are they in the squad? I know they will develop by training with the first team, but I'm starting to wonder if some of these younger players are being put in the squad for nothing else but to tick a franchise box. Are they going to get a run out? Are they even good enough? Or is it just a case of saying "We have [ix[/i number of academy players in our first team squad and they have been in the starting 17[i y [/inumber of times (regardless of if they step foot on the pitch)".
You can scream cynic and conspiracy theorist all you want, but after my initial optimism at the start of the year, I am really starting to question the decisions of Matterson when it comes to youth development.'"
Had a good game on Saturday imo
