After sitting through another run of the mill U21 game last night I began to think on my drive home, when is the last time I got excited watching the U18s or U21s.

When I first started to cover U18s games I may have been slightly spoilt. The squad included Connor Wickham, Josh Carson, Ronan Murray, Luke Hyam and at the time a defensive favourite of mine Tom Eastman.

As a team this crop of young players were brilliant. The joy of waking up on a Saturday morning and heading down to Playford Road to watch Connor Wickham score a hat-trick against Arsenal was unparalleled to watching the first team at the time.

Even now I can remember Josh Carson scoring a great goal against Norwich with beautiful passing football allowing him space some 25 yards out to fire the ball in off the bar.

From that squad some players have gone on to other clubs with Cody Cropper going to Southampton, Jide Maduako to Leicester and Caolan Lavery to Sheffield Wednesday. For me, Lavery was a player worth trying to hold on to, he was quick, he worked hard and he could finish.

An unfortunate knee injury saw his progress hindered slightly but for me he had already shown enough promise to warrant a couple of first team opportunities.

Even now when I turn on my TV to watch some SPL football I occasionally see Josh Meekings and Rory McKeown. Although it might not be as high a level as they had hoped they are still making a living from football.

My worry now, however, is that I haven't seen that quality of football in quite some time. In the passing seasons it has turned into a more defensive display with the performance of the individual players being more important than the overall team performance.

This doesn't mean to say there aren't some strong players in the current U18 and U21 sides. For a while now I have been a fan of Jack Marriott, quite simply a striker who knows where the goal is. Another thing I like about him is his work rate, often he is put up front by himself which is usually a thankless task, yet he still produces goals.

He has also made the step up to the U21 with relative ease scoring again against Charlton in a game where he was given little service.

One of the players I was told about before the start of last season was Byron Lawrence. My expectations were high when I first saw him play and if I remember correctly he had a quiet game.

Unfortunately, from there I have never seen him play to how I was told he could. This doesn't go to say he's not a good player, he is. But with a player of his size I think you need to be bordering on exceptional. This, put simply, is because he tends to go missing in games when he can't compete in the physical battles. But him only being a first-year scholar means that he still has plenty of time to develop and grow.

Despite my drive home giving me a lack of optimism it's still fair to say that there has been an improvement over the last two seasons. And with Bryan Klug back I'm sure the improvements will continue to come and I look forward to next season when I will have my fingers crossed another crop of potential first teamers will be playing in front of me.

jonwillpott added 11:30 - Apr 9 blair555 - I think you may have forgotten at least one player who I think has huge potential and that is Michael Clarke - he is only a first year scholar and has shown he is at U21 level already. Last night perhaps he was not of quite as higher standard (and indeed he was substituted) as when I saw him in the previous U21 game at Portman Road (he also scored in that game!!) but this lad has undeniable talent and I believe a big future in the game.

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blair555 added 12:06 - Apr 9 jonwillpott- it's a fair point you make. Last night wasn't his best game but no one in a blue shirt was especially good. He does look like a decent prospect and will probably push on a lot next season.
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itfcjoe added 12:11 - Apr 9 jonwillpott - Matt Clarke is actually still a schoolboy, will be a first year scholar next year. But he is a big prospect.
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jonwillpott added 12:38 - Apr 9 Yes, itfcjoe you are correct....my mistake!!! It does show even more of how good a prospect he is though!!!
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Blue041273 added 14:02 - Apr 9 It is undoubtedly very true to say that the lifeblood of the club lies in the graduation of young players through the academy system. However, Connor Wickham and Luke Hyam aside, the production line has faltered of late. The players mentioned, while looking good in the youth team games, were miles away from getting a chance in the first team squad. Even seemingly solid gold prospects like Carson and Murray have lost their way and now seem to be lost souls struggling to make a career in the game. We need a functional youth system to give us at least one new prospect every year. However the current infrastructure does not allow the youngsters to develop properly. The graduates from the academy only have the under 21 league to play in. That with the lack of a Reserve League make it difficult for 18 year olds to develop and if, like Luke Hyam, they need the time to grow into first team material it is immeasurably difficult and good young prospects inevitably fall by the wayside.

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Pessimistic added 10:14 - Apr 11 An enjoyable read Blair but it would have been even more enjoyable if you had some good news to impart. I think you are right though sadly. Town have gone backwards in this department and I only hope, as you suggest, that Bryon Klug really does have a clue on turning these things around...
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theobald1985 added 10:34 - Apr 11 i think the player development centre system will help provide better players in future. my youngest lad is 7 and trains every week with the PDC academy and they are getting the best lads in the region to train together at the youngest possible age while still playing for there local youth side as well. this will deffo help and never really happend when i was a kid i think we have 4 differant PDC centres around suffolk so we are trying to cover all the angles. this is run by the ITFC charitable trust and a big shout out to david llewelen who coaches the youngest players and does a great job

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