Could Corporal Clegg mange this one.....?

Agree we should be going for a double - Lowton and Maquire from Sheff Utd. Please don't even think about Simonsen tho.

Ideally, before Warnock raids Brammal Lane.

I love the way some people criticise that we're going for a young, ambitious player rather than an experienced one when we bid for a young player and then criticise that we go for over the hill players if someone's over the age of 26. There really aren't that many available players between 21-25 - those that are any good have swarms of vultures surrounding them.

It's up to Town to pick up those who can be develop into the spirit of the club, those who are at their peak or close it, and a few older hands to add some experience and leadership. It's never about JUST young players or JUST old players - it's about having a balanced squad of capable players. Last season we had some of the wrong experienced players who didn't perform and they were mostly released. This summer we need to pick up a few key younger players for both the first team and the U21 team as well as a couple more experienced campaigners in key positions - but the right experienced players. Almost EVERY team has a few, it's about the right personality.

Look at the recent history of the club - John Wark, Steve Whitton, and Paul Goddard added the extra experience to Lyall's promotion team. Burley looked at Mowbray, Venus, and Cundy to hold a leaky defence together - none of them were younger players. Magilton was in a difficult situation with very few resources and did a worthy job of keeping things stabilised but was pushed out largely by pressure from the stands. Keane decided to base his team on younger players and released experienced players leaving the team floundering. Jewell saw the lack of depth in the squad and after a number of failed bids went for a few veteran panic buys to have enough players to start the season.

As is well recorded Jewell made some mistakes - he has admitted this - however judging players JUST on their age and the team they play for is the worst possible scouting methods. We really don't need this type of armchair quarterbacking for every single player linked.

Sure it would be great for every player to come from our own youth system but it's also great to pick up players from lower league teams. In this case it's a player who Town can develop. The scouts see a talent and then Town have an offer accepted. He's only 17 and in a defensive role so there shouldn't be much expectation that he'll be an automatic first choice. It's more likely that he would join as an understudy to Carlos Edwards.

Despite his fitness levels Edwards is coming to the end of his career. However he's playing with the gusto and ability of many players much younger. Some lazy grouping of players of 30 I've seen on the comments presume a chronic inability as soon as a player hits a certain age. This is nonsense. Watch Edwards run around the pitch for 90 minutes, if someone told me he was 27-28 I'd believe them.

A young player like Hewitt's role would be to deputise for Edwards when he's injured or a bit leggy after too many games. Over a couple of seasons he'll eventually take over the role if he develops well. There's always a gamble with young players - play them too much and they can burn out, don't play them enough and they jump ship.

Getting the balance right requires the knowledge of those who work with them on the training field every day. They're the ones who can assess which players are ready to play in the first team, and which could have their careers messed up by playing too many games too early. PJ relies on the reports of his coaches to work this out - it's really not just his decision. He's aware of mistakes he's made and knows what's needed for next season. It's also very early in the transfer window, which only really starts after the playoffs. As Scowy said there wont be a lot of movement in the next month with players waiting to see what offers are around - again don't really blame the players, it's their agents who play the transfer game more than they do. Also consider some of the people in the chain (player, agents, managers, directors, chairperson, CEOs, owners) might be sunning themselves on a beach or cruising somewhere on a yacht right now!

he won't make much impact next year, he only played half a season in league two so it will be hard for him moving up two divisions but he is promising

Marcussg - very good post

h32 - u have those rose tinted specs on again looking at the past, how many great full backs have we produced?? Burley excepted. Also in recent years we have produced Trotter, Rhodes, Smith and Wickham (prob worth about 15m in the transfer market between them). Not every years crop is a success and i havent seen any of the released youngsters snapped up by bigger teams as yet.

Well said MarcusSg,although I fear you show too much common sense for many to agree on this site!!

Erm! Good news, but we haven't got him yet! If we'd had the Academy of old, we would have been much stronger contenders.

I think it's great were going for younger talent who will improve with us hopefully - the only problem is we have proved not very good at managing or developing our younger players over the recent years, in fact we could be accused of not havin' a clue.

Not sure how or why would anyone put a negative spin on this story. Yes he is young, but not all signings need to have immediate impact. Buy him incase someone else does, if he is getting the interest suggested.

Who says this youngster couldn't play for us next season? Burley, Dozzell, Wickham all did at this age .

This kid is supposed be the dogs bollocks and it appears that only his last season stopped any Prem bids for him. We may yet have a fight on our hands to secure his signature and if Clegg/ Jewell aren't in Macclesfield this w/e talking to the lad I'd be very disappointed!

If Chelsea, Arsenal and Everton are looking then this lad must have promise, I wonder if for just once we can get a deal done?

Could be interesting but lets see if Cleggey can get the deal done.

Personally I'm not holding my breath!!

@retroblue

I don't get it. You say it was only his last season that prevented bids from big clubs. He's 17, this season he had 19 starts, last season only 1.

This is great news. Further evidence of our intent to build for the future.

looks very promising , definitely the sort of player i like to see us after isnt going to cost stupid amount . Sign Him up , could be another Aaron Cresswell .

Roy keane to get sent off on soccer aid anyone?

MarcusSg

An excellent summary of how a football club should plan for the future. However not everyone will agree that this is a blueprint that our current management team can or will follow. Cresswell excepted, the current management team's treatment of the younger players leaves much to be desired, while until the later part of last season few could seriously argue that the balance of experience/youth in the team's progress into the longer term was the right one.

That said, the latter part of last season certainly suggested that lessons had been learned and we can only hope that PJ can assemble a squad mix that can do a job for us next season.w

So we are going for a 17 year old right back from Macclesfield.? Doubt we will offer more than a one year contract? We had a great prospect in Callum Bennet a right back/stroke defender who was the under 18's captain and yet we only offered him a one year contract this year which he rejected and will no doubt move on to better things.Hyam's great performances alongside Drury definitely helped saved us from relegation and yet he a great youth prospect was only offered a one year deal.? And how many times did Carson start last season?
ITFC support youth well for about a year !!
No wonder Ward signed for Palace.

This is exactly what we should be doing, trying to poach some of the best young prospects around the country to join ITFC. Grade 2 academy status I believe (I stand to corrected) means we will have a team in an under 21 league (and no more than 3 over age players can play). To put our club back on the map we need to dominate this league. I am not sure we even have enough young players at the club to put together a decent squad!!!

This is the type of signing I love ITFC to sign, young, under the radar, and hopefully inspired!

Can't say I know the boy but lets hope we can pull it off!!

probably wont get him never do