Blues caretaker-boss Bryan Klug says he’s have no qualms about handing youngster Shane McLoughlin his Championship debut during Sunday’s final game of the season at home to Middlesbrough.

The former Republic of Ireland U18 international, whose only first-team appearance so far came in the Carabao Cup tie at Crystal Palace in August, was on the bench at Reading on Saturday and with the Blues still very short of fit senior players seems set to be involved again this weekend.

“We’re really pleased with Shane, he’s a fantastic kid,” Klug said. “He has a great attitude, he’s obviously a bit of a late developer physically, but we’ve kept him in the system and I wouldn’t worry about putting him in the frame because he’s very competitive and he’s good footballer.”

McLoughlin has skippered the U23s for much of the season with regular captain Chris Smith having been out on loan at Chelmsford and has also played a variety of roles.

“He has played everywhere and that’s a lovely trait to have for a young player,” Klug, whose regular role is as the academy’s head of coaching and player development. “You can ask him to do anything and he’ll do it to the best of his ability.

“His best position is undoubtedly in midfield but he’s played right-back, he’s played left-back, he’s played centre forward and that’s a great trait.”

He added: “We think he has [a future], we’ve fought to keep him in the football club, he’s had a couple of loans and I think he’s still developing.

“What we’re trying to do is, while they’re still getting better, we want to try and keep them and the owner’s allowed us to do that with a few players and a few have worked out and a few haven’t, but that’s the nature of the game.

“Over five years we’ve had to build up, we weren’t in a great state in that way, but we’ve built up and in all the positions and all the age groups now I think we’re in a position where we’ve got players who are ready to go on loan, one or two players who are knocking on the door [for the first team] and one or two who still need some U23s football. But what we have done is put a system in place.”

Photo: TWTD

muccletonjoe added 16:39 - May 4 This is the best aspect of having klug in charge of first team selection. Kids get their chance and if they prove themselves they are not immediately dropped for returning regulars. Brilliant to see.
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Swn98 added 18:34 - May 4 Good point muccleton especially as we've only got 15 fit first teamers.
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shakytown added 09:14 - May 5 Swn98. Thankfully the main cause for our awful injury crisis is no longer with us.
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dirtydingusmagee added 19:23 - May 5 Great to see this lad could get his chance ,
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