Josh Bowler

[Kevin Mcleod]

Hes gone i reckon.

[West Acton]

Personally think £1.5mil down payment for a player none of us had heard of before a ten minute cameo last game of the season is excellent business

No guarantees the kid will make it. So structure nice deal with clause and first refusal on loan if he don't extend contract

[Hove Ranger]

Hes gone i reckon.

Long gone Kev

[Shepherds Mush]

Personally think £1.5mil down payment for a player none of us had heard of before a ten minute cameo last game of the season is excellent business

Agree. Well done the DoF

[Brian Wilson]

Shows how ridiculously difficult it is for clubs like us to build from youth level. Despite good investment in our youth setup in the last few years we still lose probably our best prospect as soon as someone comes in. I'd imagine Les & Tony and Ruben had something more like a Southampton model in mind rather than selling players for a couple of mil...hardly worth bothering.

[dogsrrs]

Fulham and Brentford have held on to a few of the players they groomed for first team Brian

[Shepherds Mush]

Shows how ridiculously difficult it is for clubs like us to build from youth level. Despite good investment in our youth setup in the last few years we still lose probably our best prospect as soon as someone comes in.

I'd bet that if we were challenging for promotion (or likely to be) we'd have a much better chance of holding onto the decent players.

[dogsrrs]

That's a fact the club has to let the kids know there's a good future with the prospects of exciting times in putting them on the big stage

[Norths]

If the fee allows us to invest in 2-3 senior players then its probably best all round.

If we were a comfortable premier league team then we would have more pull in keeping these guys around for a few more years, giving them game time and their value increasing.

As it is, £2-3m is good business for a player that has played 10 minutes of senior football and rumoured to have turned down a contract offer.

[Tarbie]

Personally think £1.5mil down payment for a player none of us had heard of before a ten minute cameo last game of the season is excellent business

No guarantees the kid will make it. So structure nice deal with clause and first refusal on loan if he don't extend contract

Is that definitely the number then? Lot of dosh for a kid who's hardly played first team, isn't it?

[Shepherds Mush]

If the fee allows us to invest in 2-3 senior players then its probably best all round.

If we were a comfortable premier league team then we would have more pull in keeping these guys around for a few more years, giving them game time and their value increasing.

As it is, £2-3m is good business for a player that has played 10 minutes of senior football and rumoured to have turned down a contract offer.

This is absolutely nail on the head.

Having said that, if we were a comfortable PL club we would probably not see these kids anywhere near the first team squad.

[Martinmalta]

As things stands, we're doomed. No way we will be able to groom kids to the first team as we used to do in the past. As soon as a prospect is in line, the big sharks comes sneaking around. Were thus this situation leave us? Sorry to say this......in mediocracy. So the best players are taken away and the worst are left in the side, making us a very poor side.

[Tarbie]

As things stands, we're doomed. No way we will be able to groom kids to the first team as we used to do in the past. As soon as a prospect is in line, the big sharks comes sneaking around. Were thus this situation leave us? Sorry to say this......in mediocracy. So the best players are taken away and the worst are left in the side, making us a very poor side.

Leaves us in the same position as virtually every other side in this division, in my opinion.

What we need to start doing is working the loan market better. All these talented young players that the top sides sign from all over the world need to go somewhere for first team football. Chelsea have got a load of expensively acquired youth and U21 players that all go out on loan, and we're 20 minutes down the road. When was the last time we had a look at loaning someone from there?

[Shepherds Mush]

As things stands, we're doomed. No way we will be able to groom kids to the first team as we used to do in the past. As soon as a prospect is in line, the big sharks comes sneaking around. Were thus this situation leave us? Sorry to say this......in mediocracy. So the best players are taken away and the worst are left in the side, making us a very poor side.

Can't agree with this. We can always source (buying or by loan) decent youth players from the countless players in the PL that haven't got a chance of a sniff of first team action.

[Martinmalta]

While agreeing that we may make better use of the loan system, it will only be temporary. Talk about the future will only be thing of the past. And tbh, we don't want to end up being Chelsea's nursery! If that's the plan, then we are surely doomed.