That is my concern as well "eggs in on basket". We are relying on Chelsea who have their own agenda they might have made noises that he is available but what happens if they change their mind.

One more point

There have been a plethora of players who progressed from Non-League into the professional ranks and served, and are still serving clubs with distinction.

Jamie Vardy, Ian Wright, Nigel Martyn, Stan Colleymore, Alan Pardew,Glenn Murray, Michail Antonio etc etc.

Edited by Willo (01 Sep 2022 9.15am)

That quality in active non-league is very rare to find nowadays. Any talent of any worth is sucked out pretty quickly. Such is our wonderful egalitarian 'pyramid' these days.

Absolutely agree.

The purse strings did slightly loosen for PV initially, however that was also necessary given the team's demographic, and I think he understands the need to build the team for the future as opposed for immediate survival at the top level.

All that said, does make me worry it will go too far the other way sometimes and we end up with an U21's side struggling to compete.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

Agree Willo.

I think we are seeing the drawback of this mostly through the likes of our conceding of set-piece goals and the recently witnessed letting slip of leads.

The only other concern for me is that every teenagers is not Wayne Rooney at 16. There is some sort of delusional belief in football that players get better and better every year and therefore anyone with a bit of something young will definitely be a superstar one day. I would love Plange to be PL TGS in 5 years time, Scott Banks hailed as the new Messi and JRS/TA tearing up the PL however that just isn't even remotely likely.

'A balance needs to be struck' - Nicholas91, this morning.

Edited by Nicholas91 (01 Sep 2022 9.45am)

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

I totally agree and I have expressed this view vociferously outside of HOL whilst appreciating that the cost of purchasing 'Ready made' players can be prohibitive.

Of the outfield players we’ve brought in only Doucoure is first team ready.
We’ve lost McArthur, Gallagher and Kouyate that was our most effective midfield combination last season.
McArthur is still here but I doubt he will feature that much.
I can see why some are of the opinion that at the moment we are weaker than last season in midfield.
Our midfield doesn’t look balanced despite the good start from Doucoure and flashes of excellence from Eze.
Luka and Hughes don’t appear to have the energy and presence to be other than bit part players and Schlupp seems to me to be a useful squad player rather than guaranteed midfield starter.
It will be really disappointing if we don’t bring in at least one midfield addition for first team contention even if it’s a loan.
We have a promising team with good young players but don’t seem to be paying due attention to the engine room which will allow the team to function at it’s best.

Absolutely this ^^

You need both the stable foundation and to build upon it.

Now Zaha's got a bit of green grass ahead of him here... and finds Ambrose... not a bad effort!!!!

I feel you will be disappointed or supporting the wrong club. The policy going forward has been made patently obvious, we aren’t going to be buying old ready made players on the end of their career around 30 years old.

I've just been told Gallagher is staying at Chelsea.

My equalibrium unbalanced me. Paul Draper Brighton 19/2/2018