If they’re good enough - let them play.

My guess is that the management don't think that they are good enough after all we bought Michael Olise who got in the first team at 19

Good post. If they were stand out players they would be in the squad, but they aren’t, so they’re not.

For teams like us survival is the key, so being progressive in terms of youngsters development dosent appear to be a main driving factor - though the club seem to be investing in that area

You could contrast Kirby and Gallagher who were both playing in the England youth team that won the World cup. Taking into account that both were good enough to be in that team then their individual progress is marked

If players don't get the opportunity early then that can have a detrimental on their development

AWB rise was down to circumstances (injuries) not from a will to bring through youngsters at our club. He was reportedly close to joining Coventry before events conspired in our favour. £50m is a lot of money

I imagine Schlupp or Mateta will come in for Wilf tonight, but personally I'd like to see Rak-Sakyi get his chance if none of Eze, Olise or Bentenke are back. He's got double figures in goals for the U23s and was nominated for PL2 player of the month, so he must be doing something right. Home to Norwich with a hugely depleted squad is surely as good an opportunity as any to give the lad a chance?

AWB had developed enough to be in the right place to benefit from injuries, it was far from a case of finding some to throw in. He had played under De Boer in pre-season friendlies [Link] and Hodgson stopped him going out on loan [Link] because he felt he was ready for the next stage in his development. I also remember reading an interview with Richard Shaw talking about his development and the fact he had been training with the first team and how well he did against Zaha, I’m sure this was at the point of him breaking into the first team, although I can’t find it now.
The academy upgrade has been a great step forward and given the amount of talent in South London if we can show that you have a pathway then that would be a huge positive. I would imagine Parish would love to see the investment pay off but realistically Rak-Sakyi looks the only one who is near that level, if all goes well by mid-February we could be on plus 30 points which might give us the opportunity to play Rak-Sakyi or Banks. Unfortunately given that Kirby hasn’t shone at Blackpool or Tranmere I think he is running out of time.

One supporter of hacking argued that without it "you will do away with the courage and pluck of the game, and I will be bound to bring over a lot of Frenchmen who would beat you with a week's practice -Blackheath secretary at first meeting of the F.A