Gary Gardner - including loan to Coventry

[Hoppo]

hear hear Old man villa. Get the younger generation in. Gardner good enough to run that midfield. Put Jack Grealish on the bench. Give us some hope for the future.

[eamonn]

There's a fine-line between blooding them and destroying their confidence if they fail to live up to expectations on their first start.
By all accounts McLeish and Grant know only too well of how special Gardner can potentially be.
He will get his chance this season, probably from the bench initially and then it's up to him which seems the logical way to do it.

[TheSandman]

The problem we have with the team is that they are just about winning or drawing.  The manager is therefore very reluctant to change things much as he knows what he will be in for if we start losing.  If we continue in this vein, we will never develop good young players to a PL level.

Why is it that our young players never seem to get a look in until they are 19 or 20, by which time they will start to lose a bit of the drive that they showed as 16 or 17 year olds and what put them ahead of others in their age group.

Even in the MON years we never looked that convincing that we could carry one or two young players in the team so that they could develop with experience.  This, I believe, is why we never seem to get too many youngsters that push on and become 1st team regulars.  For every Gabby, we have 5 or 6 that move on to other clubs for nominal fees.

We are never going to finish near the top with the way finances dictate the finishing order at the present, so why do we continue with playing average older players that are on the down slope of their careers.  I, for one, would much rather see enthusiasm of youth to rekindle my enthusiasm for the game, than the run-of-the-mill stuff that is served up now.  Just look at Herd, a player that was never at the head of the queue but showing, given the chance, the life he has given to a turgid midfield.

I agree with that wholeheartedly. I'd rather see a young player who might not make it and who might make mistakes be given a chance than to watch the overpaid, barely average, honest triers our squad seems to be filled with.

[rutski]

The problem we have with the team is that they are just about winning or drawing.  The manager is therefore very reluctant to change things much as he knows what he will be in for if we start losing.  If we continue in this vein, we will never develop good young players to a PL level.

Why is it that our young players never seem to get a look in until they are 19 or 20, by which time they will start to lose a bit of the drive that they showed as 16 or 17 year olds and what put them ahead of others in their age group.

Even in the MON years we never looked that convincing that we could carry one or two young players in the team so that they could develop with experience.  This, I believe, is why we never seem to get too many youngsters that push on and become 1st team regulars.  For every Gabby, we have 5 or 6 that move on to other clubs for nominal fees.

We are never going to finish near the top with the way finances dictate the finishing order at the present, so why do we continue with playing average older players that are on the down slope of their careers.  I, for one, would much rather see enthusiasm of youth to rekindle my enthusiasm for the game, than the run-of-the-mill stuff that is served up now.  Just look at Herd, a player that was never at the head of the queue but showing, given the chance, the life he has given to a turgid midfield.

I agree with that wholeheartedly. I'd rather see a young player who might not make it and who might make mistakes be given a chance than to watch the overpaid, barely average, honest triers our squad seems to be filled with.

completely disagree. i think the scenario you are looking at is exactly the one that dol had with fa youth cup winners. they need to be drip fed into teams because the prem is so strong! if not you will sink like we did with the likes of ridgewell, cahill, davis the moores etc!

[olaftab]

No doubt one of the Sunday papers will be linking him with a move to Manure etc in the summer!

[The Left Side]

Thanks for posting the goals Desi

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

He's a very special talent and anyone who's seen him play in his own age group will know how he looks like a man amongst boys! I'd have him on the bench for every game and blood him reasonably gently that way. I think he's good enough now but just needs carefully blending into the rigours of the Prem. He could be great for us and hopefully it will be a very long time before the Mancs/Chelsea start tempting him away!
 

[Handsworth Wood Villa]

Is he a Villan or a Bluenose?

[Summers]

Does it matter?

[berneboy]

If the hype is to be believed & he can do it at the top level, then he won't be here for very long.

He does look very comfortable on the ball and the free kick last night was top draw.

Top drawer

[Shrek]

Does it matter?

Yes, it could be the difference between him becoming the next Phil jones or the next Gabby.

[TheSandman]

By what I've heard he's one of us.

That said being a diehard Everton fan never stopped Rooney going to United.

[luke25]

He does look very comfortable on the ball
[/quote]We'll soon train that out of him.

[john e]

By what I've heard he's one of us.

That said being a diehard Everton fan never stopped Rooney going to United.

Think he's a bluenose

[old man villa fan]

Everton seem to be able to bring young players through into the 1st team by making the given player one of the substitutes and consistently giving them the last 15 or 20 minutes not just leaving them on the bench game after game.