Gary Gardner - including loan to Coventry

[Phil from the upper holte]

Put him in the bloody team

[Mazrim]

He's ready now. For any level. It doesnt mean he wont have to ease himself in and get to grips with Premier League football but he's exceptional and he's ready.
If we had a stellar group of players barring his way I'd understand but we havent. He's already better than most if not all of our midfielders.

Throw him in now and not just him either. There's a few other players that should be called up to get a taste. We're not going anywhere in the league this season so it's a golden opportunity in a way.
If they send him on loan I will be fucking furious and if they dont give him some first team action soon I'll want to know why.
He's a giant in his own age group and there's really nowhere else to go now but the first team. Get it done Villa.

The kids were brilliant again tonight.

[Hoppo]

I respect your opinion Maz. I went tonight GG was immense also impressed with Johnson. Who do you think is ready?

[Mike Jeffries]

He was indeed good tonight!

[itbrvilla]

I think Putting him in our horrible first team will soon turn him into a talentless hoofer.  We've managed to take the sting out of bent who has been pretty potent through out his career even when at lowly Charlton and Ipswich. We have a habit of turning decent players into shit.

[Mazrim]

I respect your opinion Maz. I went tonight GG was immense also impressed with Johnson. Who do you think is ready?

Cheers. Gardner immediately with the likes of Johnson, Burke and maybe Carruthers not far behind. After that, take your pick from the whole squad. Seriously.
But certainly the likes of Grealish (winger), Drennan (striker), Siegrist (Goalie), Robinson (striker), Graham (winger) Cameron (midfielder) and Webb (defender) have impressed me. Along with a few others.

Whilst the first team is going through a transitional phase I'd start blooding some of these kids. I'm a bit of a gambler though. I dont expect the management to agree.

[Chris Smith]

I think Putting him in our horrible first team will soon turn him into a talentless hoofer.  We've managed to take the sting out of bent who has been pretty potent through out his career even when at lowly Charlton and Ipswich. We have a habit of turning decent players into shit.

Is that the Bent who scored twice in the last home game?

[oldtimernow]

Gardner hat trick tonight. How can anyone say he is not ready for his first team debut ? Is it possible for anyone to believe he would not of been better on the right of midfield rather than Hutton last night or anywhere in our midfield ?

It's one thing being good in the u19s; it's a whole different ball game to make it in the Premier League as part of a struggling team.  The lad needs time to develop.

He's out of their league and needs to develop in the First team....and we need him to develop...no pressure then.....but if he's good enough he's old enough

[Hookeysmith]

Unless they are exceptional talents (Rooney / Wiltshire / Fabregas) there are not a lot of 19 year olds that come and make their mark on the premiership - and i do not know if GG is that good yet.

What i do know is years ago i worked with a guy who had won almost every trophy imaginable for amatuer football and was eventually signed by the villa in the mid 60's  after a while he had set the reserves alight and was asked to join the first team for training
In his own words them were the days of pre match meals being a fry up and a couple of fags yet the practice games passed him by - that was how big a step up it was.

I would imagine in the heat of the prem you could as easily be ruined as make it so blooding youngsters requires critical timing - look at MA as a prime example of too soon in my opinion

[Mazrim]

I'm not sure about that. Albrighton was introduced at the right time because he had a great debut season. He may be scratching around for form right now but I dont think that's related and besides, he isn't being played.

And for my money if you're going to call Wilshere an exceptional talent then Gardner easily fits that bill too.
Yes I accept you have to be careful with a lot of these players and timing is crucial but Gardner, being exceptional, is different. Like Rooney and Fabregas he's way ahead of his peers and so needs to be involved as soon as possible. He is definitely ready for it.

[oldtimernow]

will Maz forward CV to Randy to be filed in safe for future reference

[Mazrim]

I have a letter from Fergie.

It's asking me to lend her a few quid but it's something.

[PeterWithe]

He looked almost bored at times last night as he's far outgrown his age group, he needs to be stretched by being involved with the first team. He scored a hat-trick yet it seemed to be Johnson's brief to play as the attacking midfielder, he stayed deep most of the time.

A rare talent.

[Hookeysmith]

He looked almost bored at times last night as he's far outgrown his age group, he needs to be stretched by being involved with the first team. He scored a hat-trick yet it seemed to be Johnson's brief to play as the attacking midfielder, he stayed deep most of the time.

A rare talent.

yes but is he as good as Emile or Hutton ?

[PeterWithe]

To be fair Heskey looked immense at 19.