Callum O'Hare and Mitch Clark

[cdbearsfan]

Better than getting pelters for letting him go for nothing. We could also then have inserted the sort of clause I mentioned. Even it means selling at a low price, you are getting some insurance against losing all of twenty million or more if he turns out to be a genius.

[dave.woodhall]

Better than getting pelters for letting him go for nothing. We could also then have inserted the sort of clause I mentioned. Even it means selling at a low price, you are getting some insurance against losing all of twenty million or more if he turns out to be a genius.

We could have done. And maybe we tried but nobody wanted to touch a deal like that.

[cdbearsfan]

Perhaps. I just have a bad feeling about this one. Mind you, I thought Graham Fenton was going to get 100 England caps so could be wrong.

[brentastonb6]

Agree with Purslow’s comments completely. Top players like Owen, Giggs, Shearer and Rooney had been playing first team top flight football for 4 years by the time they were Callum’s age. Good luck to him elsewhere , I just don’t see him being good enough for the premier league.

[PeterWithesShin]

You never know with young players which is why they are generally given short contracts until they establish themselves. The danger is they start to become a player in the final year of it.

And while a lot of players are establised by 22, Vardy was playing for Stocksbridge Park Steels at the same age as a different example.

[dave.woodhall]

Perhaps. I just have a bad feeling about this one. Mind you, I thought Graham Fenton was going to get 100 England caps so could be wrong.

I thought Mark Blake would replace David Platt in the England team. When the time came he was at Walsall. For every Marc Albrighton (or even someone like Daniel Johnson or Barry Bannan) there's a dozen who drop straight through the leagues. 

[brontebilly]

Let’s not forget that he was 19-21 when we were in the Championship yet never really threatened the first team - sure he’ll have a decent career but looks like he won’t be doing that at Villa.

I agree with Purslow at 22 you should be in the mix

Competing with likes of Grealish or McGinn for a starting position? Under Xia, we gambled everything on an immediate return to the top division so you can see why Bruce went with the more experienced pros but it was at the detriment of some promising players. The club failed them really from a development perspective at a key stage.

I certainly think the likes of COH, Green and Davis have more potential than let's say Lansbury, Trez and Wes. Wouldn't be the first time we have discarded young players with potential, Cahill and Steven Davis for example.

[tony scott]

It’s difficult,but at the present time is he showing enough ?to be offered a significant salary increase and a better contract. It appears we have different opinions on this board, maybe that’s good enough reason to let him go, if we can’t agree terms.

[eamonn]

He's done well at Cov but he's still been in and out of their team. To justify even a fringe PL player wage he would have had to be playing out of his skin and ripping up that division. Otherwise, how can he expect to make an impact in a higher division? He's four-five years older than Jack was at Notts County and not done a huge deal more.

I like O'Hare, he's got lovely balance and clever feet. I'm a sucker for technically gifted playmakers, especially home-grown Villa ones as they rarely come through for us (maybe a climate of no fans at games and pressure being lifted is one in which Stephen Cooke might have thrived) but it sounds like his agent is bigging him up beyond his value here.

[LeeB]

Perhaps. I just have a bad feeling about this one. Mind you, I thought Graham Fenton was going to get 100 England caps so could be wrong.

I thought Mark Blake would replace David Platt in the England team. When the time came he was at Walsall. For every Marc Albrighton (or even someone like Daniel Johnson or Barry Bannan) there's a dozen who drop straight through the leagues. 

You weren't alone with Mark Blake, I thought he was going to be a top player.

[dave.woodhall]

Perhaps. I just have a bad feeling about this one. Mind you, I thought Graham Fenton was going to get 100 England caps so could be wrong.

I thought Mark Blake would replace David Platt in the England team. When the time came he was at Walsall. For every Marc Albrighton (or even someone like Daniel Johnson or Barry Bannan) there's a dozen who drop straight through the leagues. 

You weren't alone with Mark Blake, I thought he was going to be a top player.

Strange how he fell away, then vanished out of mind altogether. Nobody ever talks about him as a Whatever Happened To? yet he had, as you said, the makings of a top player. On the whole we make mistakes but there aren't all that many players you can say come back to haunt us. Cahill was an obvious blunder by a manager who clearly didn't rate him even though everyone could see his quality, but the rest are mostly a case of us subsequently dropping to their level. 

[Damo70]

I think Mark Blake played in that game at Goodison Park where we fielded more black players than white players and won 2-0. He always loked fairly decent to me but ultimately the vast majority of his league appearances were for Walsall and Mansfield.

[PeterWithesShin]

I think Mark Blake played in that game at Goodison Park where we fielded more black players than white players and won 2-0. He always loked fairly decent to me but ultimately the vast majority of his league appearances were for Walsall and Mansfield.

7 black players, which must have delighted a number of 'Everton are white' fans.

[LeeB]

I think Mark Blake played in that game at Goodison Park where we fielded more black players than white players and won 2-0. He always loked fairly decent to me but ultimately the vast majority of his league appearances were for Walsall and Mansfield.

7 black players, which must have delighted a number of 'Everton are white' fans.

They still hadn't had a black player at that point. It was 1991.

[CT]

I think Mark Blake played in that game at Goodison Park where we fielded more black players than white players and won 2-0. He always loked fairly decent to me but ultimately the vast majority of his league appearances were for Walsall and Mansfield.

I was there that day. We were superb.