Cod Almighty | Diary

The kids are alright

26 September 2014

Mardy Diary writes: So things didn't work out for Jack Barlow. Once hotly tipped at Town, with rumours he was being tracked by some of the biggest clubs in the country, things seemed to be going well when Hull paid 100k for him five years ago (thanks for that, Tiggers).

He now finds himself on part-time terms at Cleethorpes Town after a very brief stint at Boston. It's not a new story really. Hundreds don't make the grade and end up in the depths of non-League. But the fall here surpasses even the quick rise.

You'll often get players drifting relatively quickly down the leagues, having the odd loan stint here and there before disappearing. At one point it seemed Town was the last port of call for them. But Jack seems to have skipped this bit entirely.

How much of that is down to the attitude of the player and how much is just plain bad luck is hard to judge. There'll be plenty of messageboard nesbits claming it's all his own fault (there's a few under that article in the Telewag) but I have no evidence to suggest if this is true or not.

For me it just highlights the frail grip that most young footballers have on their jobs in this country. It's telling how many teams in the leagues below Town are full of youngsters, when non-League used to be the final port of call for older League players not so long back.

The problem comes back to money, even at the top levels. Clubs just won't hang on to these players if it doesn't look like they'll be superstars before they're 18 – they'll just use the money to buy in established talent. The knock-on effect is a lack of English talent playing top-level football further down the line.

I'm not suggesting that Barlow would become the next Pele if Hull had kept him on, but I expect plenty of talented youngsters are discarded before they have chance to properly develop.

Alas, money not only talks, but aggressively dominates every conversation when it comes to football, so don't expect anything to change.