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1. Robins said a couple of weeks ago they were looking to sign players to bolster the U23's
2. Robins said in interview last season the U23's have their own budget to sign players they feel can be developed.
3. The U23's and development squad is about developing young talent. Ideally for our first team but not always.
There are numerous players who barely got near our first team but are having reasonable careers at League 1, League 2 and even Non League. That is good because it encourahes young talent to sign for us.
If you have two 18 year olds who you really think can make it at the top level, you cam't really develope them by surrounding them by rubbish.
There comes a time when certain players may need to be loaned out to develope. The squad left behind still needs to be of a sufficient standard to give the rest a chance of continued development.
Running a development squad is almost a seperate entity which the first team may and hopefully will benefit from. But to run it properly and to get a return you have to invest in it, players, coaches, facilities etc,. It is not cheap, but produce one class player and the rewards can be huge.
But I would say the biggest remit of the development squad is to give young talent a pathway into professional football. That may not be with us and it may not be at our level. But ultimately that is its remit and what it is judged on. But as we have already seen it has and does on occassions benefit our first team.