Blades Fans Column: Hopefully the pathway remains clear for Sheffield United's young talent

By The Newsroom
Published 19th Mar 2016, 10:44 BST
Updated 19th Mar 2016, 10:46 BST
John Brayford of Sheffield Utd celebrates scoring the first goal against Oldham last week with Billy Sharp and Ben Whiteman of Sheffield UtdJohn Brayford of Sheffield Utd celebrates scoring the first goal against Oldham last week with Billy Sharp and Ben Whiteman of Sheffield Utd
John Brayford of Sheffield Utd celebrates scoring the first goal against Oldham last week with Billy Sharp and Ben Whiteman of Sheffield Utd
For a brief spell last Saturday there were six graduates of Sheffield United's youth system on the pitch at the same time (Billy Sharp, George Long, Ben Whiteman, Louis Reed, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Jonathan Forte), plus two more on the respective benches (Graham Kelly and Connor Brown).

There was a period of a few seasons not so long ago when it was common for there to be four or five homegrown players in United’s matchday squad (Quinn, Maguire, Montgomery, Lowton, Naughton, Walker, Tonge, Slew) but we ended up selling all the best ones, and look where that got us.

Fans of all clubs love to see their ‘own’ players in the first team and usually (but not always) give them a bit of leeway if things go wrong. If they play poorly, at least it’s our players playing poorly, and not just a bunch of temps and contract-seekers failing to perform, as it has been for much of this season.

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