Since Stuart Peace took charge of Nottingham Forest on 1st July 2014, he has forever emphasized the importance of youth to the club. We have seen the quality of our younger players in the likes of Ben Osborn, Jamie Paterson, Stephen McLaughlin and many others who have been rewarded with first team opportunities. Pearce has often said how he'd rather give chances to younger players than bring any new players into the club. With financial fair play on the horizon also, the development of youth players at clubs across the country is becoming increasingly important.
One way Pearce has been recently aiding the development of our younger players is by loaning them to our local neighbours Notts County. It seems an obvious option, however managers from the recent past have never seemed to recognize it. We have now loaned two of our young promising players in Louis Laing and Stephen McLaughlin to County, to help aid their development and improve them as players. I think this loaning system has a range of benefits to Forest as a club.
One is that a couple of months down the line we will have two players returning to the club who have improved as players and gained first team experience. League 1 is a good league for our young players to gain experience in as this league has produced many stars in the past, most recently our own striker Britt Assombalonga. It provides them with experience of the harsh reality of the Football League and having to play two games most weeks. They will also relish the first team opportunities they are getting at County and hope they perform well enough to impress Pearce and be future Forest first team regulars. From recent reports on County, it appears both players are performing to a very good standard. I don't think it is any coincidence that since the two players have gone to County, their form has significantly improved.
Another benefit is that it improves Forest's relationship with other clubs. This is one thing Pearce seems to be very good at, and our previous manager definitely was not. Pearce seems to have the contacts and relationships with other clubs to help improve our own. By loaning two of our younger players out to a club like County helps improve our relationship with them further which could prove to be a huge benefit in the long term. An example is that Pearce will be currently improving his relationship with County boss Shaun Derry. Derry is an upcoming manager with potentially a very bright managerial career ahead of him. This could lead to him getting a very good job with a team in the Premiership for example. Due to Pearce improving his relationship with Derry now, it may mean in the future we may be able to negotiate with Derry again and get some Premiership quality players on loan for ourselves. This is a very long term benefit of loaning our players to lower league clubs, but could have an influence on future negotiations between Forest and other clubs.
The most obvious gain for Forest of loaning these players out is that it also reduces the wage bill. Financial fair play is something that could affect many Championship clubs including Forest. By loaning these players out it helps reduce the wage bill, and maybe create space for Forest to loan in some players themselves. With the recent injuries to Andy Reid, David Vaughan, Jack Hobbs and Chris Cohen this is something which could be on the horizon for Pearce. Forest should also consider using the loan market for Djamal Abdoun. If reports during the summer were correct he is currently sat on a ridiculous wage for doing pretty much nothing for the benefit of Forest. If Forest could get him off the wage bill, it would help massively free up the wage bill and maybe create space for more than one player to come in on loan.
In summary, I think loaning our younger players out to Notts County is a masterstroke from Pearce and should be continued in the future. It benefits the club in a range of ways and we will learn the real success of the loans when Laing and McLaughlin return to the club and we see how well they have developed as players.
Thanks for reading.
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