Unsworth believes 'the future is bright' for Charlie Whitaker

I wish Unsworth would talk in terms of youngsters in the first team with those type of figures. The U23s can win all they like but, if their skills are not transferable to the first team, the objectives are not being achieved. In the real world of today, career progression is about transferable skills and ability to apply them.

This is nothing more than self-promotion by Unsworth and shows he is far off the message he should be on.

Jerome

Unsie has a history of bigging up Under-23 players (eg, Beningame for example) but, while nothing is certain, this Whitaker does seem to have the potential to really make the step up.

Will he make it or not? Who knows, there are too many variables but he does seem like a real prospect.

Not too shabby for a 17-year-old in the U-23s.

Kieran#2

Hope you are right about Whitaker and I wish him well. I just don't have much confidence in Unsworth.

Jerome, don’t you rate Whitaker?

I've been critical of Unsworth in previous years but he gets a lot of unwarranted stick these days. We've had two players (17/16) make their debuts, another four teenagers briefly in the first-team squad. None were deemed good enough to play in the Premier League, but did all six have “transferable skills” that enabled them to train with the first team and play if needed?

Well, Brands and Carlo obviously thought so. I'm not sure what he's supposed to say when he's asked a question about a young player by the Echo. “Naw, he's crap, too spindly and weak”? The Echo are always trying to big up a story from nothing, last month it was Lewis Warrington because someone named him at Carlo's press conference. I just shrug my shoulders at most things they write.

Charlie Whitaker is a super player who's done really well this season, and has gone from flitting in and out of the U18s at the start, to a few standout performances at U18 and U23s by the end. And contributed goals throughout the season. Hopefully, he'll be left to develop at the right pace, he's obviously far away from the first team at the moment and a long way to go yet.

Yea, good work, Jerome.

Let's keep telling everyone how crap Unsworth is, how he only wants to win trophies for the academy, how he keeps the older players on the books for this reason, how he's not really interested in preparing players for the first team... Blah, blah, blah.

I would seriously be interested to know, Jerome, whether you rate Whitaker.