Seventeen year old Felix Miles made his Cheltenham Town debut in Tuesday night’s defeat to Portsmouth in the Papa John’s Trophy. Although not the youngest to represent the robins, that accolade going to Aaron Evans-Harriot, to make your first team debut as a scholar is a huge moment for any player. Current first choice striker George Lloyd also made his first appearance in the same competition as Miles and Evans-Harriot, the Papa John’s Trophy (as it is currently known).
Although unpopular among fans, the competition has been hailed by Professional Development Lead Phase Coach Pete Haynes, who’s in charge of the clubs U18 side and has seen so many of his players play their first senior game for the club in the competition.
“Personally, I think it’s a brilliant competition.
“It gives them the chance to prove to the manager that they’re capable of playing in the first team”
The controversy of the competition came with the introduction of Category 1 academies from Premier League (and now Championship) clubs in the 2016/17 reshuffle. It also saw a group stage introduced, only previously seen when the competition was the Football League Group Cup in the 1981/82 season.
The FA wanted to blood academy youngsters against League 1 and League 2 sides, which many fans saw as insulting or unnecessary leading to boycotts of the competition.
With category 1 academies getting the chance to ply their players against first team opposition, the competition has also given the chance to the EFL clubs to do the same.
“Aaron Evans Harriot made his debut, Tom Chamberlain, that gives them that initial taste.
“it’s the best chance for them to get their debut because it’s a pressured game.
“From that point the player goes one of two ways they either kick on or want more or they kind of dwindle again and then you really find out about that player.
“When they play in your environment with your players you know that’s when you really find out whether or not you think they might make it, I think it’s massively important.”
Four young players currently listed in Cheltenham Town’s first team made their debuts in the EFL Trophy, with Felix Myles, Tom Chamberlain, George Lloyd and Connor Jakeways making their breakthrough.
Along side the loan system, Haynes believes the competition to be vital in a young player’s development, giving them the chance to prove that they are good enough in a first team environment with three points at stake.
The competition gives the staff of both the Academy and the first team their first real look at a player. The chance to see what they can do at a much higher standard that their loans and to see just how good they could be. Haynes praised manager Michael Duff for his use of the under 18s and for giving so many of them their chance to prove themselves.
“To be fair to Cheltenham and our club, the manager has been massive on blooding in the youth and giving them their opportunity.”
Despite going out of this year’s tournament to the 2019 winners, the run can be seen as a success on the eyes of the club’s staff, with valuable minutes given to the youngsters and the chance to impress fans and coaches alike.
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