Yeah, all good points again.
Gordon has plenty of time to come good (as does Dowell, going back to him) but ultimately if he wants to make it at the top level, he will need to produce the goods. Hints of promise are great when you're 17/18, but when you get to 20/21 you need to actually show you're capable of translating that into performances. As I said to someone earlier, the circumstances will never be perfect. There will always be a manager under pressure, or another player who the team is set up to get the best out of, or results will be really important, or the team around you will be poor. They're just excuses, not in a harsh way, just a realistic one. If you need the perfect scenario in order to do well then you're not cut out for top level sport, it's a cut throat business, there's no point pretending it's not.
Yes all true.
The reality is, most fans would shout for the head of Ancelotti if we are 14th next season but he played younger players. I'm not having a go, as I probably would. I dont know enough about German, Spanish or French football but I doubt that culture is quite is strong. So using a German example, and wanting us to emulate that, never makes a lot of sense to me.
The manager will put a player in if hes good enough. It's kind of the only way it can be.
Gordon probably has a bit of time left here, but not much. I do think once you start going on more than 1 loan, you're in trouble. You hope the time away has done him good, but next pre season is really important to him. Sometimes it's just a case you become more mature. Or you believe you can do it.
I believe hes 20 now, and as you say not money make the step up after that.
I appreciate that will sound callous to people, but that's where we are at. Theres Dobbin who's a year below, theres Whittaker who's 17 who are both looking promising.
Dowell is a good example too. Yes on the one hand people will view him a failure. He will be back in the PL with Norwich next year. He will probably have a contract not far off 1m per year and once that contract runs out, I'd imagine he will be a multi-millionaire. Sure he wont ake it here, but he will do very well, and if Gordon doesnt quite make it, I'm sure he will be too. So I dont worry too much in general.
It's been a poor year for Gordon, but if you went back 2-3 years, I'm sure he'd have bitten your hand off for where he is now.