Latics bide time on youth talent

DAVID MELLOR: latest graduate from Athletic’s under-18s to shine for the first team.

IMAGINE being so hungry, it hurts. Then visualise being taken on a grand tour of one of the finest restaurant kitchens in the world without so much as dipping a finger in the gravy.

The only way it could be managed? In the belief that abstention will result in even better food lying in wait. This is Athletic's position, financially speaking, when it comes to teenager David Mellor.

The 18 year old is the latest cut of prime talent in a youth system that has generated nearly £2million over the past six years from transfer and add-on fees.

It took willpower to turn down the reported £300,00 cash offer for former Manchester United prospect Mellor when Premier League club Fulham came knocking. But the board's rejection of that bid serves to illustrate three things.

One, that Athletic are of the belief that Mellor is talented and driven enough to prove, between now and the transfer window opening in January, that he is of even more value than that substantial sum. In other words, clubs will soon be back in front of Athletic with even more tempting cash offers.

Two, that even though finances are as tight as ever, the club will not be sold short by bigger clubs. Not so much pride, as a downright refusal to be ripped off.

And three, even if an improved bid for the Shaw-born player's services is not immediately forthcoming, what does it matter? He can continue in the side and bed into pro football under the watch of Paul Dickov.

If lucrative sales are to be made at some point, there are always others candidates moving through the ranks at Boundary Park.

In the past couple of seasons, a host of players emerging through the system have been handed first-team experience under Dickov.

In 2010-11, DJ Bembo, Andrew Crompton, Carl Winchester, Phil McGrath, James Tarkowski and Ryan Burns made first-team debuts. Mellor and Connor Hughes sat on the team coach and substitutes' bench, while the former stepped out for the first time this term.

As well as attracting scouts from monied clubs, the desire to utilise resources available from within the club in the first team also has a knock-on effect when it comes to future player recruitment.

Athletic are up against it with a plethora of Premier League clubs operating development centres in the Greater Manchester area.

As Tony Philliskirk explains, the clear pathway from scholar to professional is a handy tool when it comes to the difficult task of player recruitment.

"Manchester City, Manchester United, Bolton, Blackburn and Liverpool, to name a few, all are operating development centres in our area," said Athletic's youth supremo.

"We are not talking about academies, but a tier below that, which is where we used to get many players from.

"Ronnie Millward (chief youth scout) and his scouts do a fantastic job in still getting us the raw materials.

"But the development centres mean we have to cast our net wider and work harder. I have personally made 300-mile trips to Wallsend on Sunday mornings to look at players. If that is what is needed, that is what we will do.

"What we also try to do is educate parents that this is a good club for their sons to come to.

"And with our record, we can use the examples of Carl Winchester and David Mellor to show that if they work hard and are good enough, they will get a chance."