| Youth clear-out at Dens | |||
| Dundee are set to revamp the top end of their youth development after most of their Under-19 team were told they will not be getting kept on at Dens Park |
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| For the second year running, the majority of the players on the Dark Blues youth team have had to be told they did not make the grade.
And, while plans for next season have still to be finalised, that could lead to a reduction in the number of full-time teenagers in the future. While he’s keen to develop talent from within, boss Gordon Chisholm admitted today, having a chunk of the Under-19 side made up by part-time players is an option. “If a young player is good enough, I will always use them, but I think the days of taking on 16 full-time kids when you are looking at maybe getting just one or two through to the first team have to be numbered,” he said. “It could be the way forward is to have five or six full-time ones, but then make up the rest of the squad with boys who are on a part-time basis.” With the bid to get promoted his major concern when he arrived in March, Chis admitted he had not seen much of the youth team and relied on coach Barry Smith’s judgement when it came to who should be offered the chance to stay on. “Barry knows them and what they’re capable of, and he dealt with that. It’s never a nice part of football to tell a kid you are letting him go, but it is something that has to be done.” Last night, Gordon headed for Hamilton in the hope of seeing loaned-out Mickael Antoine-Curier in action against St Mirren, but the striker did not play. Accies still have one game to go, at St Johnstone on Saturday, and talks with the French-born striker over his future will not take place before then. The list of players the Dark Blues are being linked with summer moves for continues to grow and added to it today has been Stirling Albion defender Andy Graham. He is out of contract in the summer and the 26-year-old has also been tracked by a number of SPL clubs, including Hamilton. |