Head of Youth Russell Milton discusses what he believes has been a strong season for the Academy.
The Academy's season may now over but there is still a lot of work going on behind the scenes.Russell Milton's young Robins finished 5th in the South West Youth Alliance division with a 2-0 loss to Plymouth unfortunately ending the season on a low note but the Academy's growth and the rise of certain youth players into the first team has certainly made this a successful campaign for Milton and his staff.
Zack Kotwica was a second year scholar before being handed a professional contract at the start of the season and the young winger is now a common tool used by Mark Yates in Sky Bet League 2 matches. There was also first team and professional debuts for both Bobbie Dale and Harry Williams with the latter making his full debut just last weekend away at Exeter City. Mark Yates has hinted that more of the club's young talent could be involved before the end of the season and Russ told www.ctfc.com that a measure of success at youth level is not necessarily winning competitions.
"You come to a point and wonder whether winning the league is important?" questioned Russ.
"It would be nice but moving the lads on is important. I think personally we had the best team in the league but when you see lads in and around the first team and a few others out on work experience then that allows you to bring some of the development boys who have done well. Overall you would say that was very successful and the boys have done very well.
"They have moved on, progressed and took onboard what we expect. I don't want to put everything into winning the league at the detriment of lads getting experience earlier"
You can watch the full and exclusive interview with Russell Milton on Robins Player right now by clicking here.