Its always worth while keeping a close eye on the lower leagues little gems can be found but they do need to be well coached and nurtured, not something Rotherham United are noted for. Having said that I wonder whether deep down the club had dropped the notion of ever having a Championship outfit, I hope not but the noises coming out of the club so far are far from inspiring. Time will tell.
I find myself, after a season of moaning, to actual like some of this...
1) Lower league players might see Millers as a career move rather than a pension pot booster before they retire
2) We might afford to attract a lower league player rather than compete with clubs with a bigger Chairman's cheque book
3) I always say a good player in league 2 is better than a ****e premiership youngster who is never going to make the grade, premiership clubs can afford to take a chance on players that have potential, but only a few actually do - their cast-offs are not better than decent lower league proven players
4) When we get a decent player from a bigger club IS found, we NEVER hang onto them, which has been an issue for 4 seasons with our team suffering when clubs allowed a bigger playing budget (not bigger clubs, just those taking a more reasonable player budget view) nick players who would improve our team. We get them fit, playing well and we lose them.... it's ok short term but the result is relegation in the medium term.
No problem with looking for non-league talent. If there is another Stuart Pearce, Stan Collymore, Jamie Vardy, Charlie Austin or Andre Gray to be had then fantastic. I firmly believe that players who maybe thought they had missed the boat but then get a chance as a pro are likely to have that desire to learn and work hard that goes such a long way. If you can identify the ones with the talent/potential in the first place you might well be onto something.
The key fact is a player from a non league club would be looking at us as a step up,As appose to a youngster from a perm club I.E Izzy Brown would be looking at it as a step down.
Its a tricky gamble though, for every Jamie Vardy you could get 10 Matt Tubbs!
It will be Interesting to see how the lad Boggle at Wigan gets on in L1,did a good job in conference and L2 for Grimsby didn't get much game time for Wigan after his initial games in championship.
I think clarke Harris will be better suited to L1 and i can see him being our main man next season.