It's hardy surprising we never get the best out of our youngsters when you see the abuse they get from some supporters. Talk about destroying a young player's confidence before he's even had a chance to get himself up to speed with first-team action.
I'm old enough to remember Tony Brown's first tentative top-flight games and to begin with he was far from impressive. He started his career as a striker, replacing two former greats who were feeling their age, Ronnie Allen and Derek Kevan. It was two or three seasons before we started to see him at his best.
Field is only 20, Harper only 19 – they're still boys, yet to develop the physique and stamina demanded of the modern game. They are far from the finished article yet both are good enough for England in their respective age groups. I would always back the judgement of international selectors over our crop of social-media whiners and whingers. In my view both have the potential to develop into fine players once they've matured into adults. And the more game time they can get at this stage of their careers.
We're making too many mistakes with young players as it is, letting Tyler Roberts and Kemar Roofe, both of whom were never given much of a chance of first-team action. Both would have been valuable assets this season.
Clearly we won't have the money to replace all the senior players likely too move on at the end of this season, but we have some great youngsters coming through who will almost certainly be courted to Premier League teams. If they see the likes of Field and Harper getting dogs abuse on social media it's hardly likely to encourage them to want to stay at The Hawthorns.
