Then there’s Tottenham‘s abundance of promising youngsters – many fans would relish seeing them given a good crack at the Championship.
The club already boast a number of regulars under the age of 21 in Archie Gray, Lucas Bergvall, Mathys Tel and Wilson Odobert, while goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky has just turned 23. Spurs would surely love to keep hold of those.
Meanwhile, homegrown starlet Mikey Moore has impressed on loan at Rangers this season and teenage centre back Luka Vuskovic has been a revelation for Hamburg in the Bundesliga. Will Lankshear is scoring goals in the Championship, too.
And supporters always want to see local academy prospects flourishing.
Next off the “he’s one of our own…” production line could be the much-lauded Luca Williams-Barnett, who made his debut earlier this season, while defenders Jun’ai Byfield and James Rowswell and midfielder Callum Olusesi have also featured.
Indeed, my dad and uncle still talk about being wowed by a young Glenn Hoddle when they first started going to White Hart Lane regularly as teenagers during the 1977-78 season, the last campaign Spurs spent in the second division.
The playmaker turned 20 that season and, despite having featured regularly in Spurs’ relegation year, his 12 league goals and majestic displays inspired the north London outfit to promotion at the first time of asking.
Maybe a year in the second tier could see a ‘new Hoddle’ really come of age?
