By Richard Lee - 09/03/2009

Loan or Reserves?

There's definitely more players going out on loan than ever there was - rather than staying put in a reserve team - and it just shows the game is changing.

More of a demand from lower-divisions clubs running on smaller squads has made it easier for bigger teams to lend their players out knowing they'll be starting matches - and also are getting a true experience of competitive football.

There's probably a bit of a buzz available to the player going out on loan as well. Move to somewhere else, score a few goals or make a few saves for example, and you might suddenly become particularly popular at a different club. Your name will get in the public eye then and that tends to lead to something, be that back at your parent club or elsewhere.

In their eyes, they're now valuing a loan much greater than five or six games in the reserves but, having said that, the timing has to be right. Loan a player out too young and they're going to miss the kind of education you want them to have at their own club and possibly pick up some bad habits.

Overall, I think it's working quite well for both parties right now.

By the time you're 18, it's important to be pushing to play senior football in my eyes. Things like larger crowds compared to tiny crowds are just as important as the opponents you might face on the field of play. The competitive edge, the cut & thrust of a first-team game can't be under-estimated. Certainly Academy and reserve team football bears no comparison to it at all - although they have their own benefits.

Despite that, the scouts are out and about at pretty much most games. Whether that's a full league match or in the reserves, players should always keep in my mind that there generally is someone watching your performance; apart from simply wanting to enjoy the match, I've often used that as a real motivational factor on a freezing cold Monday night at Boreham Wood!

From my own experience, I remember desperately trying to get on loan for about a year after I came back from my arm injury. I felt I just wanted to play but clubs didn't want to take a chance with a player so fresh back from a spell in the treatment room.

It's slightly different with goalkeepers because clubs wanting someone will normally ask for a keeper with real experience. At that point, of course, I hadn't played too many times so it was a Catch 22 situation in effect.

Overall, for a young player, the transition of moving from Academy football into the reserves and then a spell or two out on loan is probably becoming more and more familiar to clubs of our size.

Equally, at smaller clubs, the pattern of holding spaces in your squad for loanees so as not to commit your long-term resources seems to be the way of it in Leagues One and Two and the Conference.

As a player, I think a mix of reserves football and loan spells will give you the grounding you need - all the better if you can cram all that in before you leave your teenage years.