Tony Mowbray plans watching brief for two players West Brom are excited about
West Brom boss Tony Mowbray is relocating back to the West Midlands - and upon doing so he intends to routinely attend the club's under 21 matches in the local area. Richard Beale's youngsters are playing their home games at Solihull Moors' Damson Park this season but in a couple of Mondays' time they'll visit Kidderminster Harriers and take on rivals Wolves.
In tow are expected to be highly exciting pair Harry Whitwell and Ollie Bostock; midfielder Whitwell, who set up Tom Fellows' goal in the FA Cup win over Aldershot last year, has been around the first-team environment for some time now, while Wales youth international Bostock hit headlines recently after a stunning solo goal at Norwich City in the FA Youth Cup.
Both players have made recent first-team squads but, despite interest and an expectation in some quarters that either player could leave the club on loan before the transfer window closed, both players remained at The Hawthorns and will continue to work in both first-team and academy spheres for the rest of the season.
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Mowbray will cast his eye over the pair, and other youngsters, in training when opportunities allow and will see them in action for the under 21s in due course, too, but he didn't make any guarantees about imminent first-team minutes with the Baggies in the midst of a fight to secure a play-off place.
"I know [academy manager] Rich Stevens really well from my time at Coventry, where he was. We speak about these youngsters and they come up and train with us if we need extra numbers with a few injuries," Mowbray said. "I can brush my eye over them in sessions but those are more about the first team trying to get shape and organisation, rather than the kids and opposing team stopping them.
"What I need is an under-21 game to watch them. My intention is to watch every under-21s home game if I can. It's a little bit frustrating that I can't get a grasp of them, because the staff talk highly about the two players you've mentioned, and how they've both got a chance. I'm not sure it's the time at this moment to experiment, it's the time to pick the best team and win to create excitement and enthusiasm for the end of the season.
"If for whatever reason it falls away and doesn't happen, we lose some games, then the end of the season before pre-season might be the time to put the kids in and see how they do. Let's hope that's not the case and we stay in and around the play-off positions to make it really exciting for the fans."
