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Branco, Byrne (not rated by many last season), Kasim, Gladwin, M Smith.

That's nearly half of our first team that we appear to have developed into valuable first teams players. I included Byrne because he seems to have gone from 'a bit average' to 'a  bit of a star'. I've also been conservative in omitting Luongo as I see him more of a player that was already 'developed', enough for this league anyway.

I'm not including loanees, but it seems though they are learning from their time here also.

It makes one wonder that one or two people at the club know what they are doing......

Gladwin, Kasim and Branco have done extremely well to make the step up from non - league. Bizarre to think Kasim couldn't get into Macclesfield or Luton's  teams

Gladwin and Kasim bossed the midfield today.

I can see one or two non-league unknowns joining before the deadline.

I also wonder if the likes of Barthram and Barker could make an impact at some point... Even if not until next season.

I remember seeing Gladwin away at Brentford and wondering what we'd done...he's done very well. Branco too!...He's come a long way from his début against...Plymouth, was it?...

Shame El Gabas had to go though ;)

Barthram, at times last season, looked either really useful, or out of his depth..I'm hoping he comes on well too.

He looks decent on the right and clueless on the left.

Yes. To be fair he was terrible last week at Crawley on the left.

Yep. Someone knows how to spot a player alright.

Very impressive

The only thing letting the club down is its support. We're doing the right thing, although as it stands we still need some bodies in!

To be fair Crewe at home at £25(?) isn't very inspiring. Is worrying can only get 6,500 at home though.

You forgot George barker!

I didn't, scroll down a tad. (From my OP)

I wouldn't say our support has let us down. Let's face it those who are not going at the moment need convincing to come back.It has been a pretty shit summer where even the most die hard fan has struggled to get excited,few more decent performances will bring a few back and it is also festival weekend.

In regards to players i think it is great to see so many talented youngsters. My main concern is we will just become a machine producing players who replace them with the same kind of player meaning we have a team that just falls short all the time. I only say that because make no mistake with a good back line we have a shit hot team. Imagine that back 3 today was Jmac,Thompson and a fit Henville for example.

I think a lot of the fans were/are put off by the small numbers of incomings and, worried about the high numbers of outgoings..naturally, no one can blame them for that. Personally, my lack of appearances this season is down to relocating nearer work. I think a few are of the 'you won't win anything with kids' mindset.

Back on point, though, I think the development of the players suggested in this thread really does show how certain people have a good eye for a potential talent.

Commanding CB, Another midfielder and a striker needed me thinks..

What sort of midfielder? Attacking? Defensive? Genuine question as I haven't seen a game yet this season.

Id say creative, a Pritchard/Mason type of player (not easy to find)

Would love to have mason back here top top player., just what we need imo

A fully fit Mason would be a huge assett an unfit Mason a waste of a large wage.

If he's still at spurs would it not be worth a punt? Spurs may be willing to send him somewhere on lower wages instead of him sitting in reserves.

Of course I don't want to sell him, but how much do you think it would take to buy Kasim? One of the adver journos last night was the best performance he has seen from a Swindon player in a long time.

His performances this season won't have gone unnoticed.

The thing with Kasim is that needs to be the main man in midfield, running the show as he does for us.

Not sure he would get that with a PL side or even a Championship one.

May be the reason he got looked over at Spurs/Brighton

Kasim is awesome,only downside is you have to play this formation to get the best of him.

Kasim is the sort of player you build a team around. We're fortunate in that we have Luongo and they compliment each other perfectly. I don't think Kasim would succeed at another club unless they were willing to accommodate him.

Navarro was a similar example who was excellent in a midfield five but couldn't play as part of a four man midfield.

The Evening Standard reported last week that Spurs are looking to loan Mason out for the season.

Louis off for a possible 1.2m to Norwich (more than we've spent on this and last season's transfers combined if my memory's working) kind of proves the point here doesn't it?

Am I right in thinking his debut was under Di Canio vs. Leicester when he didn't have much time to do anything other than whistle a shot over the bar?

Didn't he debut against a lower league team in the FA cup and concede an OG at the death? Barnet? Macclesfield?

Macclesfield was after that wasnt it?  OG from about 30 yards.  Lost to that and a wonder goal.

Remember him coming on at Leicester and looking about 7 years old.

Thats because he was.

Yep. We were chasing the game and he sprinted back, put in a tackle which unfortunately went into his own net. We were minging that game, which will always be remembered as the Troy in midfield experiment disaster!

He was actually pretty good for the time he was on the pitch but as you say we were so shit that anyone who tried looked good for us.