There lies a place between the U18 youth team and the first team which currently is a void. Whilst I was very pleased to see Aide's comment about looking to the future and have nothing but respect and admiration for his active involvement with the U18's which isn't part of his role as the manager of the first team I have seen nothing concrete issued by the Club or Welling United Youth about plans to fill that void. It would be absolutely criminal to see all of Aide's (and Phil and Neil's) efforts disappear into that void.

We have seen the Under 18's stepping up to the plate for County Cup matches and acquitting themselves well and hopefully there will be a further opportunity in next weeks LSC tie. The experience they are getting is great for their continuing development but also potentially makes them attractive targets for other clubs and if we don't fill the existing void with a reserve side set up that potential increases exponentially. I'm sure that with the U18's (not forgetting that we potentially have 2 teams next season and the current U16's have 8 County players) and fringe players, supplemented on occasion with trialists/players returning to match fitness we could run a squad in terms of players. I appreciate the other issues involved - a home pitch with floodlights, training facilities, a coach, travel etc. etc. and would suggest that we should be actively and publicly pursuing these matters.

In the meantime perhaps there could be an informal side which played occasional midweek matches against some of the many local sides who have a reserve team.

Before some smart alec (cue for a posting alias) says this was discussed at the Meet the Management Night (which its common knowledge that I didn't attend) or that I could phone/pop into PVR and discuss it with Graham or Barrie, my point is that this is the sort of information which should be made public so that ALL FANS know where the Club is going.