Bange and Apter join Bamber Bridge

StevieBanksDiscoPants

StevieBanksDiscoPants

Well-known member
Ewan Bange and Rob Apter have joined Bamber Bridge on youth loans. I'll keep you posted on my considered opinion, when I get to see them in action 👍 Bamber Bridge is getting more tangerine by the day , always good when there are a fair few Nobbers in the fan base 😂. To be fair it's a great little club, I spend a lot of time there, only 10 minutes walk from mine, a mixture of Nobbers, Plastic Rovers, Pool, and Dingles.
 
AndrewDuncanSmith said:
Rob Apter looked a very good player when he played for the 1st team and laid on 2 goals for young Simms.
Bamber Bridge might be too far down the football pyramid to help improve his game
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Yeah I think Apter is the better of the two, Brig do play football though, non league isn't like it used to be, and they'll get to play men's first team. Didn't do Jamie Thomas any harm, went from AFC Blackpool to Bamber Bridge, to a contract with the Nobbers in 3 months.
 
We were hoping that the'd be considered good enough at this stage of their development to go to at least a L2 team. However, Critch / Donnelly / Murphs know far better than us!
 
I think this is OK. Both are good prospects to come through and make the first team squad regularly, but not this year.

They'll be playing against first team non leaguers, the majority will be several years older and stronger. It'll be great for their own development.

I see it as similar to when Beckham went to the Neighbours, got a few lumps kicked out of him. And of course Brig are better anyway.
 
I agree with others here. I'm surprised a L2 club wouldn't take Apter on a loan. I'd like to think the gaffer is keeping them close for a reason.
 
Yeah, they will still train with us, I think we have to be realistic though, some young players make it at professional level, many don't, however I can assure you that Jamie Milligan will look after them, and help them, and they will be in a team that do try and play football the right way. If they have the ability they will benefit, Milly took George Thomason as an unknown released kid, who is now a regular in Bolton's side.
 
Has anyone we’ve loaned to Bamber Bridge ever come back a better player? Owen Watkinson, Rowan Roache and Nathan Shaw spring to mind.
 
L’étranger said:
Has anyone we’ve loaned to Bamber Bridge ever come back a better player? Owen Watkinson, Rowan Roache and Nathan Shaw spring to mind.
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Nathan in my opinion is a good player, he did improve, I saw him play for AFC Fylde against Bamber Bridge the other week and he's improved again, but he made the choice to drop down to get football permanently and sign for Fylde, which is fair enough. What you have to consider is there is a reason certain players go on loan to certain levels, from a plethora of young first year pros/youth players only a small number make it at Championship or even league 2 level. I still think Apter is the one with the most potential, but there are levels, and these lads are next step down from Antwi/Holmes it seems in Critch and Murphs etc opinion.
 
Surely we can get the likes of Antwi and Holmes into a League 2 club for half a season? Holmes featured in our last few regular games of the season so you’d imagine there would be a fair bit of interest. Not sure what we’d learn from sending them to the likes of KFC Fylde again like we did with Shaw.

It was the making of Barkhuizen when he went on loan to Hereford, he came back and the club then knew he had what it takes in league football as he’d done the business for them.
 
Some really good and considered points there SBDP … I think the clubs strategy is a mixed one regarding youth ( scouting for other clubs decent talent such as Lavery and Carey aswell as trying to develop our own) and we are going in the right direction and should reap the benefits down the line. If I’m honest I haven’t seen enough of some of the players at that level to comment but I never had the feeling that Sims (the goalkeeper) and Shaw would make league one level. Maybe Holmes is closer to that level but now we have moved up a league I’m not sure I see when he will get first team experience with us. I liked the look of Apter but we are well stocked (with more established and polished players)in his position now. Antwi has a chance but must prove it at league 2 or maybe league 1 level first for me and is in a similar boat to Holmes. It’s a big jump to the championship and a stepping stone system would seem the obvious route. That said I’m not qualified to judge and I certainly trust Neil critchley and Ciaran to work out what is best. If we keep unearthing talent such as lavery bowler and carey (to name but three )then we will be fine
 
I’d like to see Holmes on loan at a club like Altrincham in the National League. They play great football and the experience of regular football at that level, where it’s challenging and physical, would be good for development. At a different level, I’d compare it to Simms coming from u23 PL to us in Div 1. A completely different challenge and we witnessed his improvement.
 
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