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It’s felt like another week of let downs - still no signings (but we all know they are brewing), no certainty over the will he/won’t he Jack Butland saga, and the bizarre ejection of Stoke’s under-21s from the EFL Trophy.

This was controversial for so many reasons and has led to much inner conflict, plus the usual online contretemps, amongst Stokies.

Firstly, no-one ever got excited about the under 21s being in this competition until the draw threw them up against Port Vale’s first team last season.

We all know what happened there, but it did for a short time bring a new dimension to this otherwise unloved competition in terms of under-21 sides being allowed in.

It’s different, of course, to those occasions when we’d sunk so low that Stoke were participating in their own right at first team level, but let’s not aspire to adding to our two glorious Wembley wins just now.

Having a first Potteries derby since Neil Baldwin was a lad was great until the night of the game. The build up was fantastic, the anticipation everything, but the shame that followed for Stokies was quite terrible.

That night, when the 1980s returned to the away end in Burslem, put into perspective the ridiculous participation of the under-21s in such a tournament. It was never something I saw value in, and the fact no under-21 side has even reached the final just shows it really is men against boys.

It turns out, however, that both Liverpool and Manchester United do see value in their under-21 teams taking part, and in order to allow them in the EFL have had to boot out some of the regular youth teams that have been in the competition over the last few years.

Stoke received the news last week that they hadn’t been accepted this year, and suddenly I’m up in arms again. This is a vital opportunity for our youngsters (and until now spring chicken Charlie Adam) to get some experience playing against men’s first teams. Grrrrrr. How dare the big boys nick our spot etc.

But does it really matter? If our under-21s are given such little opportunity to break into our first team (as has been the case over the last 15 years) then why should we be bothered?

Isn’t the annoyance at this turn of events more about it being a further affront to our reduced status since relegation from the top flight as only Fulham have been invited to take part in the EFL Cup next season from outside the Premier League?

Just yet another indication of how far we’ve fallen.

Nathan Jones has promised much in the way of progress for the likes of Thibaud Verlinden, Nathan Collins and Harry Souttar in interviews, but it was only ever glimpses on the actual pitch last season.

I’d love to see the youngsters given significant time in our first team this coming campaign. Forget playing against Yeovil or Tranmere in the EFL Trophy, get them in the Championship team with more minutes and more opportunity to shine.

There has to be something more to joining our club as a teenager than hoping to appear at Morecambe on a freezing cold night in October in a competition we shouldn’t even be in.

Jones’s record over the years shows he has given chances to youngsters wherever he’s been and at whatever level he has worked at. We’ve got a good crop here. They need to be given their chance.

Maybe not having the ability to field the under-21s in the EFL Cup will work to their advantage in that the only way their talents can be showcased is in Stoke’s first team, where they need to be if they are going to be good enough.

So, perhaps it’s been less of a let down this past week, we should view the inactivity and affrontery more as a building of that “them against us” feeling and some much needed anticipation… it’s about the only excitement we get a chance to have at the moment, as last season’s visit to Vale Park shows.

The problem is, of course, that after the last three years there’s barely any left in the well.

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