Comment: Time for West Brom to blood the youngsters

That Baggies team had four teenagers in it, including a certain 17-year-old centre-back called Ally Robertson.

His centre-back partner was 19-year-old Alan Merrick while 19-year-old Lyndon Hughes played full-back.

In midfield was a 19-year-old Asa Hartford alongside a 21-year-old Colin Suggett. At left-back was Ray Wilson. It was his 23rd birthday.

Back then, once there was nothing to play for at the end of the season, the reserves and the youngsters were often given a run-out.

Suggett and Hartford had actually been mainstays for that season and Wilson had managed to wrestle the left-back position off the great Graham Williams over the course of the campaign.

But Robertson, Merrick, and Hughes were only given a run in the team towards the end of the campaign. In the game before that, an 18-year-old Len Cantello had featured.

Several of those players mentioned above have gone down in Albion history, and are names still recognisable to fans today.

Manager Alan Ashman believed that once the Baggies were safe in mid-table, he may as well look at the youngsters coming through.

For a completely different reason, there is nothing to play for this season, except perhaps pride and the promise of something brighter in the future.

Which is why these remaining five games should be partly devoted to the development of youngsters.

Caretaker boss Darren Moore named two 18-year-olds, Rekeem Harper and Jonathan Leko, on the bench last weekend.

But there should be nothing stopping him from emulating Ashman and going one better tomorrow.

Sam Field is back available and is expected to make the squad, as is record signing Nacer Chadli and Liverpool loanee Daniel Sturridge.

But even if playing Chadli and Sturridge offer Albion a better chance of winning the game than starting Field – which is debatable anyway – it’s still the youngster who should get the nod.

Sturridge definitely won’t be at The Hawthorns next season, and Chadli is unlikely to be, but Field is a potential midfield lynchpin for years to come.

He’s done little wrong this season when called upon and impressed during his run in the team under former interim boss Gary Megson.

Harper and Leko were called back from their loans in January by Alan Pardew, because he wanted all hands to the pump, but neither have featured since.

Leko may have potential but there are question marks over his workrate. Harper, meanwhile, is an energetic box-to-box midfielder.

Albion’s midfield has lacked dynamism all season. It is often a slow and ponderous plod in the middle of the park, but Harper is capable of giving supporters something to get excited about.

Playing him alongside Sam Field, who naturally sits deeper and dictates play with his languid style, seems an ideal fit on paper.

That would be an extremely bold choice from Moore and perhaps doing this before relegation is confirmed would be construed as throwing the towel in.

But the current crop of senior players have won just three league games out of the last 42, so there is not a huge defence for keeping them in the side.

The other concern is that chucking teenagers into such a situation would dent their confidence, but there comes a point in every footballer’s development where they have to sink or swim.

Considering there is little on the line, and fans are desperate for something positive to cling onto, it feels like we are nearing the perfect time to blood them.

When Darren Moore was asked on Friday if next season was in his mind when selecting the team, he played a straight bat.

“Developing the young players is always an ongoing process here at the football club,” he said.

The flip-side to this argument is the position Albion’s under-23s find themselves in.

Bottom of the Premier League 2 Division Two table, their season was summed up on Monday by a 5-1 defeat at Brighton. Field, Harper, and Leko all played.

But there are extenuating circumstances to this season, as under-23s boss James Shan recently explained.

“People need to be aware that we’ve got a young squad week-in, week-out,” he said. “I need to stress that we have some exceptional talent in the building.

“If you look at the league table and look at results you’d think there are no players in the building, when it’s the complete opposite.

“We’ve probably got more talent in the academy now, that will be competing to play in our first team, than we did when I started.”

Grzegorz Krychowiak came off the bench last weekend while Sturridge could make the squad tomorrow.

Albion are paying those two alone almost £1million in wages each month, so there is an argument they may as well get their money’s worth.

But this team is down and neither of them will be here next season. It’s time to plan for the future.