Michael Duff has stressed the “importance” of top flight loanees and the positive impact they’ve had on Cheltenham’s season so far.
The Robins’ boss highlighted that he has been delighted by the calibre of players that have featured over his time at the club and was quick to acknowledge how beneficial their presence has been.
Pollock has appeared in 23 fixtures for the Gloucestershire based side and his manager has been vocal in his support towards the Watford loanee.
“He’s got the foundations to go on and have a great career but you’ve just got to keep improving at this age.
“As a centre half he’s got a lot of the attributes that you want. He’s as brave as a lion… and the fact that he’s just 20, having played as many games as he has, I think speaks volumes.”
The former Northern Ireland international was also quick to mention some notable ex Cheltenham Town names who have seen brilliant success after experiencing a spell out on loan at the Jonny Rocks Stadium.
“If you go right back to the start then you look at people like Jake Doyle-Hayes who’s now playing every week in the Scottish Premiership, Josh Griffiths who’s just got an England U21 call-up and Jacob Grieves who’s playing in the Championship.”
The manager was pleased to admit that higher level clubs have been genuinely recognising Cheltenham Town as a perfect place for young players to gain invaluable experience to help evolve their game.
“Someone like Finn Azaz got a move to Aston Villa after a year with us last year so it’s important that people know we’re always here to improve players.
“It seems that we’re always developing other people’s players but they’re helping us at the same time and we understand they’re a very important part of our journey.”
He joined the Villains from West Bromwich Albion and instantly departed out on loan again, this time to League Two side Newport County.
🌟 @NewportCounty starlet & @AVFCOfficial loanee Finn Azaz is your EFL Young Player of the Month for January.
Congratulations, @finnazaz 👏#EFL https://t.co/inK4ntB0wG
— EFL (@EFL) February 12, 2022
The youngster had advanced through the Baggies academy from the age of nine and made 44 appearances on loan with the Robins during their League Two winning season.
Duff wasn’t shy in admitting that the type of player that the club is beginning to attract has improved tremendously and has confirmed that he has been impressed by the likes of Callum Wright, who is currently on loan from Premier League side Leicester City.
“We’ve got five players on loan from Premier League clubs now and, without being disrespectful, when we first came in we were taking players in from Exeter, Bristol Rovers and Northampton Town.
“I think that shows that, hopefully, teams believe we can help their players, which in turn helps us out massively.”
The Robins currently sit 15th in League One with 39 points and face stiff opposition on Saturday night as they travel to fifth place Wycombe.
Looking forward to this weekend, the Cheltenham boss had this to say earlier:
“I think Wycombe are a really good team, and we know that from when we’ve played them. The way they play is really difficult to play against.”
Keep up to date with the Park Life Sport liveblog here.
Despite The Blues being winless in their last four outings, Duff laughed off the idea that this was a perfect ‘opportunity’ for his side to secure themselves a victory.
“Every game is an opportunity to earn three points but we’re definitely not going into the game with the mindset that we’ve caught them at the right time or anything like that, if anything it’s the opposite.”
Saturday night will act as a fine line for the Robins with a win taking their points tally to 42, edging them slightly closer to the 52 point target that should confirm their place in the league for next year.
