Latics' future is bright

HUGE TALENT: Athletic's Mason Fawns (left)

THE latest product to come off Athletic's production line is another example of the value of the youth system at the club.

That's the view of academy manager Tony Philliskirk, after Mason Fawns put himself in the frame for a second successive first-team appearance against Wigan by putting in a promising showing on his full debut at Walsall.

Fawns (18) became the 11th player to progress from the club's youth system into the first team in the last five seasons, on the same day that one former graduate James Tarkowski played the full game for Burnley as they won 3-2 at reigning Premier League champions Chelsea.

And his success, so early on after being given a first professional contract in the summer, is a result of a player previously let go by Blackburn Rovers finding the right path attitude-wise.

"People may not know, but Mason had also been to Fleetwood before he came to us too," said Philliskirk.

"When he came in, the law was laid down to him very early and he knew that he was potentially in the last-chance saloon.

"It is a credit to him that everything I had heard on him from other clubs, I never saw. He knuckled down and I think that the penny had dropped.

"We spent a lot of time with him, one to one, telling him the importance of being a good person and a good trainer.

"And obviously he has taken that on, because it is clear that John has seen something in him."

Athletic's under-15s star Jack Williams was recently the only Category Three player involved at an England training camp featuring more than 60 candidates.

The attacking midfielder could turn out to be another valuable asset for a club who sold goalkeeping products Joel Coleman and Chris Renshaw to Huddersfield and Everton respectively last summer.

"James Tarkowski played and won against the Premier League champions and is an example of what can be achieved," Philliskirk added.

"Our mantra at the club is that we have to produce football and financial assets for the club and in terms of the former category, Jamie Stott, George Edmundson and Mason are current examples of that."