A little over a year ago, Rafael Benitez ensured that he’d never get a warm welcome at a Football League meeting by suggesting that Premier league clubs should be allowed to play in the lower leagues. Unsurprisingly his opinion was decried as heresy, the view of another foreigner with no appreciation for the British culture and the sanctity of the league structure.

To an extent, they were right. Benitez only has Liverpool’s progress at heart and in that respect his views made perfect sense. There’s little use in having a reserve squad if all they do is play in a joke league with a maximum of two games per month and the opposition often involves kids who are playing simply because they are too old to compete in the academy leagues.

Playing at league level would offer them the ideal development environment, especially if under the guidance of Liverpool’s own coaching staff. Realistically, however, that isn’t going to happen so the next best alternative is to send out on loan those players deemed to be ready enough.

The problem is identifying where to send them. Finding a club where they play a decent style of football and where they can get as much exposure as possible would be the ideal but too often that has proved to be far from what has happened.

Take Jack Hobbs, for instance. Benitez was understandably sceptic at the thought of relying on such an inexperienced player when injuries hit Liverpool’s central defenders so he was sent out to Scunthorpe to gain some experience. Instead, despite starting brightly, he ended up watching most games from the substitutes’ bench. Not because there were better players ahead of him but rather because Scunthorpe were just as reluctant to rely on an inexperienced player.

It is a situation that makes you wonder whether the clubs or the managers actually talk before a player is asked to temporarily move to a different team. Players go out on loan to gain experience: having them spend most of their time on the bench or worse is simply a waste of time.

Of course, it could be that the exposure to a more competitive level of football proves that the players aren’t good enough. What is emerging, however, is a different situation were clubs loan in players simply to bolster their squads and have enough back-up especially when they have a couple of players missing. When those players return, the on-loans are parked on the side-lines irrespective of their true worth.

It is, quite simply, an unacceptable situation and one that must be looked at immediately. Such loan deals are unfair on the players who accept them simply because they feel that it is the best way to further their career but ultimately get cheated out of playing time.

It is up to the club and Benitez to see that wherever they go they get a minimum guarantee that they will be playing or at least offered a fair chance to play.

Otherwise it would be best not to send them at all.

How They Fared
Ten players were sent out on-loan during the past twelve months but most of them will be returning to Anfield disappointed.


Paul Anderson (Swansea)
Perhaps the biggest success story, Anderson (pictured above) excelled for Swansea as the Welsh side ran away to the League One title. Voted as the club’s best young player at the end of the season, Anderson has shown genuine promise but has already been told that he will be spending next year on loan, although this time at a Championship side.

Godwin Antwi (Hartlepool)
The Ghanaian defender started strongly but spent the latter part of the season on the bench, unable to displace Ben Clark from the side.

Scott Carson (Aston Villa)
The most high profile player on this list, there’s little doubt that Carson will be moving on at the end of this season although the destination remains to be seen. Excellent early on, his form dipped in the second half of the season after his error strewn game for England against Croatia.

Danny Guthrie (Bolton Wanderers)
Followingfrom his excellent displays last season for Southampton, Guthrie made the step up in level to the Premier League with relative ease. Doubts about his suitability for Liverpool remain but his loan moves have certainly helped get people notice him.

Adam Hamill (Southampton)
Having done so well last year at Dunfermline, much was expected of Hamill as he tested himself at Championship level. Instead, his season at Southampton was a bitter disappointment. Unable to get a look in early on, he eventually forced himself into the first team but constant injuries robbed him of the opportunity to prove that his is good enough. That the Southampton coaching staff seemed to have very little faith in him didn’t help either.

Jack Hobbs (Scunthorpe)
That Liverpool allowed Hobbs to move to a club clearly heading for relegation was surprising, that he barely got a look in astonishing. As most Scunthorpe fans will admit, Hobbs did well when he played but they simply chose to stick with their own players. A futile waste of the past six months for the player.

Anthony Le Tallec (Le Mans)
The former great hope spent his final season on Liverpool’s books out on loan with Le Mans where he did reasonably well.

Craig Lindfield (Notts County, Chester)
Lindfield’s (pictured right) is a typical case of the apparent lack of planning that goes into such loan moves. Lindfield first went to Notts County where he scored a great goal on his debut before being sent back to Liverpool as they couldn’t afford to pay his hotel rental. He then went to Chester but that deal was soon cut short too as his wages were too high for them. Putting aside the doubt whether Lindfield should have been tested at such a low level, are these the sort of clubs to develop Liverpool’s players?

Miki Roque (Xerez)
Just one game for a side struggling against relegation in the Spanish second division is hardly going to impress anyone. As with Antwi, perhaps it was a case of reality catching up with him.

Robbie Threlfall (Hereford)
Threlfall (pictured below) made an immediate impression at Hereford so much that, after an initial month on loan, they opted to keep him till the end of the season despite being injured. He eventually did come back to play fairly regularly until another injury kept him out for almost two months. Did well enough for Hereford but is Division Three really a good testing ground for someone who is to play for Liverpool?