BILLY Davies is encouraged that Nottingham Forest's next generation of talent are flourishing.
But he today warned that the club will have to be patient as they look to make the significant step up from youth team play to first team professional.
Gary Brazil's side have demonstrated their potential by reaching the semi-final of the FA Youth Cup.
And they go to Carrow Road tonight looking to overcome a 1-0 deficit against Norwich City following an evenly contested first-leg at the City Ground.
Forest only trail because of a late goal from Reece Hall-Johnson, who appeared to handle the ball over the line.
But the likes of Jack Blake, Kieran Fenton, Kieran Wallace and Morgan Ferrier have suggested they could be stars of the future, amid Forest's impressive run in the competition – where they also reached the quarter-final last season.
Manager Davies is encouraged by Forest's progress in the competition – but believes it is unfair to pile to much expectation on their young shoulders just yet. He said: "They told me (during Davies' first spell in charge) that Jamaal Lascelles was the next best thing, for example.
"There have been four managers since then, who have not played him,.
"We have good young players, who might not be ready yet.
We need to make sure that the likes of Jamaal and the other young players are ready; that it is the right time for them to come into a confident club.
"We will play them when they are ready, but this is a tough league and it is not easy to throw young players in.
"We have good people here. We have Ian McParland in charge of the under-21s now, which is a fantastic appointment and, of course, Gary Brazil in the academy."
Davies says the club will look to make the academy – and the rest of the club's set up behind the scenes – as strong as possible, over the coming months.
"We have a lot of work to do, but it is a challenge we are looking forward to," he said.
"We have to look at the situation, with regards to the whole club, from bottom to top. We are trying to change one or two things around in the academy. We will continue to do that.
"We will try to move the club forward on every level, but that will take time. We know that."
In the meantime, Brazil has told his players can still reach the final of the competition tonight.
"I told the boys that if somebody had said to them in June that they would be going into the second-leg of the FA Youth Cup semi-final a goal down, with 90 minutes to turn it around, they'd have snapped their hand off," he said.
"Admittedly, our position isn't as healthy as we'd have liked but the pressure is all on Norwich now.
" There'll be a few there at Carrow Road and it's something that these boys should really look forward to and attack in a positive way.
"We need to make sure we get to the final – we want it really badly. We've worked hard for it all season and we won't let go of it lightly."
