Zach Mitchell - Sept 2025 on a season long loan to Hibernian (p22)

Stu_of_Kunming said:

Crispywood said:

One of the very few players development we have got horribly wrong. 

Or he’s just not very good. 

Addick Addict said:

A thought has just occurred to me. Could it be that the U21 game that he played for Hibs doesn't count as one of the two clubs he's permitted to play for? If that's the case then might a "gentleman's agreement" have been struck between us and them whereby he doesn't play for them before January so we can send him elsewhere?  

Crusty54 said:

Stu_of_Kunming said:

Crispywood said:

One of the very few players development we have got horribly wrong. 

Or he’s just not very good. 

Have you ever seen him play?

He is a very good player who has been let down by the club.

Fortune 82nd Minute said:

Crusty54 said:

Stu_of_Kunming said:

Crispywood said:

One of the very few players development we have got horribly wrong. 

Or he’s just not very good. 

Have you ever seen him play?

He is a very good player who has been let down by the club.

I hope you're right.

But I still remember his performance at Cambridge earlier in the season in the Caraboa cup.

It was dire .

Crispywood said:

Stu_of_Kunming said:

Crispywood said:

One of the very few players development we have got horribly wrong. 

Or he’s just not very good. 

Yh because we’ve handled his development all wrong I remember watching his debut at 17 at home to Cheltenham when he was the 2nd best player on the pitch for us that day, in 3 years he hasn’t gotten any better because we’ve only given a bunch of meaningless cup games and some questionable loans, bare in mind this is a time we were watching Inniss Lavelle and Hector at the back 

thenewbie said:

Fortune 82nd Minute said:

Crusty54 said:

Stu_of_Kunming said:

Crispywood said:

One of the very few players development we have got horribly wrong. 

Or he’s just not very good. 

Have you ever seen him play?

He is a very good player who has been let down by the club.

I hope you're right.

But I still remember his performance at Cambridge earlier in the season in the Caraboa cup.

It was dire .

Yeah but that was one bad performance (in a whole team of bad performances) versus pretty much every other side he's played in.

He's probably got a way to go before he actually gets to the level some suggest he can reach but I think he's still going to be some player... if we can get him game time.

Fanny Fanackapan said:

Radostanradical said:

thenewbie said:

Fortune 82nd Minute said:

Crusty54 said:

Stu_of_Kunming said:

Crispywood said:

One of the very few players development we have got horribly wrong. 

Or he’s just not very good. 

Have you ever seen him play?

He is a very good player who has been let down by the club.

I hope you're right.

But I still remember his performance at Cambridge earlier in the season in the Caraboa cup.

It was dire .

Yeah but that was one bad performance (in a whole team of bad performances) versus pretty much every other side he's played in.

He's probably got a way to go before he actually gets to the level some suggest he can reach but I think he's still going to be some player... if we can get him game time.

This is a fair and accurate view, imo just adding its up to him to prove he deserves game time.

It's also been posted that Zach has been injured during the first part of this season. 

It would be interesting to hear the situation from Zach himself as I'm pretty sure we're only half of the story thus far.

He is a skilfull young man who whilst his time at Charlton has been 100% dedicated to fighting his way into the 1st team squad.  He's Charlton through & through.

He had a rough time at Colchester when their  manager changed but as others have correctly stated, he soon became a fans' favourite at St Johnstone ...a shame he's not been able to continue the progress he made there with regular 1st team football.

I sincerely hope that he'll get his opportunity back with us in January. As AA stated, he's been a heck of a way from home for long enough.

Addick Addict said:

Radostanradical said:

Fanny Fanackapan said:

Radostanradical said:

thenewbie said:

Fortune 82nd Minute said:

Crusty54 said:

Stu_of_Kunming said:

Crispywood said:

One of the very few players development we have got horribly wrong. 

Or he’s just not very good. 

Have you ever seen him play?

He is a very good player who has been let down by the club.

I hope you're right.

But I still remember his performance at Cambridge earlier in the season in the Caraboa cup.

It was dire .

Yeah but that was one bad performance (in a whole team of bad performances) versus pretty much every other side he's played in.

He's probably got a way to go before he actually gets to the level some suggest he can reach but I think he's still going to be some player... if we can get him game time.

This is a fair and accurate view, imo just adding its up to him to prove he deserves game time.

It's also been posted that Zach has been injured during the first part of this season. 

It would be interesting to hear the situation from Zach himself as I'm pretty sure we're only half of the story thus far.

He is a skilfull young man who whilst his time at Charlton has been 100% dedicated to fighting his way into the 1st team squad.  He's Charlton through & through.

He had a rough time at Colchester when their  manager changed but as others have correctly stated, he soon became a fans' favourite at St Johnstone ...a shame he's not been able to continue the progress he made there with regular 1st team football.

I sincerely hope that he'll get his opportunity back with us in January. As AA stated, he's been a heck of a way from home for long enough.

Whilst I agree with the sentiment a lot of what makes players is dealing with adversity thats what footballers have to deal with, how many African players for example have to come to Europe to "Make It".

Whilst i appreciate the sentiment he is Charlton through and through, it doesnt explain the simple fact that football is a meritocricy and if one is good enough they will make it. I sincerley doubt he is training like prime John Terry and Nathan Jones is going yeah but lets stick with Macca.

Also as for hearing from Zach, one is sure it would be interesting but it would "interesting" to hear from Lyle Taylor, Johnny Williams, Danny Murphy, Francis Jeffers et al it doesnt mean they are right.

So, on the basis that football is a straightforward meritocracy, as you suggest, I assume you are comfortable when a homegrown talent such as Karlan Grant elects not to sign a new contract in order to move to a club at a higher level? Or when a loanee such as Conor Gallagher is recalled in January by a a PL club from us as an eventually relegated Championship club to one that ultimately makes the play offs. Those players were, after all, good enough to do that. In the same way as no one on earth at CAFC has ever called Defoe something like "Judas" for doing what he did because there was a recognition that West Ham were in a better place at the time.   

We have a duty of care as we would if we signed an African player. This happened not once (when the manager changed at Colchester and he brought a host of his former players into the club in January leaving Mitchell stranded) but now at Hibs to when they were desperate to sign him. Because of injury and the fact that they are third in the SPL, we should be concerned about his progress and mental well being given he is hundreds of miles away from home and not doing what he was sent on loan to do. 

I don't think football should ever be that clinical or cynical which is why I raised the hopeful theory that perhaps the reason why Mitchell wasn't in the matchday squad yesterday and hasn't been given a few minutes here and there by Hibs is because we have raised our concerns about his lack of game time and would rather see him going somewhere he is almost guaranteed to play even if that means dropping down to League 2. We've seen what that's done for Kanu and Mbick and Mitchell simply cannot improve as a player sitting in the stand for two years. 

Addick Addict said:

Radostanradical said:

Addick Addict said:

Radostanradical said:

Fanny Fanackapan said:

Radostanradical said:

thenewbie said:

Fortune 82nd Minute said:

Crusty54 said:

Stu_of_Kunming said:

Crispywood said:

One of the very few players development we have got horribly wrong. 

Or he’s just not very good. 

Have you ever seen him play?

He is a very good player who has been let down by the club.

I hope you're right.

But I still remember his performance at Cambridge earlier in the season in the Caraboa cup.

It was dire .

Yeah but that was one bad performance (in a whole team of bad performances) versus pretty much every other side he's played in.

He's probably got a way to go before he actually gets to the level some suggest he can reach but I think he's still going to be some player... if we can get him game time.

This is a fair and accurate view, imo just adding its up to him to prove he deserves game time.

It's also been posted that Zach has been injured during the first part of this season. 

It would be interesting to hear the situation from Zach himself as I'm pretty sure we're only half of the story thus far.

He is a skilfull young man who whilst his time at Charlton has been 100% dedicated to fighting his way into the 1st team squad.  He's Charlton through & through.

He had a rough time at Colchester when their  manager changed but as others have correctly stated, he soon became a fans' favourite at St Johnstone ...a shame he's not been able to continue the progress he made there with regular 1st team football.

I sincerely hope that he'll get his opportunity back with us in January. As AA stated, he's been a heck of a way from home for long enough.

Whilst I agree with the sentiment a lot of what makes players is dealing with adversity thats what footballers have to deal with, how many African players for example have to come to Europe to "Make It".

Whilst i appreciate the sentiment he is Charlton through and through, it doesnt explain the simple fact that football is a meritocricy and if one is good enough they will make it. I sincerley doubt he is training like prime John Terry and Nathan Jones is going yeah but lets stick with Macca.

Also as for hearing from Zach, one is sure it would be interesting but it would "interesting" to hear from Lyle Taylor, Johnny Williams, Danny Murphy, Francis Jeffers et al it doesnt mean they are right.

So, on the basis that football is a straightforward meritocracy, as you suggest, I assume you are comfortable when a homegrown talent such as Karlan Grant elects not to sign a new contract in order to move to a club at a higher level? Or when a loanee such as Conor Gallagher is recalled in January by a a PL club from us as an eventually relegated Championship club to one that ultimately makes the play offs. Those players were, after all, good enough to do that. In the same way as no one on earth at CAFC has ever called Defoe something like "Judas" for doing what he did because there was a recognition that West Ham were in a better place at the time.   

We have a duty of care as we would if we signed an African player. This happened not once (when the manager changed at Colchester and he brought a host of his former players into the club in January leaving Mitchell stranded) but now at Hibs to when they were desperate to sign him. Because of injury and the fact that they are third in the SPL, we should be concerned about his progress and mental well being given he is hundreds of miles away from home and not doing what he was sent on loan to do. 

I don't think football should ever be that clinical or cynical which is why I raised the hopeful theory that perhaps the reason why Mitchell wasn't in the matchday squad yesterday and hasn't been given a few minutes here and there by Hibs is because we have raised our concerns about his lack of game time and would rather see him going somewhere he is almost guaranteed to play even if that means dropping down to League 2. We've seen what that's done for Kanu and Mbick and Mitchell simply cannot improve as a player sitting in the stand for two years. 

What on earth are you talking about ? One doesnt have to be happy for it to be still be a meritocracy. Do I like the idea of players like Karlan leaving and not signing a contract ? No of course not but the fact remains if he wasnt playing well enough, there wouldnt if been of been interest in him. Also if football wasnt a meritocracy theres a chance Karlan would never have played for us in the first place, we picked him as a player not because he was local but because he was good enough. A meritocracy dictates thats players will get opportunities not that every one has to be happy with decisions made, thats a real intellectually deficent comparison you have made.

Also do you genuinely believe that should we have kept Zach and he was the best CB in the country, lets say Man City come in and offered him 10x his salary he would say "nah its alright im Charlton through and through" of course not he would take the cash and I would be annoyed but ultimately understand why he made that decision.

Also yes of course we have a duty of care for our players bit 2 things can be true atbthe same time. He may be having a hard personal time in Scotland and we should support him, its also true that going on loan to scotland ilas a professional footballer is not a massive hardship in the grand scheme of things. Whats also true is that Jones took a look at him and said no for this season, now it appears the Hibs manager is doing the same. Back to the meritocracy argument one sincerely doubts he is tearing the world apart in training and the manager is just going nah not for me.

But writing off a player because he had a "dire" (your words not mine) game in the Carabao cup isn't "intellectually deficient" - in a game where we had a totally inexperienced side including Hobden who was making his debut and is currently playing in National South. NJ sent him out on loan because we wanted him to gain some experience which he wasn't going to be able to do with the number of defenders we have signed.

You do not know what is going on at Hibs either or the conversations that have had. Hibs wanted him because he had already proven himself at that level last season including playing 90 minutes in a 1-0 win against the champions, Celtic. This is what their manager said in September:

“Zach was someone who really impressed me when he had a brief spell at St Johnstone last season," said the Easter Road boss. "It was cut short right at the back end of the season with injury, but when you're looking at teams and preparing for oppositions, he kept catching my eye a little bit with what he was doing.

“He’s really comfortable on the ball; he’s young, hungry, always looking to try to improve all the time, and I've seen that in training as well at the moment – he’s come in straight away and he’s got a bit about him. 

“He wants to get involved, he's quite vocal, which is good for a young defender, you don't always get that with young players coming in, so he is vocal, he's good on the ball, he's aggressive, and he wants to learn and he wants to challenge himself at the next level, which is great.

“He’s also got stiff competition in the building because we've got the back three that was pretty settled at times last season, and added to that, we've got Grant Hanley, a full internationalist and the level he's been playing at.

Mitchell got injured shortly after and hasn't been able to win a place because of the "stiff competition" that has resulted in Hibs sitting in third. 

Let's leave it there for the sake of the forum and see whether he does get any game time or whether he doesn't because we've asked them to preserve his "playing for one team status" so we can recall him come January.  

Radostanradical said:

Addick Addict said:

Radostanradical said:

Addick Addict said:

Radostanradical said:

Fanny Fanackapan said:

Radostanradical said:

thenewbie said:

Fortune 82nd Minute said:

Crusty54 said:

Stu_of_Kunming said:

Crispywood said:

One of the very few players development we have got horribly wrong. 

Or he’s just not very good. 

Have you ever seen him play?

He is a very good player who has been let down by the club.

I hope you're right.

But I still remember his performance at Cambridge earlier in the season in the Caraboa cup.

It was dire .

Yeah but that was one bad performance (in a whole team of bad performances) versus pretty much every other side he's played in.

He's probably got a way to go before he actually gets to the level some suggest he can reach but I think he's still going to be some player... if we can get him game time.

This is a fair and accurate view, imo just adding its up to him to prove he deserves game time.

It's also been posted that Zach has been injured during the first part of this season. 

It would be interesting to hear the situation from Zach himself as I'm pretty sure we're only half of the story thus far.

He is a skilfull young man who whilst his time at Charlton has been 100% dedicated to fighting his way into the 1st team squad.  He's Charlton through & through.

He had a rough time at Colchester when their  manager changed but as others have correctly stated, he soon became a fans' favourite at St Johnstone ...a shame he's not been able to continue the progress he made there with regular 1st team football.

I sincerely hope that he'll get his opportunity back with us in January. As AA stated, he's been a heck of a way from home for long enough.

Whilst I agree with the sentiment a lot of what makes players is dealing with adversity thats what footballers have to deal with, how many African players for example have to come to Europe to "Make It".

Whilst i appreciate the sentiment he is Charlton through and through, it doesnt explain the simple fact that football is a meritocricy and if one is good enough they will make it. I sincerley doubt he is training like prime John Terry and Nathan Jones is going yeah but lets stick with Macca.

Also as for hearing from Zach, one is sure it would be interesting but it would "interesting" to hear from Lyle Taylor, Johnny Williams, Danny Murphy, Francis Jeffers et al it doesnt mean they are right.

So, on the basis that football is a straightforward meritocracy, as you suggest, I assume you are comfortable when a homegrown talent such as Karlan Grant elects not to sign a new contract in order to move to a club at a higher level? Or when a loanee such as Conor Gallagher is recalled in January by a a PL club from us as an eventually relegated Championship club to one that ultimately makes the play offs. Those players were, after all, good enough to do that. In the same way as no one on earth at CAFC has ever called Defoe something like "Judas" for doing what he did because there was a recognition that West Ham were in a better place at the time.   

We have a duty of care as we would if we signed an African player. This happened not once (when the manager changed at Colchester and he brought a host of his former players into the club in January leaving Mitchell stranded) but now at Hibs to when they were desperate to sign him. Because of injury and the fact that they are third in the SPL, we should be concerned about his progress and mental well being given he is hundreds of miles away from home and not doing what he was sent on loan to do. 

I don't think football should ever be that clinical or cynical which is why I raised the hopeful theory that perhaps the reason why Mitchell wasn't in the matchday squad yesterday and hasn't been given a few minutes here and there by Hibs is because we have raised our concerns about his lack of game time and would rather see him going somewhere he is almost guaranteed to play even if that means dropping down to League 2. We've seen what that's done for Kanu and Mbick and Mitchell simply cannot improve as a player sitting in the stand for two years. 

What on earth are you talking about ? One doesnt have to be happy for it to be still be a meritocracy. Do I like the idea of players like Karlan leaving and not signing a contract ? No of course not but the fact remains if he wasnt playing well enough, there wouldnt if been of been interest in him. Also if football wasnt a meritocracy theres a chance Karlan would never have played for us in the first place, we picked him as a player not because he was local but because he was good enough. A meritocracy dictates thats players will get opportunities not that every one has to be happy with decisions made, thats a real intellectually deficent comparison you have made.

Also do you genuinely believe that should we have kept Zach and he was the best CB in the country, lets say Man City come in and offered him 10x his salary he would say "nah its alright im Charlton through and through" of course not he would take the cash and I would be annoyed but ultimately understand why he made that decision.

Also yes of course we have a duty of care for our players bit 2 things can be true atbthe same time. He may be having a hard personal time in Scotland and we should support him, its also true that going on loan to scotland ilas a professional footballer is not a massive hardship in the grand scheme of things. Whats also true is that Jones took a look at him and said no for this season, now it appears the Hibs manager is doing the same. Back to the meritocracy argument one sincerely doubts he is tearing the world apart in training and the manager is just going nah not for me.

But writing off a player because he had a "dire" (your words not mine) game in the Carabao cup isn't "intellectually deficient" - in a game where we had a totally inexperienced side including Hobden who was making his debut and is currently playing in National South. NJ sent him out on loan because we wanted him to gain some experience which he wasn't going to be able to do with the number of defenders we have signed.

You do not know what is going on at Hibs either or the conversations that have had. Hibs wanted him because he had already proven himself at that level last season including playing 90 minutes in a 1-0 win against the champions, Celtic. This is what their manager said in September:

“Zach was someone who really impressed me when he had a brief spell at St Johnstone last season," said the Easter Road boss. "It was cut short right at the back end of the season with injury, but when you're looking at teams and preparing for oppositions, he kept catching my eye a little bit with what he was doing.

“He’s really comfortable on the ball; he’s young, hungry, always looking to try to improve all the time, and I've seen that in training as well at the moment – he’s come in straight away and he’s got a bit about him. 

“He wants to get involved, he's quite vocal, which is good for a young defender, you don't always get that with young players coming in, so he is vocal, he's good on the ball, he's aggressive, and he wants to learn and he wants to challenge himself at the next level, which is great.

“He’s also got stiff competition in the building because we've got the back three that was pretty settled at times last season, and added to that, we've got Grant Hanley, a full internationalist and the level he's been playing at.

Mitchell got injured shortly after and hasn't been able to win a place because of the "stiff competition" that has resulted in Hibs sitting in third. 

Let's leave it there for the sake of the forum and see whether he does get any game time or whether he doesn't because we've asked them to preserve his "playing for one team status" so we can recall him come January.  

I would love to leave it there but you seem to have doubled down with another terrible take, I have never written him off. What I have said he hasnt played well enough when given the chance to warrant being in the first team and that I doubt he has been training incredibly well but still not getting selected. None of that means he will never be good enough, so no myncomment wasnt "intellectually deficient" as I nevee actually wrote him off. 

You're right I dont know whats happened at Hibs and neither do you, what I (and most people who have followed football for any period time) do know is that typically speaking the best players in a squad actually play in the starting 11. Even those comments by Hib manager is basically saying yeah he is talented but I prefer the players I have in the defence currently. So im not sure what the point of what you were posting has to do with the conversation.

Look I know he is a local boy and there are probably people on here who have some kind of connection to him whether sentimentally or in real life but that doesnt mean we can allow our thinking to defy logic. As said im not writing him off, im merely stating that if he isnt playing at the current time more often than not there is a reason for that and its not some grand conspiracy against the boy, he just needs to keep going.