Mikey Moore

[Bedfordspurs]

Reminds me a little of going to university at 18. You're thrown into a new pot at a young age and need to make friends quickly.

A bit harder for Mikey as there are such a small number of his age group than a uni setting. This might be the first time he has lived away from his parents.

I'm sure he'll be just fine.

It’s what makes them

 

[SubZero]

I can only think that this time last year, very similar things that I read in this thread were being written about Jamie Donley. Then Jamie exploded into life at Orient and seemed to become their talisman. This season he has been a bench player for Stoke and only started in the league cup. He made that step up at 20 years old and we'll find out whether he can make another incremental step up at Stoke again this season.

For Moore, he is only 18 and whatever standard SPL is he has to get his head down and earn his place.

Of course he has to do the best with what he's got. I haven't followed Donley much, but some players perform differently under different managers and different setups. Apart from the division difference, Orient is an up'n cummer in League 1, while Stoke is down from Premier League. While not very recently, I would guess there is still a pretty visible difference in culture, expectations and even how they look at a loanee from the Premier League in those clubs. Perhaps Stoke reckons he needs a bit more drilling, that he isn't quite a good enough fit for their system yet. At the other end, I'd like to think that pretty much any PL loanee worth his salt would be a starter for most League 1 clubs and below.

But this is just speculation on my behalf.