I ask this question in all seriousness regarding Brophy and our January signings. Here's what Alex said about Brophy last December in an STV interview:-
Alex Neil: “I've had Eamonn since U17s so it’s probably the best part of three or four years now. We brought him in full-time and he’s really kicked on, he’s done great.
“He scores goals regularly for the 20s and to be honest it’s only a matter of time before he breaks in to the first team.
“I gave him his debut against Airdrie and he scored, then he came on against Stirling and scored as well.
“He’s doing fantastically well, he’s only young though, he’s only 18 and his chance will come.
“The 20s are top of the league at the moment and have had a fantastic season so far so it should only be a matter of time before some of them are breaking into the first team.”
So far this season he has made 14 appearances in the first team most of them briefly as a sub, has scored 1 senior team goal against Alloa and 20 goals for the under 20's. The top scorer in the Under 20 league is Aberdeen's Lawrence Strickland with 23. So far this season he has made 11 appearances for Aberdeen's first team. I don't know if that's as a sub and for how long but in terms of breaking into the first team they seem on a par. Is it a case therefore that our coaches know what they are doing and think this is the best way to develop him and that to throw him on for 90 minutes or substantially more than currently might actually hinder his development. As for the Janaury signings I suspect Hasselbank hasn't been fit but it's anybody's guess re the rest. McDonald has got his chance through injury otherwise I'm not sure he would be featuring.