YOUTH development is how Yate Town will achieve their future glories, believes the club’s director of football Nigel Hawkins.
And Hawkins says he is not afraid to let developing players go from the club as long as they have a loyalty towards Yate within them so they will return if necessary.
The extensive work towards those successes is already underway as, from the mini sections to the senior youth sides, bring forward the players to drive the club upwards.
Patience and team unification is the key and Yate Town have reaped the rewards this season with the Under-18 side winning their league and County Cup last week and, as the Gazette went to print last night, they were hoping to make it a treble with victory in the League Cup final against Weston-super-Mare.
In all, the Under-18s have lost just twice and drawn once in all their 27 matches across all competitions since September – and those three lapses were way back at the start of the season.  In fact, the side have been in such incredible form that they have won every match since Wednesday October 15!
Hawkins has worked with manager Roy Ball with the Under-18 squad for the past two years and thinks they can now step up towards the first team at senior level.
The director of football at Lodge Road said: “We have had a great season with the Under-18s. They have done exceptionally well this year. They have won the County Cup and won the league. They are playing the right way and I strongly believe that.
 “It is great for the future of the club and I have spoken to Craig (Laird – senior manager) already about them. He wants to include them in first-team training.
“I think if they are old enough and good enough, then the club should give them a chance – and I think that is another one of my roles.“I have relationships with these players because I have known them for a long time. I see myself in a mentoring role. We have had ups and downs with them and if it means they need to leave Yate to come back, I am all for that.
“I am not protective about the players because, if you have got that relationship, they will come back eventually. There is no point in keeping them under the mushroom. They need to go and experience other clubs and levels of football to find out where they are at.
"But if you manage that, they will come back as Yate players.”
Tyrone Mings is a prime example of that philosophy. He is being targeted by many Premiership clubs for a possible summer switch from Ipswich Town, a position he would not have been in But he may not have been in such a position had Yate not given the then teenager a chance to join them when Southampton, where he was, slashed their youth development budget.
Hawkins said: “Tyrone was always quality and it is just about giving somebody a break because it is difficult at times. But if you get a reputation that you are coaching the right way and producing players, clubs will come looking at you and, like this year with the Under-18s, there have been a lot of scouts looking at them.”