There is no real progression possible for the young players as they only have these friendlies to play and under 18s etc. as football is set up where it is now almost impossible to manage without loan players.
Back in the day we had devoted players, eg. Ian Wood, who remained with their team. I can't call the current team "our team" as half of them are affiliated to other clubs. In the Frizzell era we had a good smallish squad of players so there was no need for squad rotation to keep everybody happy. When they got their chance through injury or whatever, they had to take it by proving they were good enough.
We also had reserve teams which are sadly missed. Some of those games attracted many thousands of supporters, eager to take a look at opposing players and their own playing their way back to fitness after injury. Bring back the reserve sides I say. Take a look at the Central League teams attached and imagine how good it would be to see some of those reserve sides at Boundary Park again. Anybody remember any outstanding reserve games or any famous names from them. Surely BE must have some experiences of them. Don't know which year it was from BTW.