Nairn County manager Ronnie Sharp may sacrifice youth development for Highland League survival
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Manager Ronnie Sharp says Nairn County may have to move away from focusing on youth development to ensure Highland League survival.
The Wee County have long been keen to give youngsters a chance in the first team and promote from within, with several players coming through the ranks at Station Park over recent years.
Jordan MacRae and Max Ewan are just two examples of players who have made their mark in Nairn and then gone on to sign for Brora Rangers, but Sharp worries that the club's current model is not sustainable.
Nairn currently sit second bottom of the Highland League, without a win to their name, and after Fort William's relegation to the Highland League last season Sharp knows the most important thing is to get results now rather than building for the future.
"It's getting harder and harder to blood young players we're finding – you've really got to make a choice of whether you go down that route or you look for more hardened, professional boys that have played at a slightly higher level, or even just in the Highland League for a long time," Sharp said.
"We're getting to the stage it has to be a choice one way or the other the way it's going.
"We're near the bottom, so youngsters are going to have to be really good for me to blood them. You need to win in the Highland League now with relegation coming in, so we might have to sacrifice that.
"That's something we need to look at – you don't get many games in the league now that you can try and bring some youngsters through in.
"The other side is that we've done it for years, but a lot of players have moved on to top teams in the Highland League.
"You start wondering if it's worth our efforts to keep doing that for them to move on, because we've lost an awful lot of players to the top four or five sides in the Highland League."
If Nairn do decide to prioritise more immediate success over player development, it will require a change of approach from what Sharp has been used to on the training pitch over recent seasons.
"It's very difficult when you're used to coaching to develop players," he admitted.
"That's why we started our reserve team in the North Caley League, but at the moment you're saying to yourself 'how is this going to work financially?' That could be the key issue to keep it going or not.
"You might have to spend your money elsewhere. That's what we have to look at over the next few years.
"At the moment, we know we're going to have to step our game up, but our problem is blooding the younger ones – because they do need time to get used to this league, but we haven't got the time.
"When you come in now, you look at all the teams and probably from about 10th down there are only three wins between everyone.
"There's not a lot in it, if you win a couple of games it can propel you up the league and give you confidence, but we have to prioritise winning games now. We might have to be a bit more ruthless with the players."
