FRUSTRATED Ronnie Moore feels clubs are in danger of stopping the production of young talent – by protecting their prospects too much.

The Hartlepool United boss has tried, tried and tried again to boost his squad in recent weeks, only to be constantly knocked back.

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While plenty of players are reluctant to move to a team at the bottom of the Football League – and Moore revealed some clubs are stopping those who are willing to move out and gain experience.

He said: "I have been trying to get a striker but it is so hard to get them - even kids!

"Clubs have stopped kids from coming to us, purely because of where we are in the league. That annoys me a little.

"We have sent one of ours out to Spennymoor to get games, Lewis Hawkins, it is not about going to a team that is struggling.

"It is about going out to learn about the game and how it should be played.

"There is so much interest now in wanting to win the Under-21 league, which is an absolute joke - I could play at that level, I'm telling you.

"If you go and watch those games it is square, square, pass pass and they spend millions on it but the players don't learn anything.’’

Moore signed Arron Tshibola on loan from Reading and the midfielder has been a regular, impressing as he gains a first taste of the Football League.

And, while Pools have made mistakes in recent seasons with some of their youthful signings from Premier League and Championship clubs Moore used him as an example of what can be achieved.

"Look at Tish, he has come all the way from Reading up here and he is a man,’’ he said of the Newham-born 20-year-old.

"He is only young but he is strong and physically fit.

"He could have gone to Burton or a few others after his first month here but he wanted to stay and play some games. If I was a manager of one of those Premier League teams I'd be saying to the lad ‘get yourself out there, you’re going, I'm not asking you I'm telling you - you need to go and learn the game and experience the real world'.

Moore, 62, and closing in on 1,000 games as a manger, watched Tshibola for Reading’s Under-21 side, but is bemused by the way in which players are protected by their parent clubs.

"You imagine the Manchester United, Liverpool, Everton kids coming up here - they are spoilt to death where they are,’’ he said.

"They come in on a morning get their breakfast, have their dinner, train, they could actually live there if they wanted - that is how spoilt they get.

“They want to come here when it is freezing cold and experience that - waking them up.

"Not only that but you don't get kicked in the U-21s, here if you stop on the ball you have a midfielder straight through you.

"The only way for the youngsters to learn is to get them out on loan."