Bristol City appear unlikely to recall Ryley Towler from his loan spell at AFC Wimbledon with technical director Brian Tinnion admitting it could prove counter-productive to his development unless he’s going to command a first-team place under Nigel Pearson.
Towler has enjoyed an outstanding spell at Plough Lane, making 19 appearances in League Two and cup competitions and fully justifying City’s decision to loan him out.
Such has been the 20-year-old’s performance levels, and Pearson’s need for another centre-back in January, it’s given rise to the theory that the Bristolian could provide a cost-free transfer solution to bolster squad options.
However, Tinnion and Pearson are conscious that he might not be quite ready to bridge the gap between League Two and the Championship and it is likely to prove more beneficial in the long-term for him to remain on loan for the remainder of the 2022/23 campaign, where he should play 40+ games for the first time in his career.
There’s also the consideration that his return to the High Performance Centre could block the progress of the next wave of Robins centre-backs - and there are a healthy number in the Under-18 and Under-21 set-up.
“If Ryley comes back you have to be saying, really, it’s going to be him playing for the team because he’s developing so well in playing every week,” Tinnion told Bristol Live. “To bring him back and play him in our Under-21s will be totally counter-productive to his development and will stop some of our young ones playing in the 21s.
“We want Jamie Knight-Lebel, Raphael Araoye, Josh Campbell-Slowey, Zac Bell, at 17/18, playing in our 21s, not a 21-year-old who’s played 25/30 games in the league. We want to continue his development.”
Given City’s January recall, there is the provision for Towler’s loan to be redirected elsewhere with a number of League One clubs monitoring his progress but that decision would be based purely on whether he’ll play or not. And AFC Wimbledon have evidently proved he’s a key player moving forward under Johnnie Jackson.
City’s loan policy under Pearson and Tinnion has become much more targeted at the individual and what is right for them and their development. In Towler’s case, he had effectively outgrown the Under-21s but clearly wasn’t quite ready to impact the senior side in the Championship. Unlike, as Tinnion notes, Tommy Conway.
“They’re the conversations we have in pre-season when they come back; they have a period in time when they train with the first-team, then if it’s agreed they’re not going to impact the first-team then, what’s the best for them?” Tinnion added.
“It was agreed for Ryley that going out on loan to get the experience was the right thing; Owura Edwards, going up to the Scottish Premier League is the right thing, so let’s do that. It’s always on an individual basis and it’s constant talking throughout the pre-season period.
“Tommy Conway is a great example. Is Tommy going to affect our first-team? We had conversation after conversation and Nige said, I think he’s going to impact our team. Great, so he stays in, as part of the team.”
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