It was a pleasure for us to be able to grab a few minutes with Hebburn Town boss Kevin Bolam this morning as he provided more insight to what we can expect to get from new signing Cedwyn Scott.
The Hornets gaffer admitted that it was a bittersweet moment to see his free-scoring forward walk out of the door, but that there was also a sense of pride in having helped the 22-year-old to rekindle his love of the game.
“Mixed feelings is definitely the best way of describing what it’s like to let him go,” he said. “But we have a philosophy at this club, particularly with our young lads, that we will never stop them from progressing up the pyramid.
“Cedwyn has a fantastic opportunity now with a good League Two club and we all really hope he kicks on, which I’m sure he will. Definitely from a football point of view it’s sad to see him leave because he’s not just a good talent, he’s a really nice kid.
“We’ve enjoyed working with him but I’m sure he’ll go on to do very well with Carlisle.”
“The way I view things in my role with Hebburn is that I’ve always got to be realistic,” he added. “We want to be successful and we want to climb up the pyramid ourselves, and we’ll always work hard to do that.
“We always put together a team that will compete but, when you find a young talent like Cedywn, you have to accept that they’ll receive interest. It then becomes a case of helping the player to do what’s right for them, and if that means sending them up the leagues then that’s what you have to do.
“With any player who gets a chance to move I make sure the relationship stays as a strong one because you never know what’s round the corner.”
“When I think back with Cedwyn, I was delighted when he signed and then he immediately went on this unbelievable run of scoring,” he commented. “The goals just kept coming and you do start to expect the interest, because when a player is hitting the back of the net with the regularity he was you know it’s only a matter of time.
“I actually used to work in the recruitment department with Newcastle United until my family business took off, and unfortunately I had to leave to focus on that, but I still do a bit of academy scouting.
“To be honest, it got to the stage with Cedwyn where it couldn’t be ignored any more. Even though he was with me and doing so well at Hebburn, I wouldn’t have been doing my job if I didn’t alert Newcastle to what he was up to.
“The feedback we got from them was that he was very close, and maybe if he’d been a year or so younger they might have taken a punt. From Newcastle he was invited up by Chris [Beech] and I’m genuinely delighted that he’s now got his break.”
As for what we can expect from our new forward, he said: “Cedwyn, in my opinion, is the complete package. He’s a good player on the pitch, you’ll see that now at Carlisle, but he’s also extremely likeable off it.
“His family are brilliant, he has a very humble approach to things because of the way he’s been brought up, but he has the drive to succeed and learn that you need if you’re going to make it in this game.
“He’ll work his socks off because I know he’ll want this to become a longer-term opportunity. I know he’s stepped back up a number of levels, but he’s the kind of lad who will take that in his stride.
“When he first came to us he was quiet, he watched what was going on and kept himself to himself. But as the weeks and months went on you could see him blossom and he became hugely popular in the changing room.
“All of that breeds confidence and from what he’s told me he’s found another excellent dressing room in Carlisle. He loves the responsibility of playing his part in all of that and some of the goals I’ve seen him score have been unbelievable.
“Left foot, right foot, close in, snapshots, headers, you name it, he finishes them all. His movement off the ball is fantastic for a lad of his age and it’s something I see as his best asset. With a natural ability to find the right positions and be in the right place the goals he scores come from that.”
And it soon became clear that he isn’t a player that needs to be pigeon-holed.
“Because of the fact he is such an intelligent player it meant we could use him in different roles at different times,” he explained. “We’ve played him as a 9 and a 10, and also on the left of a front three as well.
“He’s scored and created from all of those positions and he showed us that he was comfortable with whatever we asked him to do. If I was asked to hang my hat on him, I’d say the number 9 role is where you’d get the best out of him, but that’s not to say he isn’t adaptable.
“One of the things that stands out is his hunger, whatever you ask him to do. He’s had his knockbacks at places like Dundee and Huddersfield, and with some trials he’s had here and there, and funnily enough we thought we were going to lose him to a club in the second division in Scotland earlier this season.
“That fell through and, to be fair, I told him at the time that I thought he was better than that anyway. Hopefully this opportunity with Carlisle will prove that.
“Lads the likes of Cedwyn are out there and they just need people to help them to believe in themselves. That’s what we try to do here at Hebburn – we have a very good youth system at the club, and from the owners all the way down to the juniors we do things properly.
“It’s well-structured and when we see a player go like this the next job for us is to find another one to take his place.
“We’re over the moon that people can see that we’ve helped a young man to push on, but it isn’t a case of goodbye, off you go, as far as we’re concerned.
“We’ll be monitoring the results and watching how he gets on and I’m hoping he does his bit in helping you get promoted into League One.”