Kevin McDonald gets loan switch to further his development

MIDFIELDER Kevin McDonald was the first of three young Clarets to seal loan moves yesterday.

The 21-year-old joined Championship rivals Scunthorpe United for a month ahead of their game at home to Doncaster Rovers tomorrow.

Meanwhile, striker Wes Fletcher and centre-back Kevin Long are expected to tie up temporary switches to League 2 sides Stockport and neighbours Accrington Stanley.

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McDonald moves to Brian Laws’ former club to get regular football, having found his way to the first team – and even the 18-man matchday squad – barred for the majority of the season so far.

And Fletcher and Long are set to further their footballing education with Football League experience.

Laws said: “Three players are going to go out on loan, which will be great.

Kevin McDonald we’ve now sanctioned to go to Scunthorpe United for a month.

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“One it helps my former club, but it also helps Kevin to stay in the Championship and play some games.

“He’s found himself out of the starting XI and off the bench.

“He’s been a bit low, which you can understand and expect, so this will give him a lift and get him some games under his belt.

“Hopefully it will rejuvenate him and he’ll get a better understanding of what we want from him as well when he comes back.

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“We all know that if players aren’t playing they are going to dip in form and confidence, so we can build that back up again and get Kevin back to what we know he is capable of, then we’ve got a good player on our hands.

“Wes Fletcher we’ve sanctioned to go to Stockport to get some league games under his belt.

He’s been fantastic for us this year, and he’s getting stronger and we feel this would be a major step in the right direction for his development.

“And we can keep an eye on him because he’s close by, which is the same with Kevin Long, who’s going to Accrington for a month and immediately going into the team so we can look at his development.

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“I know John Coleman will give him all the coaching necessary that will help him become a better player.

“And we can help our neighbours as well because it’s important we can have that relationship with the likes of Accrington in particular.

“The reserves have been very good this year and we said we needed to help one or two players to get some games.

We had a lot of scouts and managers here to watch the game, so we knew this would be an opportunity.

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“Thankfully everything’s fallen into place for those players and they’re chomping at the bit to play at the weekend.”

Laws had stated the moves had to be right for all parties, with the style of play particularly important, and he feels that all three clubs fit the criteria.

He said: “The important thing is they’re playing good football and the league experience is great for the younger ones.

“The manner in which the teams are playing is important too.

“We’re not just going to send them to anyone.

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“We have to look at it and see how they play for their development.

“Scunthorpe play good football and that will suit Kevin down to the ground.”

And that could be that for the time being in terms of players moving out.

Laws added: “I could have sent another couple out, but we turned those down because we didn’t feel they were right for those particular players at this moment in time.

“We’ll wait and see but for now three’s enough.

“We’ll look at it again in the coming weeks.”

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Meanwhile, Laws returns to Sheffield tomorrow to take on old foes United, having managed Wednesday to their first Steel City derby double in 95 years two seasons ago – the same time as Burnley recorded a hat-trick of wins over the Blades on the way to promotion.

And he is looking forward to reigniting his rivalry:

He said: “I think they’ll be sick of the sight of Burnley.

“Obviously they’ll be smarting from the play-off final itself, because it was Sheffield United they beat to get to the Premier League.

“That will certainly be fresh in their minds and they’ll want revenge for that, and they’ll want revenge on me for what happened in the Steel City derby.

“I’m taking my tin hat with me.

“I’m expecting dog’s abuse, and I’d be very disappointed if I didn’t get it in the first 10 seconds!”