Hull City U21

Jarrod Bowen came through the Kingston upon Hull academy and left for West Ham United, then an England shirt — one name from a production line that has run under the Tigers' amber and black for longer than most of the players who wear it now have been alive.

The under-21s play in the Professional Development League, running since 2012, and in the Premier League Cup, where academy sides from across the country test themselves before anyone is trusted with a first-team shirt. Keane Lewis-Potter and Josh Tymon both worked through that level before making the step up at the MKM Stadium; neither needed a move elsewhere to be noticed.

Others did leave, and further than Bowen. Tom Cairney went on to captain Fulham and win England caps; Liam Cooper captains Leeds United. What connects them is not a shared debut season but a shared starting point in East Yorkshire, in the derby fixtures against Grimsby Town and Scunthorpe United that shape a young player's first sense of what the club means locally before he ever plays in front of a full house.

Steve McClaren is the furthest anyone from that pathway has travelled — from Hull's ranks to managing England itself, a reminder that the club's development side has produced more than footballers.