No axe to grind from where I'm sat, it seems a rather logical, if not a slightly cruder conclusion to which I have arrived at my self.
Last season there was clearly no desire to develop any of the development players, in fact I would wager most of the fanbase would not even be able to name all of those offered those contracts. The closest any got to the first team squad was one making the bench, at the height of a player shortage. We know they didn't train with the first team. We know they didn't even have squad numbers(once again the case this season.) This now historical fact they were used last season, as cheap labour, coaching in the community. Not one on a contract specifically, introduced, with the sole intention of bridging the gap between first team and youth team, out of five would go on to even achieve a single substitute appearance.
Where is the evidence this season will be any better? The warning signs were there early on last season, so early Jake Miller (who was the only one contractually able to do so, jacked it in after what,? Two or three months? I forget!) we still don't see them with squad numbers, they weren't visible in pre season training photos (suggests they aren't training with the first team to me) Just how are they going to be able to show they have developed from where they were last season, by only training with the U18s (which they did last season) and only playing in the SWPL( which they did all of last season) how do you push on from that?