As Alan Hansen once said, you can’t win anything with kids, but how wrong was he and can some of Kent’s sports teams?

That’s the question I have been asked countless times over the past weeks and months.

It was 20 years ago that Match of the Day pundit Alan Hansen criticised then-Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson with a comment that went down in football folklore.

It was 19th August 1995 and Hansen was speaking after Ferguson’s young side lost 3-1 to Aston Villa on the opening day of the 1995-96 season.

United went on to win the Premier League and FA Cup that season with a team whose average age was 26 years and 137 days, with a side that included up and coming stars like David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville. They turned out ok in the end….

So how wrong was the former Liverpool defender?

On the face of it, Manchester United shouldn’t have won the league that season, given that the consensus of opinion was that you needed to be experienced to win things and possibly little has changed in the past few decades.

Time after time, so called pundits back the favourites given that they have been there, done it and got the t-shirt.

But what about the young guns coming through with something to prove?

This has been opitimised this season by a very youthful Gillingham side in League One. The past month or so has seen Justin Edinburgh’s side climb to the summit of League One with a team that averages little over 22 in some games.

The likes of Jake Hessenthaler (21), Bradley Dack (21), Luke Norris (22), John Egan (22), Jordan Houghton (19), Emmanuel Osadebe (18) and Adedeji Oshilaja (22) have shown they are more than capable of competing with (and beating) what’s regarded as some of the bigger names in the league.

Sprinkled with some experienced players like Stuart Nelson, Cody McDonald and Josh Wright, Gillingham have shown that age doesn’t really matter and if anything, can be an advantage.

Gillingham teams in the past went with experience over youth with talented youngsters having to rot in the reserves whilst the likes of Tommy Johnson and Rod Wallace picked up one last payday.

That neither helped the club win things, progress or balance the books.

The future of clubs like Gillingham has to be one of bringing players through their own academy system and undoubtedly selling off the odd one along the way and build slowly but surely. In Justin Edinburgh they have a manager that firmly believes in that and he showed at Newport County what can be achieved with adopting this policy.

So this takes me on to another sport – cricket and more specifically Kent Cricket.

Again, they are another local club that look to bring talent from within their own system through to the first eleven. With no overseas signing this season, the majority of the side have come through the Kent ranks with Matt Coles and Joe Denly having rejoined the club over the winter and it’s paid dividends.

Coles (25) has had the season of his life and is closing in on 100 wickets for the club this season across the three formats. With just over a season away with Hampshire, Kent fans will have been delighted with his zest for life.

When you look at the side that Kent could take out onto the field, taking veterans Rob Key and Darren Stevens out of the equation in the long term, the future really does look bright with Daniel Bell-Drummond (22), Sam Northeast (25), Sam Billings (24), Fabian Cowdrey (22), Adam Riley (23) and Matt Hunn (21) all facing long futures in the game.

This season has been a pivotal one for Kent as they made it through to two Quarter Finals and much is expected of this side over the coming campaigns now they have all been in and around the side for a number of years.

With this in mind, it leads me on nicely to a side very much in transition – the Invicta Dynamos.

This summer seems to have been a very long one for Kent’s ice hockey fans following a decent season in 2014/15 with Kevin Parrish’s outfit having claimed their first silverware in five years as they won the NIHL Southern Cup.

An exodus of senior players soon followed with Callum Fowler making the step up, both Anthony Leone and Juraj Huska joining Chelmsford Chieftains as it was closer to home and Michal Oravec joining London Raiders.

Is that such a bad thing though? Many fans will undoubtedly be concerned that most of the club’s goals from last season have gone, but maybe, just maybe, it might be a blessing in disguise.

I’m not saying the club will go on and win the league at a canter, run through teams as though they aren’t there, or even win any silverware this season, but they just might surprise a few people.

Kevin Parrish has used his budget very wisely and looked to the future, drastically reducing the average age of his roster, going for youth over experience.

With two imports signed up and the Andy Smith yet to confirm one way or another whether he will play on or retire, there will still be some experience at the club with some of last season’s prospects another year older and wiser.

The likes of Elliott Dewey, Harrison Lillis, Jack Lee and Brad Gutridge will surely see more ice time this coming season with the experinced head of Nicky Lewis there to guide them and the host of young gun signings.

With the average age of the roster having been dropped drastically, out goes experience, but in should come, desire, passion, the will to win and energy.

All of these young guys will come in this season with a point to prove. They will want to win things and be the stars of the future.

I’m not a betting man, but I certainly wouldn’t bet against them.