Southsea youngster earns League Two trial - 12 months after heartbreaking Portsmouth rejection
The former Miltoncross Academy pupil made one first-team appearance for the Blues
Harvey Laidlaw’s Hawks form has earned him a trial at a League Two club - just 12 months after a heartbreaking Fratton Park exit.
However, according to Hawks boss Shaun North, potential suitors Crewe have yet to follow up their interest since the Southsea lad returned.
The Railwayman initially invited the promising left-back to Gresty Road in May, where he featured twice for their under-21 side.
They maintained their interest by inviting Laidlaw back earlier this month to spend a week training with them.
The Blues fan was released by his hometown club in the summer of 2024 after one first-team outing, having graduated from the Academy.
And although Crewe haven’t pursued their interest since he returned to the Hawks, North continues to be impressed by the youngster's development.
North: We’ve got a very good player
He told The News: ‘Harvey has been on trial with Crewe recently. He played a couple of games for them at the end of last season, they quite liked him and had him back up for a week.
‘He played two games at the end of the season after we had finished - against Colchester under-21s and Coventry under-21s - they liked what they saw, then he went back a fortnight ago.
‘Unfortunately nothing has come of that for him at the moment, but we’re delighted with that because obviously we’ve got a very good player.
‘Harvey has massively developed here. Him and Mitch Aston both came from Pompey last season and, rightly, Pompey didn't take them on because they weren’t good enough, weren’t strong enough. We took them and loaned them out to Baffins Milton.
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‘Harvey got an opportunity quicker than Mitch because our left-back got injured last season, so he got in the team more by default. But, to be fair to Harvey, he worked hard, kept his position, improved and the games improved him. He has done well.
‘We have two good left-backs at the moment, we have Reuben Austin, who is a year older than him, and Harvey - and that’s there for competition.’
Grandson of a Portsmouth promotion winner
The former Miltoncross Academy pupil is the grandson of Joe Laidlaw, the late midfielder who skippered Pompey to promotion in 1979-80 under Frank Burrows.
Harvey made his Blues debut at the age of 16 years, eight months and 12 days against Aston Villa Under-21s in a Papa John’s Trophy clash in October 2022.
And, following his Fratton Park release, he has been with the Hawks since July 2024, signing a new 18-month contract in March.
‘Probably National League and League Two for one or two of them’
North added: ‘I think a lot of them (Hawks players) are good enough to get into the Football League, but, at the end of the day, it’s being given the opportunity to.
‘Probably National League and League Two possibly for one or two of them, but obviously they need to be given the opportunity - and then the difference is when you watched us on Tuesday night.
‘Against Pompey we've competed really, really well against a strong team. We now have to do that on Saturday and then we’ve got to do that the following Saturday against Taunton in our first game of the season.
‘It’s no good doing it last night with a lot of people here watching, then coming off it at the weekend because it’s only Burgess Hill or it’s only Taunton.
‘That’s the difference between top pros, they do it every week, week in, week out, week in, week out. They put the consistency in, which is what we hope to do.’