Why have Mansfield raided Forest for summer recruits?

Kyle McAdam and Joe Gardner are both aged 20, while Jamie McDonnell the oldest of the Nottingham Forest trio at 21

Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough says it is no coincidence that he has raided Nottingham Forest's academy in search of League One-ready recruits.

Former Forest and England striker Clough has signed three Reds prospects on loan this summer, with the trio of Joe Gardner, Jamie McDonnell and Kyle McAdam making up a third of the Stags' new additions ahead of the new season.

While it is a transfer route Mansfield have taken in the past – having previously signed forward Will Swan from Forest - it is unusual for them to bring in so many players from one club at the same time.

Clough says there is no formal arrangement with Forest's academy behind the deals, but that the neighbouring Premier League side is a breeding ground for talent that cannot be ignored.

He says the influence Warren Joyce - the Forest Under-21s boss who previously held the same job at Manchester United - has on emerging players means they are suited to and ready for football in England's third tier.

"They happen to be the players we identified," Clough told BBC Radio Nottingham when explaining why the Stags have signed three players from Forest.

"We see a lot of the 21s and Warren Joyce, who takes the Under-21s, does incredibly well with them.

"We like the way they are playing and he is a little bit - I don't want to say old school because that sounds disrespectful - but he has them working hard.

"You know when you are getting a player out of Warren's U21s, you know they are going to be ready. He did that for many years at Manchester United."

Clough, who played under his father and legendary Forest boss Brian during his time at the City Ground in the 1980s and 1990s, also said Mansfield have developed a "good relationship" with Forest first-team coach Andy Reid and their player pathway and loans manager Owen Coyle Jr.

"I think it's ideal for them to send them out if they are going to get some experience and chance to play, which they will," Clough said.

Already the Stags trio have helped each another "settle in quicker" ahead of the season, which starts on Saturday at Burton Albion.

They are also the youngest additions made at Mansfield this summer in what has been an off-season of significant change, with veteran servants Stephen Quinn and Aden Flint among those released after the Stags clinched League One survival last term.

"We recognised that to get out of League Two a couple of seasons ago we needed the experience and to keep us up last season we needed the experience as well, and now we are trying to move on a little bit," Clough said.

"It's good that we have been able to attract players in their mid-20s, you are getting players more in their prime rather than towards the end of their careers, which is good and it's always good when youngsters come to get some experience as well."