Kiy Symons On Academy Success

[White Noise]

Exciting Times



Wednesday 4th May 2011





Kit Symons was understandably proud of his Under 18 side after they secured the Premier League Group A title against Leicester City in dramatic fashion last weekend.

Going into the final league game of the season, it was a two-horse race between Fulham and Southampton with the Saints needing to better Fulham's result in order to finish top.

The chances of a league title looked slim for Kit Symons' boys, with Leicester reaching the half-time interval holding a 3-0 advantage. But a dramatic turnaround saw the Whites net five second-half goals to secure the title in some style.

"I think it goes without saying that we are all very proud," said Symons. "It's been a great season for the Under 18s and this has capped a wonderful year for us all. We've made a little bit of history in terms of winning an academy title for the first time and it's a sign of what is hope will be a bright future.

"It was a staggering 90 minutes of football and one of those games that just took your breath away at times. We've gone from frustration one minute, to elation the next. But it just shows that you just can't give up.

"The first-half was probably the worst performance of the season to be honest. There were too many mistakes, which were very uncharacteristic, and at times we were all over the place – and what a time for that to happen.

"There were some words of encouragement as well as some constructive criticism shall we say at half-time and fortunately we got the response that we all wanted to see.

"At 3-0 down it was difficult to comprehend, because we had got ourselves into such a good position and on the brink of something very special. But we came dangerously close to letting it slip through our fingers, which would have been massively disappointing because the boys deserved this.

"We had to go for it – and sometimes these things come off and sometimes they don't. Fortunately it was to be our day.

"The second-half was fantastic and not only did we create and take those chances, the boys worked extremely hard in turning things around and showed a desire that was testament to what we are trying to achieve here.

"Of course, this has capped a memorable six months or so for me personally, but credit should be given to everyone within the Academy – it's not just about the players and myself as a coach, but a whole team of people.

"It was the culmination of a lot of hard work, and let's not forget the work that Gary Brazil did before me, because he put a lot of that in place and set the foundations. This Academy has been heading in the right direction for a long time and winning the title certainly underlines that.

"We're going from strength-to-strength and this really is an exciting time to be part of the Fulham Academy."


Read more: http://www.fulhamfc.com/Club/News/NewsArticles/2011/May/SymonsAcademyChampions.aspx#ixzz1LOdDwHox

[The Equalizer]

Fantastic stuff! Just the kind of news you want to hear as a Fulham supporter.

I look forward to seeing some of these guys playing in the Premiership in a couple of seasons.

[The Doctor]

I had a quick read of the FFC article about the 5-3 win, and there's a sentence at the bottom about a play-off system.  I delved a bit further, and it turns out there's 4 Academy groups.  The winners of each group go into a play-off system.  So it would seem the U-18's season isn't yet over.

So for those in the know, my question is this:  Have the U-18s actually won an "honour"/trophy, or will that only go to the winners of the play-offs?

[White Noise]

Yes, we are through to a semi-final - date and opponent unknown - last time I asked because the other lot still had to play their final group games. I imagine trophy is for the whole thing.