Andy Cole: Youth Football.

[valdeingruo]

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/premier-league-youth-academies-letting-081551644.html

I was fortunate to have a choice of clubs when I was a 14-year-old schoolboy who'd just been selected for the National Football School at Lilleshall for outstanding talent. Scouts were coming to my house and me being my stubborn self, I didn't want to speak to them. They weren't from my world. There was Sheffield Wednesday and my hometown club Nottingham Forest. I went to Forest but didn't like how I was treated there. And there was Arsenal.

When I saw that they had local inner city boys in their first-team, I felt like I could see a pathway into first division football. So my career began at Arsenal and as an apprentice, I would clean the away dressing rooms. When Arsenal played Forest, Brian Clough would see me, plant a big kiss on my cheek and say, "Ah, young man, this is the one from Nottingham who got away".

Arsenal had Paul Davis, Michael Thomas, Tony Adams, David Rocastle, Martin Keown, Paul Merson and Martin Hayes. They were mostly working class Londoners, mostly Arsenal fans. I loved playing with them. There was never any doubt when we played Tottenham or Chelsea or West Ham at youth or reserve level how much that game meant

At Newcastle I played with Lee Clark, Steve Watson, Peter Beardsley, Robbie Elliott and Steve Harper, mostly Geordies who supported Newcastle. That added passion and feeling to the team I played in.

At Manchester United I played with Ryan Giggs, the Neville brothers, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes, Manchester lads who'd supported United all their lives. When we played Liverpool and Manchester City, I knew exactly how important it was to beat them. City weren't even rivals then, yet these lads wanted to destroy them.

Local boys add value to any dressing room. They're fans with boots on, the ones who know better than any others what it means to play for the club. Their family still live among supporters, their mates go to games home and away, they've played against rivals since they were 10. It's all positive.

Mark Noble at West Ham, John Terry at Chelsea, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher (yes, I know he supported Everton as a kid) at Liverpool. Look at the Catalans at Barça, Francesco Totti at Roma. They're a reference point; they understand their club on its deepest level.



I've met plenty of great foreign lads in football and embrace English football's worldwide appeal which sees me recognised in Singapore or Soweto, but there has to be a space for a local boy and I'm worried that fewer and fewer of them are reaching first teams in the Premier League.

It saddened me when Daniel Welbeck, a Mancunian United fan, left them a year ago. Like the other names I've mentioned, he was a success story who'd grown up at the club. He had the pace that the current United attack needs, but he was allowed to leave because he didn't score enough goals.

I can see that argument, I told Danny myself that he had to be more selfish in front of goal. But clubs should still have a connection to the local community. If not, then a key part of football is lost. Welbeck thought long and hard about when he left United, do you think Angel di Maria is doing the same today?

Fewer local players are getting into first teams because fewer are coming through the ranks. Clubs cast their nets wider and top Premier League outfits now recruit youth from around the world – though I sense some do it half-heartedly.





There's not the conviction to develop youth because it's a long process and often easy to buy ready made talent who've made the errors inevitably associated with being a young player elsewhere. They do that because everyone is under pressure for instant results.

That's a shame. There are fewer opportunities for English players and that affects the national team, but clubs also have to work with failing youth systems. 

I've watched my son Devante come through Manchester City's system. It would have been nice for them to have a Manchester lad in their first-team, but there are none. And I've watched Devante play in numerous under-21 games which don't prepare you for being a professional footballer – so he had to go on loan to improve, to play in front of proper, hostile crowds against professionals battling for their win bonus.

The under-21 league replaced reserve-team football. It's failing and doesn't prepare you for the physical and mental stresses of the next level. Games are virtually non-contact, with fouls given for minimal transgressions. I see 21-year-old lads at United or City with big egos and big contracts. They think they've cracked it. They haven't done anything in football. They play in state of the art academies – but no talent makes it from there to the first-team.

When I played reserve football, I was up against big name pros coming back from injury or ones who'd been dropped to the reserves and didn't want to be there as they found it degrading. Which made them more likely to take their anger out on you. It was really hard, but while I'm not one to live in the past, it prepared you so well.

In the 90s, Arsenal won league titles, Manchester United won league titles and Newcastle United came close to winning league titles, all with teams featuring local boys. And that, sadly, has gone.

[Apprentice to the Maestro]

Maybe Cole could have a chat with Dembele and  Hyndman about the realities of their situation. Too late for Roberts.

Good piece by Andy Cole with a number of interesting points such as the bit about u21 refereeing.

[rogerpbackinMidEastUS]

Excellent article from a down-to-earth guy.

At least we have several U21 development players in and around the first team.
I don't know where they all come from but at least they're 'local'
as we've all grown up with their development.

Out of interest, are there many other clubs like ours, although Roberts has gone
we have Hyndman, LVC, Dembele, Grimmer, Kavanagh, Williams, Bettenelli, Joronen,
Burn, Plumain and Woodrow all sniffing around the first team and will probably get
some game time this season.

[SouthfieldWhite]

When Al Fayed was Chairman, he was very keen on getting local lads in.

Trouble is with Fulham, we are competing first and foremost with Chelsea who have the name and pulling power, sadly parents just want to brag their sons at Chelsea rather than understanding that their son would have more chance of getting in the first team at Fulham or a AFC Wimbledon.

We are also competing against a host of other London clubs and now even a lot of Northern clubs and even the likes of Notwich who all have development centres down South.

That's why it's important to have home grown local lads playing in the first team( if good enough) so parents know that Fulham will give a pathway for their sons

[love4ffc]

When Al Fayed was Chairman, he was very keen on getting local lads in.

Trouble is with Fulham, we are competing first and foremost with Chelsea who have the name and pulling parents, sadly parents just want to brag their sons at Chelsea rather than understanding that their son would have more chance of getting in the first team at Fulham or a AFC Wimbledon.

We are also competing against a host of other London clubs and now even a lot of Northern clubs and even the likes of Notwich who all have development centres down South.

That's why it's important to have home grown local lads playing in the first team( if good enough) so parents know that Fulham will give a pathway for their sons

Great post and completely agree with you.  Also very nice article, thanks for the post Andrew. 

Completely understand that Chelsea have the name factor.  Though we can say that Mourinho's son is playing for our youth system, haha. 

[Twig]

Fascinating insights from a player who was successful at the highest level.  I totally agree with his comments about the under 21 league failing; it is inadequate prep for first team football at any level and can lead to unrealistically inflated expectations from talented but under developed youngsters. Long term English football has a problem developing future potential internationals.

[valdeingruo]

When Al Fayed was Chairman, he was very keen on getting local lads in.

Trouble is with Fulham, we are competing first and foremost with Chelsea who have the name and pulling parents, sadly parents just want to brag their sons at Chelsea rather than understanding that their son would have more chance of getting in the first team at Fulham or a AFC Wimbledon.

We are also competing against a host of other London clubs and now even a lot of Northern clubs and even the likes of Notwich who all have development centres down South.

That's why it's important to have home grown local lads playing in the first team( if good enough) so parents know that Fulham will give a pathway for their sons

Great post and completely agree with you.  Also very nice article, thanks for the post Andrew. 

Completely understand that Chelsea have the name factor.  Though we can say that Mourinho's son is playing for our youth system, haha. 

You actually prove the point completely. While boasting one of the largest acadmies in the world, the man would rather his son develop with us. What does that say? I mean apart from the fact that Terry was the last acadmey player to break into their squad and stay there....

[rogerpbackinMidEastUS]

When Al Fayed was Chairman, he was very keen on getting local lads in.

Trouble is with Fulham, we are competing first and foremost with Chelsea who have the name and pulling parents, sadly parents just want to brag their sons at Chelsea rather than understanding that their son would have more chance of getting in the first team at Fulham or a AFC Wimbledon.

We are also competing against a host of other London clubs and now even a lot of Northern clubs and even the likes of Notwich who all have development centres down South.

That's why it's important to have home grown local lads playing in the first team( if good enough) so parents know that Fulham will give a pathway for their sons

Great post and completely agree with you.  Also very nice article, thanks for the post Andrew. 

Completely understand that Chelsea have the name factor.  Though we can say that Mourinho's son is playing for our youth system, haha. 

You actually prove the point completely. While boasting one of the largest acadmies in the world, the man would rather his son develop with us. What does that say? I mean apart from the fact that Terry was the last acadmey player to break into their squad and stay there....

It would be interesting to know how much their academy has cost them since John Terry made his debute
and what sales/profits have been directly made from 'development' players

Ours would be reasonably easy although we don't know how much it costs, we've only really sold Roberts,
Smalling (but he wasn't with us for long) and a few lesser sales

[valdeingruo]

https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/jermaine-jenas--what-chelsea-can-learn-from-bilic-s-bravery-in-taking-a-risk-on-youth-145004964.html

As someone who made my debut as a young teenager, I know exactly how elated West Ham's Reece Oxford is feeling right now. The 16-year-old justified his selection in the Hammers' 2-0 win at Arsenal with a mature display, but it's a chance he would not have got at some other Premier League clubs.

Slaven Bilic showed impressive courage to pick Oxford, instead of the easy option like Kevin Nolan, because if the plan failed it would fall on the manager's head. In a climate where most top clubs are more comfortable buying a player than bringing one through the ranks, youngsters such as Oxford are reliant on the bravery of their managers

Jose Mourinho, for example, has this summer lamented Chelsea's failure to attract world class talent from the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. He says these players don't want come to England anymore. But that's all the more reason why the Blues should be trying harder to bring through their own outstanding youngsters.


Instead, Chelsea continue to send them out on loan. The Blues let go Ryan Bertrand, a youth product and full England international, and now Mourinho is scouring the globe for a new left-back after the £15m signing of Filipe Luis didn't work out.

Things could have been different if the club had nurtured Bertrand and told him he was pivotal to Chelsea's plans. A young player needs to be given that confidence.

I was made captain of Nottingham Forest at 17 and then I moved to Newcastle at 18 for £5m - massive money at the time. But my first two weeks on Tyneside were a nightmare. I was nervous, and I was rubbish in training. I remember thinking, 'What have I done? I'm just not the player I was at Forest'. Then on the Thursday before the Tyne-Wear derby Sir Bobby Robson came to me and said, "You're playing on Sunday by the way."



I was shocked. There's no bigger game at Newcastle. But the minute I played that game, those two weeks of training were irrelevant. We won 1-0, I performed well and that earned me the full respect of my team-mates. Coming out the other side of that match gave me so much confidence. I felt like I'd passed my hardest test, especially mentally.

Reece Oxford will be feeling that now. He didn't do anything extraordinary against Arsenal, but the performance was almost more impressive because of his discipline and patience.

Beating Arsenal doesn't automatically make him a world beater, but coming through that game makes him stronger. It's all about progression. He's proved he can look after himself in the lion's den and shown his team-mates he's a man, not a boy.



Meanwhile, Chelsea's method of sending youngsters to Vitesse Arnhem and elsewhere across Europe is not working, because when the players return to Stamford Bridge they don't get an opportunity to play.

There's something wrong with the Chelsea system. Sometimes you just play better when you're with better players - it could be as simple as that.

But it is also about building a player's self-belief.






The chances I was given at a young age by Forest and Newcastle hugely influenced my career. In my head I felt like I was going in a certain direction, and any young player will feel the same way. They'll feel loved by their club and that they're on a track that will ultimately lead to the first team.





But if you get to 21 and realise you're still classed as a "kid", that's weird. I was playing for England by the time I was 19 and it all stemmed from the fact that Bobby Robson put his head on the block for me, just like Bilic has done with Oxford


Things at a club can change. A lot of players at Tottenham used to complain to me that there were no opportunities for young players, but then Tim Sherwood came in and bang: Bentaleb, Kane, Mason. It was like Tottenham had a sudden realisation that young players can contribute, and Mauricio Pochettino has taken it further.

West Ham and Spurs are two of a few clubs that are more attractive to young players. Southampton, Swansea and Tim Sherwood at Villa also appreciate young talent, and then there's Arsenal. Arsene Wenger is the guru of building players' careers, and a lot of young players want to go to the Emirates because it almost guarantees you a career.

But if I was in the same position now as I was at 18 - a young player with a choice of Premier League clubs - there are other clubs I would definitely avoid.

As well as Chelsea, I'd steer clear of Manchester City and Manchester United because they're just not prepared to take a risk on a young kid at the moment. The amount of money they spend means you could go missing.

The exception is an expensive signing like John Stones. The fact Newcastle paid £5m for me gave me power - I was the second most expensive teenager in the world at the time - so they had to back me. If Chelsea lay down £30m for Stones, then they can't not play him


When Forest manager Paul Hart called me into his office when I was 18, he told me that Leeds and Newcastle had made £5m bids for me and Man Utd had bid £2m - United's offer was lower because Alex Ferguson had apparently said playing for the club was "an honour".

I got the feeling I'd have to wait for my chance at Man Utd, but Newcastle was different. Sir Bobby told me, "You'll be playing, son. I need you. I want you starting," and that resonated.

Man Utd were the more glamorous option, and even now some people might say I should have gone to Old Trafford and given it a go, but I still believe I made the right decision. I went to Newcastle, started matches and within a year I was playing for England.

As a young player there comes a time when you have to make that decision. I decided I wanted games, and Reece Oxford did the same when he committed himself to West Ham last year despite reported interest from bigger clubs. Right now that looks like a smart move because Oxford has the most important thing you need as youngster: a manager that trusts you.




FIXED, Thanks AussieRod for pointing it out.

[aussierod]

Andersons11 - can I ask your name?  Would be interested to read up more about your career if that's ok. Your profile says that you're 26, is that right or is that an account set up error?

[valdeingruo]

Andersons11 - can I ask your name?  Would be interested to read up more about your career if that's ok. Your profile says that you're 26, is that right or is that an account set up error?

The above was posted by Jermaine Jenas, I guess that bit got cut off. I just posted it on the same thread as it relates.

[rogerpbackinMidEastUS]

Andersons11 - can I ask your name?  Would be interested to read up more about your career if that's ok. Your profile says that you're 26, is that right or is that an account set up error?

The above was posted by Jermaine Jenas, I guess that bit got cut off. I just posted it on the same thread as it relates.

When I first started reading it  ....................mmmmmmmmmmm
I thought, hang on, when I met you, there was no mention of a professional career + you're too young
+ we'd have heard of you  :0)

[grandad]

Roberts & our other kids take note of what Andy Cole said.
I see 21-year-old lads at United or City with big egos and big contracts. They think they've cracked it. They haven't done anything in football. They play in state of the art academies – but no talent makes it from there to the first-team.

[valdeingruo]

Roberts & our other kids take note of what Andy Cole said.
I see 21-year-old lads at United or City with big egos and big contracts. They think they’ve cracked it. They haven’t done anything in football. They play in state of the art academies – but no talent makes it from there to the first-team.

I noticed, when the club released a photo stating that youth had signed new contracts, that most still had black boots on. I think that minor detail is still important.

[MJG]

Roberts & our other kids take note of what Andy Cole said.
I see 21-year-old lads at United or City with big egos and big contracts. They think they’ve cracked it. They haven’t done anything in football. They play in state of the art academies – but no talent makes it from there to the first-team.

I noticed, when the club released a photo stating that youth had signed new contracts, that most still had black boots on. I think that minor detail is still important.

They don't allow any other colour in the u18's