Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: berneboy on December 01, 2010, 05:15:14 AM
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Our Academy is praised in The Times.
Harsh lesson of Stefan Moore underpins development of talent, and of self-discipline, at Bodymoor Heath training ground
Recent results underline the problems of entwining experience with youth, but no one doubts the quality of talent breaking through at Aston Villa.
The classy contributions of Barry Bannan, fresh from his Scotland debut, Ciaran Clark, who scored twice against Arsenal on Saturday, Marc Albrighton, Jonathan Hogg and Nathan Delfouneso have been shining lights in the gloom overshadowing Villa Park amid a deepening injury crisis in a difficult start to Gérard Houllier’s reign.
With up to 12 first-team players missing, the new Villa manager has been impressed with how the youngsters have seized their opportunities. And this is no freak batch; in the academy’s latest under-16 age group, an unprecedented ten, all local, of the 16 players have been offered full-time scholarships.
Throughout two days in which The Times was at Villa’s academy, the importance of developing young footballers as people as well as potential Premier League players is omnipresent.
This is no crêche, however. Villa have won the Premier League reserve league southern section for the past three years. They were pipped to the double of FA Youth Cup and national reserve team title by Chelsea and Manchester United respectively last season.
Underpinning this success is continuity: Bryan Jones, the academy director, who joined the staff in 1980, Steve Burns, his assistant, Kevin MacDonald, the reserve-team manager, Tony McAndrew, youth-team manager, and Gordon Cowans have worked in this system for at least 13 years.
Cowans’s promotion from youth-team manager to first-team coach last summer epitomises a desire to maximise the benefits of youth development. The Villa Park legend notes that the pressure is therefore intensified to keep producing talented age groups such as the one in which Bannan, Albrighton, Clark, Hogg and Chris Herd intend to follow Gabriel Agbonlahor in becoming Villa regulars and international contenders.
As Villa prepare to challenge Birmingham City tonight for a place in the Carling Cup semi-finals, the Villa staff know the importance of keeping their youngsters grounded. Technique comes first for Jones. But fame has derailed enough talented youngsters to make attitude a close second.
“When parents come to my office they see pictures on the walls of Gareth Barry, Darius Vassell, Steven Davis, JLloyd Samuel — and Stefan Moore,” Jones said. “The first four played for their countries; Stefan was playing for Halesowen Town by the age of 26. He’s a lovely lad, got a massive contract at 17, which I didn’t agree with. He scored a wonderful goal on his debut against Charlton and thought he’d done it, but he fell away.”
Moore now drives a taxi and, on dropping off two scholars at the Bodymoor Heath training ground recently, asked to pass his wishes on to the coaches. The teenagers politely asked who from.
Basic discipline and manners prevail at Bodymoor. Not only are bladed studs banned in Villa’s academy, for the injuries they cause, but Jones insists on black boots. One under-16 starlet returned from making his England debut in pink boots to receive congratulations, and a rebuke. “He’s back in black now,” Jones said.
Learning is paramount. All under-18 players take home a DVD of their Saturday match to pore over the weekend before a Monday debrief with McAndrew. The players’ motivation for schoolwork has been found to increase as they are monitored by Pete Mortiboys, the educational adviser, with football as their incentive. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, players aged between 14 and 16 spend the day at Bodymoor.
On Wednesdays, Villa are piloting a scheme of bringing in children from 10 to 13 from mainstream education to increase the quality time dedicated to football. “The schools have been very supportive and we have a former headteacher who comes in to work with them after lunch,” Burns said. “The quality of player has improved because of the support we’re able to offer in facilities, staffing, the quality of coaching — and time.
With the older children, in consultation with parents and teachers, the average number of GCSEs is being cut from 11 to 7; quality rather than quantity.
Last Wednesday afternoon, in the massive air-conditioned barn at Bodymoor, Ben Petty, the academy coach with the 7-11 age bracket, led a session where touch, passing, decision-making and movement were paramount. They all appeared two-footed.
The players, arriving from Northampton, Shrewsbury as well as the West Midlands, progressed through a series of exercises that move ever closer to a match situation. They also ate and had a 45-minute homework session before their parents collected them at 5.30pm. “We get through more in one concentrated afternoon like this than in an entire week’s occasional sessions,” Petty said.
Along the corridor bridging the academy with the professionals at Villa’s £13 million training headquarters, Sean Kimberley asked us in for a coffee. The recruitment officer closes deals, after his network of scouts have filtered the young talent — locally first, then nationally, then internationally.
“Nothing excites me more than going and seeing raw potential,” he said. “My job is more about what a lad might be than what they are. If they have enough potential, they’ll get an opportunity. That’s not a sales pitch, that’s a fact.”
Academic excellence
- It costs in excess of £2 million a year to run the Aston Villa academy
Villa have brought in at least £25 million from player sales since the Premier League inaugurated the academy system
- Bodymoor Heath pitches: seven full-size, one with undersoil heating; four small-sided; two goalkeeping training goalmouths; two floodlit AstroTurf pitches; 11 full-time groundstaff
- Swimming pool, cold-water plunge, hot-water plunge, treadmill pool, sauna, steam room
- Three FA Youth Cup finals in academy era (2002, ’04, ’10)
- Three Premier League Reserve League (South) titles (2008, ’09, ’10)
- Ten local under-16s offered scholarships in October 2010
- Forty-two reserve-team goals scored by Gabriel Agbonlahor (beating Darius Vassell’s record of 41)
- Twenty academy coaching staff (six full-time, 14 part-time)
• - Nil: league tables at under-16 and below £13 million: cost of rebuilding of Bodymoor Heath training complex
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I'm not sure about Hogg. Or Delfouneso for that chance. Obviously I'm not going to get on their backs. They need more games, a lot more games. Bannan & Albrighton are already miles ahead.
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Everything I've read about youth / academy football praises the Villa approach and emphasises the importance of (i) continuity (Bryan Jones has been there since 1980), (ii) fusing the football and the school work, (iii) using concentrated periods of training rather than an hour or two here and there, and (iv) keeping the kids and parents grounded.
Good stuff.
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Basic discipline and manners prevail at Bodymoor. Not only are bladed studs banned in Villa’s academy, for the injuries they cause, but Jones insists on black boots. One under-16 starlet returned from making his England debut in pink boots to receive congratulations, and a rebuke. “He’s back in black now,” Jones said.
I like that.
Start them out in the right manner, when they have proved they have a special talent and manage to make the first team they can show their twattish fashion sense if they so wish.
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Interesting about Stefan, clearly put his feet up as soon as he got into the first team for a spell.
Nathan take note.
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Interesting to see it only cost 2 millions pounds a year to run it. I think we can afford to approach Walsall and run the academy for them so we can use them as a nursery team. Then it can be used something in between reserve team and first team football.
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It's an excellent article and many thanks for transcribing it all. The headline says it all:
(http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af104/alanclare/Villa3.jpg)
and the illustrations:
(http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af104/alanclare/Villa2.jpg)
(http://i998.photobucket.com/albums/af104/alanclare/Villa1.jpg)
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Love this.
Compare the running costs of the academy with the money paid to agents at 2.279 million last year shows what good value this is for football in general and Villa in particular.
Bright future indeed....long may it prosper....well done to all concerned.
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Basic discipline and manners prevail at Bodymoor. Not only are bladed studs banned in Villa’s academy, for the injuries they cause, but Jones insists on black boots. One under-16 starlet returned from making his England debut in pink boots to receive congratulations, and a rebuke. “He’s back in black now,” Jones said.
I like that.
Start them out in the right manner, when they have proved they have a special talent and manage to make the first team they can show their twattish fashion sense if they so wish.
Me too, being an old git. I take one look at Ireland's white boots and take an instant dislike to him...
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I agree great work to produce so many good players over the last few years. Long may it continue.
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What I really like is the absence of league football until they reach the U-17/U-18 level, and the focus on touch and technique. Also you have to applaud the sense of continuity, keeping the expectation levels realistic, ensuring the youngsters stay modest and polite, and the focus on academic work too. All in all, it sounds great, and I really hope that Villa will be seen as a real hotbed of young emerging talent in the future. Another reason to feel proud of the club.
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Last Wednesday afternoon, in the massive air-conditioned barn at Bodymoor, Ben Petty, the academy coach with the 7-11 age bracket, led a session where touch, passing, decision-making and movement were paramount. They all appeared two-footed.
this is the bit that pleases me most...
for years i have been calling for younger players to be taught the basics of pass and move... this is the thing that the likes of arsenal install in their kids and first team, giving options through movement for the player on the ball...
i know that wenger likes the player on the ball to have 3 easy options to pass to, and that is why they keep possession so well, and play lovely football...
with this sort of teaching from 7-11, technical ability will come as standard, and then the fast, strong and intelligent players will then become the stand out players, and should become top top quality...
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I'd rather pick a small team away from our traditional catchment area as a feeder club. Maybe one of the smaller London teams, Brentford, Leyton Orient, Chelsea...
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Brilliant stuff and very proud to read things like that - ultimately this has to be the way to continue to go and supplement what you produce with a couple of excellent purchases and there you go !
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Great read, thanks for posting that.
The black boots policy should be extended to the first team. Can't stand the sight of coloured boots, pink especially.
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Ha! I like the boots rule too. It's actually not that easy to buy a pair of simple, black boots for kids now, which I think is terrible.
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Great read, thanks for posting that.
The black boots policy should be extended to the first team. Can't stand the sight of coloured boots, pink especially.
Actually, I think black boots should be made law but that isn't going to happen.
In years to come hopefully these present day dayglo boot wearers will look back in horror at the error of their ways much in the same way as Chris Waddle does with his former hair style and hopefully Barry Venison does with his off field dress sense.
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Another vote for the boots rule.
Great article.
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it would be interesting to know the secret of Villa's success in earlier times, when you had players like Sid and Little coming through. I wonder how massively things have changed
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A good news story and well deserved.
Another benefit is that more kids will want to come to Villa which can only be good.
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Assuming Ben Petty is the former defender of that name who started out with us and played for Moor Green, he's also proof that even if you aren't good enough for the top level, our Academy helps prepare young players for a career in other areas of football.
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I knew Stefan had plummeted down the leagues but I hadn't realised he was also a taxi driver. His chance has gone but I'd have thought he was still good enough to play at a reasonably high non-league level.
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It would be interesting to see what their blueprint was and who decided that we would develop our coaching at youth/children level. Did we go and look at Ajax? did we decide to take it upon ourselves to do what the FA have not been able to do and change the mindset of parents as to how to develop coaching for the good of the kids and hopefully, us. the thing that stood out for me more than anything was this bit...
They all appeared two-footed.
Its a bugbear of mine that any footballer of note - whether professional or amateur - can only use one foot. To get them using two feet at an early age will kep them in good stad. The fact that they are cutting down, but still doing, GCSE's is also merit worthy.
Well done Villa.
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Last Wednesday afternoon, in the massive air-conditioned barn at Bodymoor, Ben Petty, the academy coach with the 7-11 age bracket, led a session where touch, passing, decision-making and movement were paramount. They all appeared two-footed.
this is the bit that pleases me most...
for years i have been calling for younger players to be taught the basics of pass and move... this is the thing that the likes of arsenal install in their kids and first team, giving options through movement for the player on the ball...
i know that wenger likes the player on the ball to have 3 easy options to pass to, and that is why they keep possession so well, and play lovely football...
with this sort of teaching from 7-11, technical ability will come as standard, and then the fast, strong and intelligent players will then become the stand out players, and should become top top quality...
The future is really bright for the kids coming through the Academy. Agreed that the technique/pass/move approach is exactly right. Barcelona showed on Monday night that this type of football is superior and devastating when executed properly. If we could mix that sort of approach with a good bit of Premiership blood and thunder it would be excellent.
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A big well done to everyone connected with the Academy. In this day and age of inflated transfer fee's,its really something to be proud of.
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Assuming Ben Petty is the former defender of that name who started out with us and played for Moor Green, he's also proof that even if you aren't good enough for the top level, our Academy helps prepare young players for a career in other areas of football.
he is the very same one... he is a friend of a friend...
he is very excited about some of the young lads we have too, apparently...
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I was proud that the Times praised our Academy and all the work they are doing it just go's to show that we are doing thing's the right way and long may it continue.
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Sounds great. Looks like they are doing a great job and I hope we can reap the rewards in years to come.
One academy graduate in the first team is £10million in transfer fees saved and even the Ridgewells and Gardners who are not quite good enough can be decent PL players who bring in fees.
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Excellent stuff, do get sick of hearing about Man United's knack of bringing players through from their Academy set up when in truth it is a LOT of years since the likes of Giggs, Scholes, Beckham came through.
Must admit I hate the idea of kids as young as 7 or 8 being cherry picked by football clubs, i'm slightly old fashioned in thinking that at such a young age you should be having fun playing with your mates and being a kid and not having the enthusiasm coached out of you..
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Thing is Chris even at that age you can see a child with talent that if nurtured well can flourish. Its the same as a child who has an aptitude for music, spelling, writing etc etc so football shouldn't be any different.
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A Villa-related piece by Nike on Youtube (sort of) concerning our Academy:
(Apologies - can't do short links.)
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he is very excited about some of the young lads we have too, apparently...
Be careful how and where you say things like that!
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at such a young age you should be having fun playing with your mates and being a kid and not having the enthusiasm coached out of you..
I'm not sure they are though. Bannan, Albrighton and Clark have all come through the same system and they're as enthusiastic as anyone else in our squad, if not more so.
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Great read, congratulations again to the Villa... thanks for posting the link.
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only positive thing on what is turning into an absolute nightmare of a season...
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Great reading. The value for money seems incredible for me although I suppose the £2m is a bit misleading as they're playing at a £16M training ground... If we doubled it would it have a greater effect?
Despite this, there is some logic in trying to repeat the model elsewhere, somewhere away from Birmingham.
Maybe - if as the General has said - we team up with a MSL team we could do it there (problems with trade barriers i.e. employment). A scottish version?
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Assuming Ben Petty is the former defender of that name who started out with us and played for Moor Green, he's also proof that even if you aren't good enough for the top level, our Academy helps prepare young players for a career in other areas of football.
he is the very same one... he is a friend of a friend...
he is very excited about some of the young lads we have too, apparently...
Indeed, left Villa with Brian Little to go to Stoke and then headed for Hull. I used to know him quite well from School.
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Thing is Chris even at that age you can see a child with talent that if nurtured well can flourish. Its the same as a child who has an aptitude for music, spelling, writing etc etc so football shouldn't be any different.
Anyone remember Barry Cowdrill who played for the baggies? I knew his brother and played soccer with Barry when he was 7/8. Even at that age he had ability and was much better than us and we were 11/12. Just shows the difference between parks and professional standard.
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One thing that's players of a good standard - porfessionals - apart from the rest of us is their touch. We all can beat players, show a trick or two, have blinding pace, smack the hide of the ball, tackle like demons etc etc but pros do it more consistently and even if they are fat, slow and 50 they will always have their first touch that can kill any team.
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One thing that's players of a good standard - porfessionals - apart from the rest of us is their touch. We all can beat players, show a trick or two, have blinding pace, smack the hide of the ball, tackle like demons etc etc but pros do it more consistently and even if they are fat, slow and 50 they will always have their first touch that can kill any team.
You see that on that Masters footy thing on Sky. Old pros that are all stones over weight yet you look how quickly they move the ball and their awareness. They no-longer look like footballers but they still have that X-factor that separates them from us mortals.
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at such a young age you should be having fun playing with your mates and being a kid and not having the enthusiasm coached out of you..
I'm not sure they are though. Bannan, Albrighton and Clark have all come through the same system and they're as enthusiastic as anyone else in our squad, if not more so.
But what about the 100s of youngsters that were told that they weren't good enough to make it along the way, are they still playing football now ?
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The academy is our future, and something GH will be very passionate about. If we supplement our great kids with some astute signings then we'll be in great shape for years to come. We may not be Barcelona, but there's no harm at all following that model.
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Re Barca. I think 9 of there team vs Madrid were Youth Players (incl Pique), yet they're in LOADS of debt. How is this?
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Too many staff or staff is paid too much.
When I went to Barcelona in May I have seen more than a dozen Barcelona club shop all over the city. So that is about 100 staff to pay for wages. Assuming they employed 8 people each on average.
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When I went to Barcelona in May I have seen more than a dozen Barcelona club shop all over the city.
Are you sure about that?
They have 5 club shops in the city.
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As well as the academy players they are righly lauded for they also pay big tranfer fees and huge wages, £20m on Alves, £40m on Ibrahimovic, , £30m Villa, Mascherano, Milito Abidal etc.
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As well as the academy players they are righly lauded for they also pay big tranfer fees and huge wages, ...., £40m on Ibrahimovic, , .......
Does that figure also include swapping Eto'o or is that just the cash part of the deal. They could have easily straight swapped between them (Carew/Baros tyoe deal).
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Even so, they're filling the Nou Camp every other week and along with Madrid monopolise the Spanish and worldwide TV coverage.
I'm not suggesting you guys are wrong, it's just that if the Barca model doesn't work then how is any club supposed to be competitive on the pitch whilst being sustainable off it?
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Along the corridor bridging the academy with the professionals at Villa’s £13 million training headquarters, Sean Kimberley asked us in for a coffee. The recruitment officer closes deals, after his network of scouts have filtered the young talent — locally first, then nationally, then internationally.
Fancy letting a bloody Wolves fan work at the Villa. He's good bloke Sean, and was, footballing wise, head and shoulders above every one at school - even in a very good team. Just goes to show how good you have to be to make it.