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Karl
Senior Member
USA
914 Posts |
 Posted - Oct 27 2002 : 12:36:20 PM
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Lulu: What Football Is Doing Right - The Youth Academy
Tuesday, October 22, 2002
It's been a tough old year for football across Europe. The collapse of various television deals has decimated club budgets and led to the demise of several sides, whilst many others totter on the brink of administration.
At present one third of Scottish Premier League clubs are said to be insolvent, and have little chance of recovery. Player wages have soared in recent times and all but the very biggest of clubs have been affected.
Drastic cutbacks are being introduced across the board in an attempt for survival, but pressure from the public for success has not abated and clubs are being forced to look at other means of attracting the best talent for minimum outlay. We've already looked at what is wrong with football; now let's see what we're doing right.
Thankfully for Heart of Midlothian FC, they are further ahead of the game than most. They realised a long time ago that the only solution was to identify and develop youngsters for themselves. The benefits have been seen not only in the club side but the national side too. Leaders in their field, Hearts have gained a high reputation over the last 20 years with their youth system. From the likes of Gary Mackay, Dave Bowman and John Robertson (who went on to become the club's greatest ever goalscorer) in the eighties through to today's current crop of starlets like Paul McMullan, Scott Severin and Stephen Simmons, Hearts have always attracted the cream of youth football with their policy of "if you're good enough, you're old enough".
In 1998, Hearts won the Scottish Cup for the first time in 42 years. It wasn't the only reason for celebration that year as media group SMG boosted the club coffers to the tune of 8 million pounds. Whilst some of that money was used to re-sign players and strengthen the squad, part of it was set aside for the construction of a youth academy.
Four years and much legal wrangling later, the first brick of Hearts academy will be put in place on the 28th October. With a building schedule of 48 weeks, weather permitting, the academy will be complete in September 2003.
In partnership with Heriot-Watt University on the western side of Edinburgh, the new academy will be the first of it's kind in the country. (Rangers already have a youth academy but under a different system). The academy has been based on the Chief Executive's ideas, which he gleaned from various other clubs around Europe. Taking the best from each, the academy has finally grown into a realistic dream, the benefits from which are obvious, as Hearts will be able to attract the best young players to top class facilities.
The development comprises 3 main components:
Grass pitches
Two main pitches of exactly the same dimensions as Tynecastle, one of which will be used for training while the other is reserved for competition. Both pitches will be floodlit, with the competition pitch walled-in making it suitable for hosting SPL U21 matches. The training pitch will be a synthetic-grass mix, allowing the first-team to train on grass in all but the most inclement weather conditions. Four other existing pitches at the site will be upgraded to SPL standard playing surfaces, and when all else fails, the players can move to a floodlit synthetic pitch situated adjacent to the centre.
Indoor Astrodome
The indoor facility comprises a 60m x 40m indoor synthetic pitch, for use both by Hearts and university teams. Changing and bootroom facilities will be moved away from Tynecastle into the new complex which will also include dedicated and exclusive office space for management and coaching staff, a lounge area and canteen, and shared seminar faciltites for press conferences, team talks, videos and youth team education.
Centre for Sports Science and Medicine
This state of the art facility will include physiotherapy, fitness and cardio-vascular facilities for exclusive use by Hearts, as well as further similar facilities for the university's Centre for Sport and Exercise. The university anticipates this will bring huge benefits in being able to attract students to its sports-related degree courses. As part of the partnership, the university will bring to bear its academic and scientific expertise in the areas of diet, fitness, physiotherapy to help devise structured development programmes for all Hearts players from Under 11 right through to first-team, and there will also be opportunities for youngsters at Hearts to enroll for various courses and scholarships that will be developed as part of the overall package.
John Murray is the first employee of Hearts to hold the title of "Youth Director". Having been the club's chief scout for 5 years previously, Murray was appointed 18 months ago to oversee the academy project.
Held in high esteem, it's rumoured that Murray doesn't makes mistakes when it comes to spotting talent. He explains how the current youth system works. "The game is changing and what we look for in a player has also had to change. Whilst ability is of prime importance, we also look for individuals who will become not just footballers but athletes. Keeping up with the pace of the modern game is essential."
The earliest age Hearts take on youngsters is currently 8 years old. At under 8 and under 9 level the players train and play in friendly matches only. They also have two teams at under-10 who play in a non-competitive development league. Until 11 years old, the boys play on smaller pitches at 7-a-side. This will be extended to the under-12's next year. The idea is to allow fewer players to get more touches of the ball and thus develop their skills. Only after that age do boys adapt to 11-a-side teams.
Currently the youth teams are expected to train twice a week and play one match until the age of 16. Whilst Murray would like to see more time given to these youngsters, it has to be balanced with the difficulties of travelling and other commitments families may have. At present only about half of the SPL clubs have squads as young as Hearts but the next 2 years will see all clubs come down to under-9 level.
"The boys play only for Hearts now" says Murray "whereas in the past, boys could be playing for a number of clubs or groups at one time."
Diet and discipline and are also important parts of the club's philosophy. "It's difficult in this age of junk food to convince youngsters how important it is what they eat. From about 12 years, we encourage them to eat lots of carbohydrates, fruit and vegetables, and low fat meals. Once the academy is open we plan to hold seminars to educate them and their parents on the value of a healthy diet." "Discipline has to be instilled on an individual level and this is where man management comes in. Players all respond differently to the way they are treated, but from the start we try to create the correct frame of mind before games and an attitude that they should take pride in both team and personal performances.
At about 14/15 years old, we decide which players we will be taking on fulltime and they sign apprenticeship contracts when they leave school at 16. Once on the ground staff, the boys are asked to do chores round the club like cleaning the boots. This is part of the discipline process, although it has featured less in recent years and should stop altogether at the academy. The mental attitude of players is something which we will look at further through the Sports Science side of things."
Members of the coaching staff are all highly trained, and have qualifications from the SFA, whilst education will also have a role to play in the academy's future. "Our players can currently take part in an SVQ course at Lauder College in Dunfermline, but this will move with us to Heriot -Watt. It helps to provide the boys with a certificate should they not make it in the game and teaches them things like computer skills. Scholarships at the University is also something we hope to introduce."
Hearts have spent 375,000 pounds this year on their youth system, and the current setup is also supplemented by Hearts supporters who formed a voluntary fundraising committee. The committee raises funds for the youth teams to compete in overseas competitions, where they have gained much success.
Whilst reluctant to be critical of the SFA, Murray has differing views of the way forward. "The SFA want to build centres of excellence throughout Scotland and have the clubs rent those properties for teams to train. Personally, I think clubs should look after their own destiny as the requirements for a fulltime club like Hearts are far removed from some of the smaller clubs. New personnel have come in since the end of Craig Brown's reign and there is now more willingness from the SFA to listen to opinions of the top clubs, instead of dictating what we should be doing. In that sense communication is getting better."
Although most of the recruits at the academy are local, there is no reason that foreign youngsters cannot also play their part. "We have players from all over Scotland, " says Murray " one is from Ireland and we have one from France. The boys from further afield live with families in the city and that system seems to work well. It's possible that players could be accommodated at the academy in the future, but that's something we'd have to look into further as it would mean employing someone to supervise them.
There is no reason why Jamaican youngsters cannot join us at the academy. If they are good enough and can satisfy the passport and visa requirements, we would be happy to have them. Obviously my advice to Jamaica would be to try and develop your own youth structures and centres of excellence. As far as players go, the young boys must work hard to learn as many all round skills as possible. Learn to use both feet, shield the ball well, develop pace and the ability to run with the ball at your feet. Try to get yourself involved in a proper youth structure, in another country if necessary."
John Murray already knows the potential that Jamaica holds. For it was him, along with current head scout John Harvey, who were responsible for bringing Ricardo Fuller to Hearts.
"It was great having Ricardo," says Murray " he was a breath of fresh air, a real crowd pleaser and we still talk about him. John Harvey and I brought him here from Charlton. John had seen him twice and I went to watch him in a reserve game against Watford. We knew we wanted him at the club, but manager, Craig Levein had not seen him play and was concerned about Ricardo's back injury. He asked us if we were willing to put our jobs on the line to get Ricardo and we said we were. That's how much he impressed us. So we contacted his agent and Fuller became a Hearts player. He was great in training as he could do things that the other boys couldn't, and although he could've worked more at being a team player, he had wonderful skills."
Having defeated SPL opponents, Partick Thistle 9-0, in the last round of the Youth Cup, and sitting second in the under-18 League and joint top of the under-21 league, the academy will only polish what is already an excellent youth system. And if Jamaican youngsters can show the same ability and attitude as Fuller, then they could well be tasting life at the new academy for themselves.
Thank you to John Murray and Hearts FC for their co-operation.
Email comments to: Lulu@reggaeboyzsc.com |
Karl |
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Lulu: The Youth Academy
