Most liked posts in thread: This is for Glenn Ackroyd at VP

BradfordBanter · Jun 14, 2019

Their website says exclusive partner of Real Madrid... WTF?

Jay · Jun 15, 2019

That club is all hype, City have a great scouting network and..... if there is any good players they go to Manchester United or Man City

Jay · Jun 16, 2019

SimonW said: ↑

That's not completely true. It's obviously not the same as it used to be where clubs didn't really have teams under about the u13/14 age groups meaning youth clubs like this took on most of the early development but not everyone develops at the same rate and there are players who will slip through clubs recruitment at every age group from u9's to u14's and these clubs do provide that opportunity for such players. Sure such players are unlikely to every be Premier League quality but Championship and below is perfectly possible. They kind of fall into that same bracket as the Glenn Hoddle Academy and the Nike Academy did at the older age groups before they folded in that it gives those who fall through the cracks the chance of still making it as professional footballers.
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Mason Greenwood

Glenn Ackroyd · Jun 16, 2019

QCFC BANTAM said: ↑

Brackenrigg - Alpha were only formed 3 or 4 years ago. Have risen to the fore with Real Madrid Academy coaches doing a few sessions last year (don't ask me how they managed it), being awarded FA Charter club of the year and winning this Queens Volunteering award, which somebody has to nominate you for. This could be a parent etc. I didn't know this award existed so I may get somebody to nominate Queensbury as we have over 100 volunteers or so. There must be a good 10 or more long established junior football clubs such as Bingley, Salts/Shipley, Thackley, Bolton Woods, Queensbury Celtic etc that attract more regular numbers but haven't had the recent profile that Alpha have had.

In terms of BCFC and scouting, over the last few years they have increased the number of scouts and they are active around the junior clubs. Craig has been up to Queensbury a few times to look at our U6s and several of our kids go down to the development centres and a couple to the academy. I have referred a couple of players to him and am about to refer a couple more this week.

The Academy put on an open session down at Apperley Bridge about 18 months ago and all FA affiliated junior clubs could attend. They gave a display of an Academy coaching session followed by a session with Alan Nevison Academy Manager. Basically they said that they didn't have the numbers of scouts to compare with Man City, Blackburn, Burnley etc and were asking for clubs to refer player's to them so they could attend a development centre or they could be watched by a scout. Hence I refer player's - it's one thing that I joke about with the kids that I only want to see City shirts at my sessions!!

Over the last 18 months they have also increased the number of development centres that they run. It used to be just down at Woodhouse Grove but this is now the Elite/Academy centre but there are Development centres in Dewsbury, Ilkley, Seacroft and at Southfield Grange thus increasing the number of kids they get to look at.

From speaking to Craig they are aware of all the big local junior clubs and especially those that have kids at 5 and 6 as other clubs do come and look at them.

Hope this helps, QCFC.
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Hi, thanks for this.

This is brilliant insight and really pleasing to see.

Glenn

TallinnBantam · Jun 16, 2019

The big European clubs have a network of road shows and training camps - even up here in Estonia. My son plays for the under 11s Levadia Tallinn team, and was offered a chance to join the Juventus training camp, not in Turin, but in Tallinn! It would have made the 400€ joining fee a little more acceptable if it included flights and accommodation over in Italy!

Tennesseebantam · Jun 22, 2019

Good stuff Glenn, thanks.

Botswana Bantam · Jun 23, 2019

Glenn Ackroyd said: ↑

To update on this.

I met Alan Nevison (Academy Manager) yesterday at the training ground.

Alan is a great guy with an enormous passion for Bradford City. His enthusiasm rubs off on you when he speaks.

He was coaching the Academy kids at Manchester United but he's a City fan. His dad was in the player's lounge and he was sitting in the stand on the day of the fire. As he told me, "I'm here because City's part of my blood."

Here's a rundown of our Academy:

Academy's are rated from Cat 1 to Cat 4.

Most Premier clubs and some Championships are Cat 1

The main difference relates to the number of coaches. A Cat 1 will have over 50 full-time coaches. A massive cost

If you have a Cat 1, you have more funding from Premier League from their 'Solidarity Payments' - but you have to contribute more as a club on a pro-rata basis. We could never contemplate this because, beyond the coaches, you need facilities like more 4G pitches etc. which cost £400k!

The 'Solidarity Payments' stem from a deal done by the Premier League to guarantee more Academy funding at a price... Set payments were put in place to allow bigger clubs to poach young talent for modest sums. This makes it harder to get the sort of deals we've had previously for the likes of Fabian Delph and Andre Wisdom for example

To put this into context, Huddersfield has moved to Cat 4 and now they only coach from under 16's up because they don't see any benefit in coaching kids 8-16.

City are Cat 3. We coach from under 8's to under 18's with 13 coaches across the age groups

Our Academy has 150 kids. Kids who are good are moved up age groups

They are accessed on talent and body development. You may have a 12-year-old who is a late developer in body size and one who is 5 inches taller who is ahead in body, but not chronologically. When they get to 17/18 it will equal out and they consider all of this when looking at talent and putting them into aged teams

Beneath this, we have 4 Elite Development Centres (DC's) at Southfield Grange, Ilkley, Dewsbury and in Seacroft

There are 350 kids in the DC's. They all train and wear the City kit.

These have a DC coordinator and more local coaches running them

The aim of these is to create links with local schools and clubs to provide a channel to the Development Centres

We have 8 scouts watching schools and local clubs. They will have the watched Alpha United FC players playing for the club and in their school's teams many times

Players who are identified as having potential are picked up by scouts and recommended to either the Development Centres or the Academy

Each year, they hold DC Select days to trial DC players and other local talents to bring into the Academy

The Academy brings in players from beyond Bradford. There is a lad who lives in Leeds who gets the train and was a Leeds fan. Alan said he saw his dad down at Valley Parade sheepishly buying tickets for City.

At 16 players are offered BTEC in Sports Science courses. This is where our links to the School become a big draw, even against top tier clubs.

The BTEC is equivalent to 3 A-Levels - For the majority of players who don't make the grade they have a pathway to University with many getting unconditional offers on sporting degrees due to the course and links to football

We also house out of area talent in the school 6th form boarding residency.

To put this into context, the fees to attend and board at a school like Woodhouse Grove are considerable. It's a magnificent school with beautiful grounds and brilliant facilities. Many parents are amazed at the opportunity this offers for their kids

From there, at 18 the best kids are offered their first pro contract, or released

The aim is to develop players who progress into the first team. Alan identified several real talents that he felt had everything they need to make it.

There are also players that are watched by other clubs who will move on. He said one boy will have been watched 20 times by scouts by one club before an offer will come in. These deals are done regularly but go unreported (they are minors). Because of the solidarity deal, clubs are powerless to stop players moving. Each kid can only be signed from year to year.

When interest comes in from more than one club, our job is to try and create a dutch auction to broker a deal beyond the prescribed minimums to include sell on's and appearance deals etc.

I spent 3 hours with Alan exploring ways to increase funding and to extend the reach of the DC's. In simple terms, the wider the reach, the more likely we are to find more talent which will, in turn, help us on the pitch.

Thanks.
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Thank you for sharing. That was a really informative read.

Old city man · Jun 23, 2019

Great info on the background of our youth set up.

Fans like to know this stuff it's our future!

Brackenrigg · Jun 23, 2019

Glenn

Thanks again for going above and beyond in replying to my enquiry about the club's activity in junior football.
From your info it is clear that we are better placed all round than I had thought. I am delighted that your discussions with Alan Nevison were beneficial on a number of fronts and that you may be able to provide the Academy access to new, so far, untapped investment that will help
them to increase their activities.
I only have one comment to make going forward. As I mentioned in my original post there is very little coverage around the club of the Academy activity and I hope we can use the website or the programme to highlight the ongoing news of teams or individuals throughout the year
to keep your interested audience up to date.
Once again so many thanks for your efforts in bringing such high quality insight to the unseen background work going on around the club.
f

Glenn Ackroyd said: ↑

To update on this.

I met Alan Nevison (Academy Manager) yesterday at the training ground.

Alan is a great guy with an enormous passion for Bradford City. His enthusiasm rubs off on you when he speaks.

He was coaching the Academy kids at Manchester United but he's a City fan. His dad was in the player's lounge and he was sitting in the stand on the day of the fire. As he told me, "I'm here because City's part of my blood."

Here's a rundown of our Academy:

Academy's are rated from Cat 1 to Cat 4.

Most Premier clubs and some Championships are Cat 1

The main difference relates to the number of coaches. A Cat 1 will have over 50 full-time coaches. A massive cost

If you have a Cat 1, you have more funding from Premier League from their 'Solidarity Payments' - but you have to contribute more as a club on a pro-rata basis. We could never contemplate this because, beyond the coaches, you need facilities like more 4G pitches etc. which cost £400k!

The 'Solidarity Payments' stem from a deal done by the Premier League to guarantee more Academy funding at a price... Set payments were put in place to allow bigger clubs to poach young talent for modest sums. This makes it harder to get the sort of deals we've had previously for the likes of Fabian Delph and Andre Wisdom for example

To put this into context, Huddersfield has moved to Cat 4 and now they only coach from under 16's up because they don't see any benefit in coaching kids 8-16.

City are Cat 3. We coach from under 8's to under 18's with 13 coaches across the age groups

Our Academy has 150 kids. Kids who are good are moved up age groups

They are accessed on talent and body development. You may have a 12-year-old who is a late developer in body size and one who is 5 inches taller who is ahead in body, but not chronologically. When they get to 17/18 it will equal out and they consider all of this when looking at talent and putting them into aged teams

Beneath this, we have 4 Elite Development Centres (DC's) at Southfield Grange, Ilkley, Dewsbury and in Seacroft

There are 350 kids in the DC's. They all train and wear the City kit.

These have a DC coordinator and more local coaches running them

The aim of these is to create links with local schools and clubs to provide a channel to the Development Centres

We have 8 scouts watching schools and local clubs. They will have the watched Alpha United FC players playing for the club and in their school's teams many times

Players who are identified as having potential are picked up by scouts and recommended to either the Development Centres or the Academy

Each year, they hold DC Select days to trial DC players and other local talents to bring into the Academy

The Academy brings in players from beyond Bradford. There is a lad who lives in Leeds who gets the train and was a Leeds fan. Alan said he saw his dad down at Valley Parade sheepishly buying tickets for City.

At 16 players are offered BTEC in Sports Science courses. This is where our links to the School become a big draw, even against top tier clubs.

The BTEC is equivalent to 3 A-Levels - For the majority of players who don't make the grade they have a pathway to University with many getting unconditional offers on sporting degrees due to the course and links to football

We also house out of area talent in the school 6th form boarding residency.

To put this into context, the fees to attend and board at a school like Woodhouse Grove are considerable. It's a magnificent school with beautiful grounds and brilliant facilities. Many parents are amazed at the opportunity this offers for their kids

From there, at 18 the best kids are offered their first pro contract, or released

The aim is to develop players who progress into the first team. Alan identified several real talents that he felt had everything they need to make it.

There are also players that are watched by other clubs who will move on. He said one boy will have been watched 20 times by scouts by one club before an offer will come in. These deals are done regularly but go unreported (they are minors). Because of the solidarity deal, clubs are powerless to stop players moving. Each kid can only be signed from year to year.

When interest comes in from more than one club, our job is to try and create a dutch auction to broker a deal beyond the prescribed minimums to include sell on's and appearance deals etc.

I spent 3 hours with Alan exploring ways to increase funding and to extend the reach of the DC's. In simple terms, the wider the reach, the more likely we are to find more talent which will, in turn, help us on the pitch.

Thanks.
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