A perennial joke between my old man and I would often revolve around the Wolves during the close season, and what activities might be happening behind those big tinted doors down Waterloo Road.
July would follow June. Tick would follow tock and the only stride of any apparent purpose would be made by Sir Billy Wright, high up on his pedestal.
‘They’ve put the ‘closed’ sign up in the window,’ Dad would say. ‘I saw the curtains twitch as they did it,’ he’d chortle, evoking an image of Arkwright and Granville in their dusty corner shop.
We’d be looking in the wrong place these days, as a vibrant hub of activity refuses to stand still a couple of miles down the road.
Wolves’ Compton Academy facilities represent a futuristic nest for youth football, populated by all manner of little buzzing bees whose ability to make honey will be nurtured, not ignored.
Mick McCarthy achieved many things during his time at Molineux, but this multi-million pound facility, featuring space-age dome, jaw dropping technology inside it and vast expanse of 4G pitches might just be his finest legacy – albeit inadvertently.
While Mick wasn’t mentioned by name during my tour of the site during the recent Fans’ Parliament, he may as well have been, as his antiquated philosophies and complete lack of interest in the kids of tomorrow were pretty much laid bare.
The next Mark Davies will not be shunned for yesterday’s Nigel Quashie. Neither will a budding Scott Malone make way for an Eircom Stephen Ward. Not when so much time and effort went into each player’s development in the first place.
Amid such a stunning, vibrant environment, those days are long gone.
As elite development squad physio Jazz Sodhi told me diplomatically when I asked him about that previous regime:
“Before, we would concentrate on strength and conditioning. Now there’s a bigger onus on functional movement with the kids. I.e. What will they will actually do in a game. We want them to move well and efficiently.”
Academy manager Gareth Prosser offered more evidence that whatever has happened in the past will stay precisely there.
“It is important that our playing philosophy, from Kenny at the top, runs right the way through the club.”
When asked if mobility is the priority, he added: “It is important but there are many things we look for. Are they comfortable on the ball, can they play? Will they get it back quickly? Can they build from the back? Can they counter?”
From the age of under 12s, the boys predominantly play a 4-2-3-1 style in much the same way as the first team and the environment couldn’t be more suitable for their elevation, as and when they’re ready.
Injuries, too, will surely be managed better with risk reduced thanks to all manner of gadgets and gizmos, including some ridiculous special gymnasium flooring which we had to take the club’s word for (it hadn’t been laid when we went)
Lessons appear to have been learned.
As Kenny said in the past seven days or so: “You can get rid of young players too quickly because suddenly they can turn up 18 months or two years down the line and look a completely different player.
“For some young players out there, it’s important for them to see a path through. As Kevin Thelwell would say, they can create their own journey into Wolves’ first team.
“The reason we have this youth policy is we want to produce players of the calibre of Carl Ikeme and Danny Batth.
“That’s what we want to do and is why we’re here.”
As a manager of a little Penn Colts team myself, I can vouch for the academy’s due diligence methods, even at the tender age of seven.
I am blessed to work with a little lad called Harry (amongst others), who continues to amaze me each weekend with his intuitive grasp of so many advanced principles.
He gets it back quickly. He can build from the back. He can counter. He can play!
So when academy coach Dan Bolas invited my team along to play in the very environment I’d been lucky enough to see first-hand the week before, I was desperate to spill the beans beforehand. To tell him about my wonderful number 5 called Harry.
There was no need.
We came, they saw, and they’ve already chosen the lad to conquer for Wolves’ pre-academy team against Brentford this Saturday!
Like the academy facilities themselves and the coaches employed within them, Harry will do us proud.
And ……………. not just Harry. Identfying talent at a young age is key, both for the individual development of the youngster and for the club in the long term.
I am over the moon that the Academy is moving on apace and I look forward to future years when we see those kids involved become class players for our club.
Brilliant post Ben – thank you for keeping us in the loop.
Great blog that mate (content and style).
Timely too given Stevo has been in the rag today:
http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2014/10/23/well-rival-the-best-in-premier-league-exclusive-interview-with-wolves-chairman-steve-morgan/
I think as football supporters we’re generally impatient. We want everything in the here and now, which is why a lot of fans probably don’t place enough value on investing in youth.
However, when you look at the squad today with Ikeme, Price, Ebanks-Landell, McAlinden, Ismail, Batth (and imported youth like Evans, Cassidy and Doherty) it’s clear why it’s so important.
Kenny has constantly talked about the importance of continually refreshing the squad and drip feeding players in and out. This should mean that young lads that show ability will get their chance.
You reference Mick McCarthy and I think his regime was very different. He had his core players that he stuck with for the duration of his time at the club, which shut the door on many promising youngsters. But in fairness, you have to say much harder to blood the kids in the Premier League with so much pressure on every game.
That’s why if we want to achieve our ambitions of playing regularly in the top flight whilst still bringing the kids through, they have to be of an incredibly high calibre from a young age. Southampton have carved out a niche for doing this and it looks like we’re trying to do the same.
I think it’s very smart and with Kenny steering the first team ship so splendidly, there’s a lot to feel good about.
McCarthy was and still is a dinosaur when it come to the Acadamy and youth set set up he may have taken us to the premier Leauge but we now only starting to recover from the damage he did by egnoreing the Acadamy and in a way his neglect and total disregard for the Acadamy has resulted in M and M realising its importantance as a feeding system for the first team ( but not at the expense of a transfer budge i hopet ) McCarthy’s disregard has in fact resulted in substantial investment…………..Thank’s Mick
That makes great reading and very encouraging. I was never a fan of the loan system but I can see now that it is the only way to get the best academy graduates decent match experience. Interesting to note that a certain Andre Wisdom is getting glowing reviews playing for the Baggies and is rated more highly than some of his home clubs defenders, so the loan system gives a young defender a chance to shine and a manager that prefers to chuck money away on transfers a lesson in how to spot a good prospect.
Ben,
A great piece, I think with this site your’e preaching to the converted, most contributers on the blog appreciate and see the value of investing in the young bloods. Similar to you every Wednesday I take my 5 year old Grandson along to Brewood where he recieves training from a professionally trained FA coach who does the schools during the week and in the evenings he does coaching sessions. Looking at the 5 year old and the other kids up to the age of 10 or 11 it’s absolutely mind blowing to see their development in the year we have been taking him.
On a Saturday we’re out at 8 am to travel 40 miles to Burton on Trent to support my 9 year old Grandson who plays Non -Competitive football, I love it, Non -Competitive football, they are not allowed to keep scores or have league places so they learn the skills of football without being pressurised by over zealous managers or Parents. These kids give their heart and soul and grow in stature as individuals that are part of something Amazing (ATeam) the grow and thrive in health and musculature development is incredible. My Grandson is pretty useful and never misses, next week he is coming to Tettenhall for the coaching sesseions during half term and the kids learn people care about them, when you feel wanted you perform better and develop into better people.
The Wolves academy is on my doorstep, I cycle past it almost daily and it never stops, there is always activity there and young players are nurtured and cared for until they are ready to progress. We call Moxey & Morgen mamy things but one thing we can’t is not interested in youth development.
We go to the U 21 matches at home without fail and everything you say in your article is true, the U21s mirror the first team, since Kenny has been there the change in play and attitude is there for all to see. It works, it makes sense and it’s being promoted by Wolves. Waiting in the wings are the Dicko’s Sako’s and GOLBOURNE’s of tomorrow.
As fans what do we want, we want success, when do we want it? NOW. But it does’nt work that way,we have a builder not an Oil Sheik or Russian Oligarth. So patience is the key, Kenny is the answer, only last week he said his goal is Europe. I for one believe him.
COYW.
🙂 🙂
As I have stated on here before this only reaffirms my belief that this club as a whole is moving in the right direction. There may be a few blips along the way but as Stu stated we are building a club for the future and Ben’s comments only seem to back this up.
This all looks great to me.
The facilities really are superb and it seems that the people who work there are doing the business.
With what you’ve seen and said Ben, the two Ms have done their very best to secure the future of the club we all love.
I hope they are set on doing their best for the present as well.
But most of all, I hope I’m still around to see a couple of ex Penn Colts in Old Gold, running out in front of a packed Molineux, to the strains of Jeff Beck.
Seeing the club concentrate so much on the youth and nurturing young talent makes me proud to be a wolves fan. Fantastic to hear so much emphasis put on getting a great footballing ethos into our academy from such a young age.
If anything I’d rather see us build on this and retain our championship status than suffer in the dregs of the premier league with an ageing team like the McCarthy years.
Plant the seeds and sit back and watch the garden grow.
Hopefully, we’ll end up with a cohesive, intelligent team that will be buoyed every year with the influx of new talent from the academy.
I don’t really care what division we’re in so long as I’m proud to support the team. And we’re definitely heading in the right direction.
It’s great that we have these wonderful facilities I remember having
Derek Doogan at my school football team supporting guys going for trials ..now it’s different….
We are up there with the best and hopefully we will also have a link to England under 16s too but of course to home grow another John Richards Steve Bull or dare I say it,a David Beckham who trained since he was 5..that would be fantastic…
We will have one of the best facilities in the premier…so incidentally ,let’s get there….
Ben,
As ever, a thoughtful and insightful piece. It is great that we not only have academy graduates in th 1st team, but we also have the foundations right so that we keep the talent comming. The 2 Ms do deserve credit for the investment. Good luck to Harry and any othrr lsd who catches the eye.
My cousins young lad signed for Wolver quite recently and one of the main reasons they picked Wolves over other so called ‘Bigger Clubs’ was because they were so impressed with the vision the club has for it’s youth and the in depth progressive planning into each of the young hopefuls development……it will be a proud day if I get to see him running onto Molineux as a new young forward……..