Inside The Academy Episode 5: Blackburn Rovers FC Football Documentary

MyPersonalFootballCoach Director Of Coaching and World-Class Individual Skill Specialist, Saul Isaksson-Hurst, makes the trip to the north of England to take a look through the Academy operations of former English Premier League club, Blackburn Rovers.

Although no longer a top-tier club, their Academy has still kept its Category 1 status whilst working tirelessly to uphold the Club Motto, ‘Arte et Labore’ – By Skill and Hard Work . The academy is one which prides itself on building a culture of understanding that “Every individual from U9-U23 will be developed holistically as both a person and a player” and having developed some quality talent in the past with players such as Damien Duff and David Dunn, they continue to do so with David Raya, who came through on a scholarship and is now Goalkeeper at Arsenal FC (on loan from Brentford FC), Scott Wharton, Matty Pearson, and Hayden Carter.

This the fifth episode of the ‘Inside The Academy’ documentary series and it’s not one to be missed!

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So guys here we are we’ve arrived at Blackburn Rovers Academy nestled here between the Luscious Hills of Lancashire this cap 1 Academy constantly punches above its weight and his prolific Player Development Center we’re going to find out what the secrets are and what really goes on inside the academy let’s [Applause] [Applause] go [Applause] Just training today some of you up with a first team training group for us should be the lads that are fit so Jackson Teddy Joe Boggan Dan Shaw Nathan Damini Brad you’re back with us full time now aren’t you little round of applause for our Brad with well done you

It’s been a long time so listen we’ll we’ll get through this quite quick post match from the weekend you let that played what’s your thoughts thought you played really well first half some really good stuff probably should have been two or three usual second half a bit more of a

Ding-dong thought definitely we did better defending our box as a team miles better start seeing you leers and race winning balls in The Penalty Box on Miles better we’re going to have a look at some clips on that there was a few times I remember that I’ll show you the

Clips maybe later in the week Dan made a couple of great eight runs was if your touch was right you could have slid him but because his touch was back in he had to play off his left and therefore the fullback was able to block the pass me

To go back in field so some you know we’re going out the basics of the game your basic receiving skills opening out off the same foot to play off the same foot if you can’t get it right it stops opportunities for us to build to the pitch that’s it know where they’re going

This morning you’ve got 10 minutes to get up the top you let go With my name is Dar tofy uh I am the assistant PDP coach at blackb Rovers Academy uh this is my 16th season coaching at the Academy yeah so there was a few things we had to consider this morning obviously we ended up with smaller numbers than we thought we would due to

The first team uh needing some players which is good for them um so we we have a game tomorrow so it’s actually Match Day minus one for us today and we played Saturday so we had to be very careful on area size so we tried to make it quite

Tight um but we wanted to work on the principle of playing forward and running forward um so yeah so we we started off with with some basic mannequin work which I think is important in terms terms of painting the pictures for the boys so they recognize them in the game

And and giving them repetition of receiving skills that they’re going to need to execute it when the game starts and they’re doing it under pressure trying to link it to our playing philosophy which a big part is play forward run forward um but the the key

For me is around the receiving skills of the players so the first team will speak a lot that the ball needs to go on the first or the second touch so the players body shape when they receive the ball when we break a line is so important

That they can go forward after second touch or they could even play forward off their first touch depending on the timing of the run so I think I think it’s important to do basic practices like that where they get real repetition and and practice of basic receiving

Skills which sometimes I think we can maybe neglect with the older players and we think because they’re not in the foundation of the ydp anymore we can just talk tactics but the reality is we do it against mannequins they get it wrong a lot so for me that’s really

Important to just start with that basic base and we try and do that a couple of times a week at least T obviously you talked about that the key forward runs being the big thing you’re working off the first team plays with like a six and

28 if you like yeah and so those so those timing how important how do you get those that that understanding of that timing that run and those different sorts of runs you work those different angles didn’t you me they say you have those almost like Bernard Silva run

Sterling run that sort of thing how do you how how how do you how do you ensure you get those sort of outcomes with the players well obviously we do a lot in the video room on that sort of stuff so we do a lot of unit stuff we actually

Had went through it quite a bit this morning we’ll do quite a bit of un opposed pattern so they they get recognize the timings of when to move so when when the eight receives it in the pocket the the 7 11 n know that that the

Timing of the runs when to go when it goes wide the eight knows that he has to arrive late and fast he doesn’t want to end up in there too early offside or he gets tracked so again they’re sort of the key principles yeah trying to arrive

Late and fast really so it’s harder to to track uh running off the back of people for me the ball needs to be rolling as much as possible so we will generally work to blocks to so we know the physical outcomes will be they’re thereabout so I don’t like

Stopping it unless I need to so in stuff like pass and drills they know the expectations they know what’s expected from them in terms of the detail so it’ll generally just be little reminders within it if I see something I need to go in on I’ll go in but if I can I’ll

Try and and try and just coach in the stoppages so two-minute blocks almost like a basketball style of coaching really where you’re you’re coaching in the in the The Gap so the second session was basically like I said I would like to because it’s forward runs and forward

Passes generally want to work in a bigger area to to give them more reps of doing that um so it was quite tight so it was quite difficult to get the passes in so yeah the aim was to make three passes it didn’t have to make any more

Than three and then you’re looking to find someone who can get to forward facing forward runs break the back line on side at right timing right way to pass and then when they scored pass pass to the goalie they scored and then the aim was to go back and doing it the

Other way so yeah the main principles were can we play off one and two touches can we play Central which is again a part of the sort of DNA of the first team and they like to play Central to exploit exploit Central for out towin

Runners so I thought we got quite a good uh reps of of the principles that we were after albe it the area space was quite tight similar to the pass and drill in an ideal world I wouldn’t stop it at all within the two minutes but there was probably two or three times

When there was a really key moment where I thought you’ve missed the opportunity to play forward because just scanning and receiving skills weren’t right uh so I felt that was important to show the whole group that so then they you know when they see that picture again they

Don’t miss it cuz I think a big part of this way of playing is we want to dominate the ball sometimes it might take six seven passes to get someone forward facing in in an attacking area so if they consistently Miss chances to play the runners we have to do that

Again um so I think it was important to highlight that and then tell us about that last practice there yeah so the last practice was basically an extension of The Possession the rules were the exact same um obviously the goalies were on the ends of the possession that’s a a

Key thing that we try and do in this Modern Way of playing now that everyone has the goal he have to be able to play with the feet as almost an extra Midfield so so we’ll always have them on the end of the possessions where we can

And then the the game at the end was the exact same rules just with goals and instead of passing it to score they got a chance to go and score so it’s basically a One V one um Central and so would that be like a a sort of standard

Sort of set for a session would it be you start with got your activation then you start with with a technical one oppos a technical little bit of like a possession type thing and then into like a game sort of thing yeah generally we’ll try we’ll try and make sure there

A clear link throughout all the all the sessions if we can um we won’t always do pass and drills sometimes we’ll start with just some Rondo work um again our first team are big on the Rondo work so it’s something we have to replicate because our boys get a lot of exposure

Quite early to go and train with the first team so it’s important that we prep them so they’re ready when they go up and they know the types of sessions they’re going to be going into so we’ll do generally a lot of that type of work

But like I said I thought that linked we could look a bit more tactical on the pass and drill today keep the load down physically um I think we ended up on about 3 3.5k which is which is about right for a match they minus one really lovely Dar

Brant nice one thank you so guys here we are just finished uh watching that first session the under 18s training uh really interesting session uh we’re talking to the coaches beforehand they were talking how they like to mirror what the first team are doing and the first team play

Basically with a six and two eights they’re doing a lot about forward runs those forward movement runs like we call a silver run that diagonal run like behind the shoulder of the fullback be ENT session also they’ve got a game tomorrow so the loading they lower quite

Tight on that uh so the space is a bit smaller so again yeah it really great to see the coaches work great personality great technical detail like that little passing pattern drill at the beginning little possession into like a game as well so yeah really interest to see

Those guys work thank God it’s dry no rain yet so we’re being lucky fingers crossed we stay the same so yeah we’re going to zip back inside and um have a bit of lunch around half 12 1:00 going to do a few inter interviews before that

And we’re going to go up to the first team building see have a little look up there a little butcher see uh Greg up there Greg’s the technical director the sporting director he’s also been on the podcast so really mon ghost really helped organize this for us and then in

The afternoon we’ve got um the ydp in and again we’re staying over the night and then tomorrow back in here with some of the older age groups and a day release with the ydp and an FP session in the afternoon so all systems [Applause] go my name is Stuart Jones and I head of the Academy of black barar Rovers so St tell us how long you’ve been here at Blackburn Rovers um I’ve been here 12 years now 12 years and uh tell us a bit about your role then I mean the academy

Manager Roes train has evolved quite a bit hasn’t it I think during the e p maybe where you know in the old days a classical uh Academy manager might be running everything you know day today tell us about your role and your your your day-to-day sort of Duties yeah I

Think obviously the role is overseen um all aspects of the program really um across boort science Recruitment and analysis all the different departments I’m really ensuring there’s a there’s a connection um and an alignment between the Academy of first team in terms of developing young players and but very

Much yeah it’s it’s dayto day um in the offices across the department and ensuring that as an academy and we’re operating to to a category one standard interesting and so we watched that we just sat on the pitch watching that great 18 session and dar was doing he

Was talking about how you know they W doing a lot of stuff with eight forward runs with the eight because that’s what the first team um requires and so tell us about that one um know is it is it real part of the key thing of Academy

Having that you know quick Rel like tight relationship with the first team in terms of their playing philosophy and then how important is it getting those boys ready for that opportunity if they get it if you like yeah I think I think it’s massively important I think we we

Talk about um a lot with the director of football and the first team staff around key principles and Alignment through the system because ultimately L I think where where we’ve been really successful over the last couple of seasons is transitioning players from this building

Up to the STC and they have to be fully prepared in terms of style of play key principles what to expect of them of them as young individuals um and that’ll be something that when they go up in that environment it’s it’s key that the manager can see that and the director of

Football um in terms of that they’re capable of doing them roles within the team and I mean but I mean what are the challenges around that I mean firstly so you know how how young do you go with that I mean are those principles of way

All through the academy or is it just the PDP which focus on those for example Those eigh runs those fors runs I mean how how sort of aligned do you have to be with the first team with the academy or how how autonomous is it if you like

Yeah I think I think it’s huge in PDP um because a lot of them young players were certainly over the last two years of transition quite quickly into into the senior environment um they do a lot of 11 v1s they train with the first team so it’s really important in the PDP that

They have a real understanding of them principles it’s then as we move down through the system it’s sort of drip fed through um certainly at 9es 10 11s you know in the foundation phase um very minimal really um it’s just trying to drip feed sort of um small parts of that

Ino very minimal and then it gradually builds as they go through the ydp and certainly 15 16s they’ll have a a real good understanding before they move into into the PDP I mean Al you know you’ve been here 12 years I mean and you know the reality of you know professional

Football I mean what’s what’s the challenge then with that I mean if there is a change at the top as there often is within the game then you just have to then realign with whoever is with whatever comes in and and what’s what is the you know the process like is that’s

Quite you know another transition is that just something that’s part of the game no listen it’s a good point and it’s it’s one that we’ve discussed at length um certainly with with the board and the director of football who’s who’s just come in I think it has to be a club

Philosophy um in terms of you know the first team manager will eventually move on as they do with football clubs and then it’s upon the club and the director of football to to bring a new coach in but with a belief around them principles that are in place because we’ll have

Spent a number of years in terms of developing players um around them principles and certain types of players that if all of a sudden we change our way way of working the principles change the style of play all that work that’s gone on underneath U becomes irrelevant

So I think there’s a real understanding of the football club that if ever a new Co coach comes in then they have to align to the principles that are now in place interesting and and you you’re quite fortunate at the moment you seem to have a a first team head coach in

Charge who’s really is embracing the the academy from to be speaking to Jordan and darra there the uh lots of young guys getting lots of opportunities daily to train with the first team uh Jord was talking to me about how you know the on

The on the on the off days you know lot the players are actually playing like like in-house games with the first team as well so tell us a bit about that because a lot of Academy managers would be incredibly jealous probably to have this this you know this this symbiotic

Relationship with the uh with the first team yeah listen it it’s terrific what I would say as well is that there’s a real um not just from the first team director of football both the board and the owners there’s a real emphasis now on the academy which is which brings

Pressure on us to a point but is also in a positive sense um because we’ve now become fundamental to the future of the football club in terms of developing our own players from within the building um alongside that we’re very fortunate that we have a director of football in Greg

Bron who has got a youth background um so understands Youth Development and the importance of developing young players um we’ve now got a head coach who want to work with young players and and want to transition them into our first team so I think that sort of collaborative

Approach from owners’s board director of football first team staff Academy staff has been a massive positive um and I think that’s why we’ve we’ve had so much success certainly over the last 18 months to to two years and with that model and young players are going up we

Do 11 v1s there’s a training group that go with the first team it’s a real integrated approach to to Youth Development with yeah yeah we’re fortunate really and how I mean I’m imagining you know you’re you’re a cat one Club but you’re relatively small smaller Club surrounded by these big

Giants in the Northwest your cities United Liverpool Everton around the corner how important is it to have productive Academy a productive pathway for players to come in and so imagine you know so you can say to parents look this is what we do differently we do actually have a pathway to the first

Team right yeah listen there’s there’s no doubt um you know there’s some huge football clubs on the doorstep but but what I would say is that and and we’re not going to be able to compete financially we understand that but but how we compete and and how we retain our

Best talent coming through the system is based on pathway and opportunity and we sell that when we speak with parents and players we actually demonstrate that through our work and daytoday in terms of young players you know we we’ve got 15 year olds and our and 16 year olds

Who are who are taking part in 11 v1s against first team players so so we actually demonstrate that and use that really as a mechanism guess to to retain recruit and and ultimately develop our young players so yeah it’s massively important and to and it’s a huge selling

Point for us as a football Club Greg Bron director of football at Blackburn Rovers so Greg uh tell us a little bit about your role here at the club yeah it’s to look after the medium-term interest of the football club to make sure that we’re always trying to plan ahead um five departments reporting into me obviously coaching the

First team coaching probably being the priority one of those five but alongside that the academy medical analysis recruitment Etc so yes to oversee that process we watched a really great session with the 18s earlier and uh the coach we’re talking about the coach we’re talking about some some very

Tactical elements eight runs and stuff saying that’s what the first team coach likes and I said well what happens you know if there’s a transition at the top or there often is at this level they said well actually the the idea is that there’s a consistent Club approach to it

Is that is that your thoughts that come from you in terms of that you looking for coaches who can come in and have a bringing consistency to a club if that makes sense definitely I think the academy is so Central to what we want to do at Blackburn Rovers that we had to

Take a long-term perspective on it so first of all we had to identify the style of football we wanted to play we then had to appoint a head coach who suited that style of football and and believed in young players and then it’s up to him to develop his model within

That framework he’s he he’s he is and you have to allow the head coach to be as creative as possible within the framework to to to have success on the pitch but what it does mean in terms of succession planning when the day comes that Jon uh either has taken Blackburn

To the Premier League and then gets a move beyond that or get to move elsewhere then we’re ready to appoint someone who can come in and fit the model and then you’re not having start again from scratch um on the downside of that you could say that Academy players

Only get one way of looking at developing but I believe that that that personally is the best way to try and develop young players is to have real Clarity on the framework for them to develop in can you give us an idea some elements of that framework you’re

Talking about yeah just really really clear to be dominant with the ball I know everybody says that in football but to be dominant in the ball and have Clarity on what that looks like um to be dominant without the ball as well to be aggressive without the ball to go and

Chase the ball high up the pitch to be brave enough to try and isolate your Defenders 1 V one and your attackers 1 V one and let them coope with those Jewels all over the pitch and then to be to have real understanding of what it looks like in transition both offensively and

Defensively so that that’s the model again it’s it’s not rocket science I think a lot of progressive clubs are trying to do the same piece of work but I just believe in when you’re trying to put players into a development environment you have to have Clarity on their framework that they’re going to

Play Within and that that for me that is the the clarity that we wanted interesting and I mean you you mean you’re you’re you spent a lot of your career in Academy football from development we’ve obviously been on the podcast had you’re a greatting journey how does that what effect has that had

On your the way you approached this role do you think maybe different to other people in the similar position at different clubs um I think the the journey that I went on to get to this role showed me a couple of things that firstly you have to stay on strategy

Even when things don’t appear to be going right so right now we’re coming off the back of three defeats in the league which have sandwiched a couple of unbelievable results in the cup where we’ve done fantastically with a really really young team but what’s important now is you don’t panic and say right

Back to the drawing board you stay with that and stay with that process but secondly in terms of then integrating young players into the team you have to create a framework where you can do that you can’t do that if you’re carrying 30 players into a season it’s very very hard the

Managers the managers and the head coach’s job at any football Club isn’t just managing players 1 to 11 in the squad that’s almost the easy part the hard part is keeping players 12 to 20 25 30 depending how big your squad is keeping th those guys happy and if

You’ve got to make a decision about who goes on the bench is it the 28 29 year old player who isn’t in favor right now and is number 24 or 25 in your squad or is it the 17 18 year old who’s doing really really well has done

Fantastically in 18s and 21’s football and deserves that opportunity it takes a very very strong manager to say I’m going to leave that 28 29 year old out so if you can give the manager or head coach a framework to work with it and he believes in what in what young players

Can bring to an environment as well then I just believe that it creates an environment for success and what about in terms of like what the academy does dayto day how much uh impact or you know how much how much how much not influence

Do you have over that in terms of is it more like know look this is the framework we talked about this is what want to happen are you are you are you are you involved in the methodology of what the academy do no no no I’m not really no I think it’s

Uh it’s about employing experts and letting them get on with their jobs U the framework and the big picture stuff heavily involved with but the the the dotting the eyes and crossing the te’s and even in fact just just building the Cycles the mess cycle the macro cycle no

Employ really good coaches and and trust them and believe them to get on with their work yeah interesting do you ever like what past looking at you know there was an under n session I remember doing that you know that bring that yeah definitely I I mean the under n and the

Under eight uh pre-academy groups uh are fantastic to watch the Players just play with so much freedom and I think what you’ve learned from that is can you try and carry that on all the way through the club so we have a head coach here who talks both in sessions and and in

Public about wanting players to make mistakes understanding that making mistakes is a vital part of the learning process so it’s really really healthy that you can join that whole picture up and we’re doing some work at the club at the moment that we hope to announce over

The next few weeks where we’re talking about what’s the right environment how can you create the right environment for players to learn where we accept they have to be challenged and pushed really really hard but have to know that that challenge is coming from a really supportive place because at the moment

If I’m an under nine player and I’ve got a one-year contract because that’s the longest contract you’re allowed to give out to an under nine the red period of registration is one year and at Christmas or in February you have a bad Rapport both you and the parent are sat

There thinking well we know what’s going to happen here the writing’s on the wall how can you then ask them to be expressive and go out and make mistakes I I I watched the program about U I’m sure you saw it about Crystal Palace and their Academy and the amount of pressure

Was put on that result there and it was almost like The X Factor the player was walking in the parents was pacing up and down outside waiting for that and for me that doesn’t then sit alongside a learning environment and I appreciate TV had to make it look a particular way you

And I’ve both been involved it doesn’t work exactly like that but the point is is if we want a really good learning environment what framework can we create as a club in order to do that and that’s hopefully some of the stuff we’re working on right now interesting and

What about I mean you you’ve worked in Norway right in in England Spirits clubs what’s what’s unique about this the community and what’s the culture around here and this this sort of Club of you as you experienced um I think the supporters and the the key stakeholders

The board Etc the club really understand the importance of the academy uh Jack Walker our previous benefactor built the academy built the training ground really understood the importance of that bought experts into help running that and I think when I was looking at Blackburn Rovers and was that the right club for

Me to take this first step on my journey as as a director of football the great thing was is I could come in and say right we’re not having to start from scratch and build an academy it’s in place you’re looking at the players who

Had just got to the I think they got to the quarterfinals of the fa youth cup and you had Adam Warton and Ash Phillips and and Jake batty and many many others you had a really good group in the current 21s who were around the first team already because it’s all very well

Saying to a head coach you have to promote and you have to look within before we look outside for players but then if he looks with it and goes well there’s nobody here it’s very very hard to carry that through so that that was very very attractive for me and finally

What what you I mean look this this this film is about football development what’s how would you how do you you know rate success in the academy what are you looking for in terms of you know what are what’s what are those those key things that looking forward to think

Right we’ve done a good job in the academy now yeah well I think you can have some benchmarks at First Team level but they’re no more than that they’re measures of success you can’t use them as targets because if you’re saying to the head coach you have to put a player

In or we’d like you to put a player in just to tick a box to say we’ve had this x percentage that you’re just setting yourself up for fails but you can have benchmarks of what good looks like and be honest about those and and and speak

Internally about those but I think the most important thing for any Academy journey is that you look Beyond just creating footballers and that’s some of the piece that work we’re trying to do you’re trying to give players a really well-rounded education and I think trying to give them a long journey in

The academy as well and being honest with them from the outset they’re saying you’re going to come in here you’re going to have a brilliant time you’re going to experience football at the very very highest level you can do in this country and going into playing tournaments all around Europe but at the

End of it there’s no guarantee you’re going to have a career from that and that’s not the outcome that we’re searching for from the very beginning of this and if you’re honest with parents and have that conversation from the beginning I think most of them then

Appreciate it but if you build this up that if you come to Blackburn rers you’re going to do this and you’re going to do that and you’re talking to 9 10 11 year olds then I think you really set everybody up to fail from the outset yeah Greg thanks very much appreciate it

Thanks mate no problems okay guys so uh evening time here uh we’ve come up from the academy building up to the first team facility to the indoor Dome and being obviously north of England it’s hammering down with rain as usual here so we’re going to come inside here uh got something interesting going

On they’ve got a little development game going on basically so we got some trialist coming in to play uh some of the academy boys uh so we’re going to speak to Dan see exactly what’s going on and then uh watch the game but also it’s good good good opportunity to come and

See some of the other things going on as well as the training sessions and seeing out topies working so my name is Dan stubberfield um I’m the under 13s 14s lead um so yeah I oversee those age groups all right so Dan tell us what’s going on here tonight uh yeah tonight’s

Uh a mixture of obviously we like giving our players different experiences um but also it’s a recruitment tool as well um so yeah just in the last week um on Saturday we had a bio banding set of games against man united um where the lads were sort of uh pitched on their

Situation rather than the their date of birth um and then obviously tonight we’re playing 6v6 indoors so we’re going to have of two pitches um they’re all kind of trialist really at the club and La that been identified and um a mixture of 13s 14s 15s on the opposition yeah so

It’ll yeah you know just just different formats so 66 and what you doing the boys Jordan said you might be mixing them up to give everyone opportunity to play together yes we’ve got some 13s playing um we’ve sort of thrown a a challenge at them really today um so

What I said to them um just obviously in the dress room at the back was I gave them a list of sort of eight players that they have but then from there they had to decide their own warm-up right which they’ve just sort of gone through whether they gave any time to athletic

Stuff whether it was just straight away the balls are out which which is what happened they just straight away started playing um they have they’ve had to decide what the lineup is and which two players don’t start and then they’ve also had to choose their formation and

They’ll make all the subs all night so me and Tavi we are just going to uh um facilitate observe maybe give them little hints and little so so are the Academy players on TR list or just Tri lists on the yellows no on the yellows are just Academy

Players um and the the reds are all Tri list playing Academy against Tri list basically yeah yeah yeah but there most of them will probably have maybe 6 12 months age okay so they’re a bit more they’re older more maturated okay so you got be okay makes sense okay go and what

About so going to player Le thing let me get on there anything any sort particular come he looking for or you know well I mean the main thing we talk about a lot is our principles um so you know whether they’ve got a coach talking

To them a coach barking at them or us silent you know we would expect to see you know what we do and how we play and what we expect from our players with and without the ball um obviously with it being an indoor night we’d expect to see

A lot of 1 V one stuff a lot of creativity you know combinations um and hopefully lots of shots how how how often do you do this sort of thing here um at Le at least every couple of months um yeah we trying I mean with the

Triling vehicle they work in 8we blocks so we would tend to at the end of their 8we cycle sometimes we play 11 V1 outside um and obviously um we did so the last time they came in we did 11 v11 the time before we did this but it was

7v7 last time this time it’s 6v6 so yeah we just try and mix it up a little bit really and you know we might see somebody on their team that might not have stood out not might not have sha if it was 11b 11 full pitch you know

Developer so yeah it just gives us a different angle I guess on the Players so guys here we go day two Blackburn Rovers academy uh looking forward to a real jam-pack day got the uh day release boys in the ydp so looking forward to doing that they’ve just gone into to do a bit of classroom session then they got on the field

Session uh they got gym as well analysis they got some individual work in the afternoon and also then we’re going to see bit the foundation phase this evening so look forward to another great day just uh walking past this wall here reminds you of how prolific this Academy

Is some top dop players come out of it Shay given James BT Damen Duff David dun uh Phil Jones David reyer here so lots and lots of quality players coming out of this club so like I say really consistent player developer really you know punching above its weight so um

Again really privileged to be here and them open up this the all access areas for us and uh looking forward to another great day of inside the academy let’s Go hi yeah so I’m John Prince I’m the senior Youth Development coach at Blackburn Rovers okay so uh John today’s um day release yes just a little bit of a run through what’s the to expect for the boys today yeah well day release is

A great day that we have as part of our program the boys obviously really enjoy it because the gets come out of school um we um pack a lot into the day um so they do some education at the start uh they do a pitch base snc session working

On their fundamental movements uh we have a football session we have analysis um we have a gym session and then they do a an ILO based session in the afternoon so there’s a there’s a lot for them during the day and it’s it’s more contact time for us with the players so

What age groups we in today so we’ve got the under 15s and under 16s and um is there other day release days as well do you other AG groups in yeah we have also the 13s and 14s that come in on day release they come in tomorrow on a on a

Wednesday so they’ll do a similar format basically very similar yeah and to that 13 is the first day that you do uh that’s the first age group that come out of school yeah so in theory and um so what’s so how much how much training time are those ydp boys getting from 13

Upwards yeah so they’re doing uh four to five football sessions a week and obviously then they’ve got gym sessions analysis um and uh movement skill work on top of that as well Okay cool so so so we’re looking forward to to s in terms of the on the pitch stuff we had

The on the pitch session and there’s some sort of individual work as well in the off yeah that’s right yeah so that’s that’s more position specific work that we do in the afternoon okay so how how you I mean we’re going to see it just an idea how you’re going to structure that

In terms of what you know in terms of coaches how many players you got how much individual work there’s some Le stuff coach Le stuff it’s it’s it’s coach Le um so we have more staff for that because obviously you need the players in smaller groups and the idea

With that is that they get um position specific work High repetition one or two pitches that they get to practice um that links to something individual for them that’s going to help them in the 11 V1 nice and then so you’re starting at 13 some clubs start at 12 any any reason

Why you start at 13 um well our the way we structure it here is our ydp runs 13 to 16 so we have four age groups at the FP 9’s 10 11’s 12’s and then four at the ydp some clubs have their ydp starting at 12’s but that’s just just How We Do

It um it gives them also year seven in school at Secondary School to settle in and then once they’ve got through to year eight then they come out with because that’s the the argument I’ve had a lot and it’s quite a uh convincing one is that that that first year of

Secondary school is quite a lot ter transition day relase as well is quite you know it’s quite a lot going on isn’t it for I they they do need to just into the school really it’s a it’s a really but it’s probably the biggest change in their school career going from primary

School to secondary school so it works well for us what I would say with day release though is that we link very closely with the schools we don’t want them coming out of school to have a detrimental effect on their education if there are any boys that are slipping

Behind at all they stop coming in and if there’s any issues to do with discipline or behavior at school we also don’t you know let them in for a period and we’re trying to Paul yesterday he was telling us about sort of your your Tactical cycle with like said two two weeks in

Position transition week two weeks out position another transition week and is that the same you guys anyone yeah it’s slightly different in the slightly different in the ydp we sort of tend to go more three and three right so we link We link the uh in possession and transition moments together so what

We’ll be doing today is we’ll be looking at organized defending so we don’t have the ball but then obviously we’re we’re trying to organize in a way to then win it and then transition into counterattacking so we link those two parts together yeah um rather than looking at them in isolation lovely

Cheers all right thanks a lot s okay guys we’re up here on the astro turf the astro turf is in the first team facility just next to the indoor Center where we filmed last night like I said the ydp boys are going to do some uh

Work here going to have a little bit activation some speed work with the snc guy and then into our session and listen the sun’s out it’s glorious fingers cross it stays like that cuz it is a bit Touch and Go choppy up here in terms of

The weather so hopefully we stay dry and get the full session out here looking forward to this session four parts and again so first bit the activation Speedway then the rest led by John here so I really look forward to this session and see what they’re getting up

To by building it faster let’s hit max speed at the Yellow oh blues are in the lead Blues are in the lead oh Jack Mar got P though nice going back in back in catch it up catch it up so my name’s Connell and I’m the ydp strength and conditioning coach tell us about that uh session you did

Earlier with the boys yeah so the session we did this morning then was a the improving Max velocity so that’s your maximum Sprint speed so what we did we always do a fun warm-up to start with so we’ve got a half hour session always try to make that first bit fun so it

Gets the lads in they’re engaged they’re they’re enjoying it and then we go into some like basic technique stuff so today you’ve seen us do some of the a switches which is like basic posture basic positioning which we use when we run at top speed and then we built that into

Some longer effort so allowing the boys to Sprint at their Max Speed because we need to be hitting that in order to get ourselves faster how often would you do that Max six speed stuff in a week for example so in a week once a week we try

We try to hit on it yeah and try to get a couple efforts in in that session and then we ched a bit earlier but I mean we talked about you know how how important is it to work on the technique and how much effect can you have in a player’s

Speed yeah yeah it’s the technique’s really important so obviously it’s a little bit different if you’re training 100 met Sprinter to a footballer they’re going to use that technique a little bit different in a game but if we can give them the basic techniques then that’ll

Give them a chance to express it and use it a little bit more in a game in the context whatever they’re in open in open in open in deeper one to White SK that’s where you got ATT track good pass well played good now he can Attack Done well done John Thomson lead under 16 coach so John tell us about that uh the session just put on Let talk us with the session you the first part yeah so the first part was more of a a physical practice in where we tried to get a lot

Of changes of Direction so it was in essence it was a 2v2 practice where the team in possession also had a Target player that they could bounce off when they were trying to score in the S goals so the so the the topic of the week is

Out of possession yeah yeah so what are the outcomes you looking to from that get that 2v2 yeah so we’re looking at basically the the players being Compact and narrow and not getting split through the middle and then just finding opportunities to apply pressure and then when one does the other one coming

Across and giving some uh compactness and balance bit like pressure Pressure cover pressure and cover yeah we didn’t have the balance we moved on to practices that did have that but yeah the first one was about that is it do do you like coach like a high pressing

Philosophy here like is that like a prevalent yeah yeah absolutely so we’re always looking to press and a large part of the work we’ve done up until this point in the season up until probably the last week or two has been all around pressing forward thinking forward

Pressing however in the last week or two weeks we’ve started to look at okay that’s fine and we’ve had a lot of Joy from that but what about when you can’t press cuz you can’t always and we’re now just trying to give them just another option so that when they can’t press

They they compat but they’re still always looking to jump from that into a press as well well so that was the work today and tell us about the next part of the session then yes the second part that uh that John LED was we added an

Extra player to the unit as well so rather than it just being uh applying pressure and cover we had a third player that was applying some balance to to the practice and then we added more of a transitional element as well so we had the goalkeepers in towards the end of

That where the lads could if they win it going go and shoot and score John was talking about sliding across and getting across so I mean imagine key things there pness moving as a unit trying to make the space as small is that right yeah that’s right yeah so uh we don’t

Want to be split we don’t want to be played through that’s the main thing we can uh we can accept that the ball might go wide but when it does then we use the touch line to try and trap the team as well so the big thing above everything

Was don’t get played through but as the ball does go across you’ve got to get your shoulders out and get out quickly and then tell us about the last that last bit of progression and you run into a bigger format yeah so the last bit was

A game so we end ended up playing what in essence was uh three midfielders against three midfielders with a center off stepping in to give them the 4 V3 so that was replicating on the occasions when we can’t press what do we do so we’ve been playing 4-33 a lot with a

Sitter and two number eights so that was just working on when you can’t press the four has to come across and Screen the uh Striker and it’s what do the two eights do well the other eight drops down alongside the four to give us double protection and actual game we’d

Have a Winger that had come in as well but that would be for Thursday when we’re on to bigger bigger numbers and bigger areas J obviously we’re going to do the analysis so it’s a little bit different today so you’ve had the nutrition you’ve got the gym you’ve got this got the guys

Filming so it’s going to be a slightly shorter session the analysis so there might only be one or two people present normally the’ be more of you we with break off so we’re going to do a very quick debrief on the United game for

Group one CU I think there’s 10 or 11 of you in this room played in that game then a couple of individual clips and then we’ll break [Applause] Off what’s going on this afternoon so this afternoon is our second session this is a shorter session because of physical loading yeah so it fits really well we do um individual individual learning objectives so we group The Players positionally and do some position specific work so this afternoon

I’m going to be doing something with our um attacking players some finishing and it’s going to be minimal touch finishing so ideally first time okay cool first time finishes and then my colleague Eddie is going to be doing something with our um Midfield players because we got Midfield players out as well they’re

Going to be doing some combining to finish so how long you going to be out here for we’re going to do about 20 minutes work and then we’re going to go into some small sided stuff off the back of it uh and we’re actually going to

Link that into what we did this morning we spoke about the fact that we needed to do the next step really was to exploit transition opportunities so we’re going to be doing some overload games um as part of that as well and is this a typical sort of you know day

Release program boys who get specific stuff 20 minutes yeah so they have two two opportunities during the week to do position specific work and this is one of them um um so yeah so it’s a different different type of session to this morning but one that they really

Enjoy as well lovely get that midline of the ball you get under that ball it’s going to go up great finish Jack he yeah Paul Gray senior Foundation phase cach here at B RS Academy so Paul then tell us about the foundation phase here at Blackburn give us an idea is the sort of you know sort of methodology you use here with the youngest yeah obviously um we’re dealing with the with

The youngest players in the academy um and we know all about the statistics of of players coming into the system who who end up finally becoming professional footballers so probably the the the key for us is to make sure that these boys have a fantastic experience um they they

Run in to the door absolutely desperate to to come in and train absolutely desperate to come in and play games and and just making sure that it’s a it’s a really positive experience where they’re going to play with and against some fantastic footballers they’re going to get to visit some um unbelievable venues

To to to play games they’re going to play against some um bigname opposition in World football so it’s all about um those outstanding experiences and and those memories that that these boys are going to have for a long time and then obviously the byproduct of that

Is that some of them are going to push on and and they might eventually get to where they want to get to gives an idea of like you know what a typical session might look like in the under NS for example for like a Blackburn Rovers player yeah so

Um lots of variety um there’ll be uh a good mixture of um technical practices um where the the practices will be um quite closed and um be working on lots of repetitions um to improve that that um the key technical elements of the game um then there’ll be lots of One V

Ones uh small number practices overloads underloads um and then um linking the the the technical practices and the the small skill practices into a few small-sided games as well um so we try and keep the numbers as small as possible so there’s uh lots of repetition of the techniques lots of

Repetition of of skills and um then they can then go out and they can explore stuff in in small sided games and and relevant games in on a match day and I mean how do you you know so you train three times a week and play a game all

Sunday I assume y so how does how do you split that week up do you have like topics for each night do you have like a technical Tactical cycle for the month how I mean what was that sort of work yeah so um something that’s slightly

Changed this season we now have a a six week Co coaching program um and that six weeks is basically um it’s the same as the rest of the academy it’s split into um two weeks of in possession so so with the ball and we call it organized attack um

Then there’s a week of transition so it’s going from from attacking to defending and then there’s two weeks of uh defensive stuff so organize defending um and then a final week of of of transition so transition from defending to to attacking and so that’s how the

Six weeks is broken down we then have a review week at the end of that so week seven of of the program if you like um we can revisit any stuff um that we think that the boys might need to work on a little bit more and it just gives

Us a bit of uh breathing time to review how the six weeks have gone and then and then we we repeat the the cycle again so two weeks in possession transition week two weeks out of possession defending if you like and then one week another transition week yeah that’s right what

Do how do you how do you make that specific to the nines which makes what what what the nines doing that the 13s aren’t doing in terms of how do you you know make that page specific if you like yeah absolutely so um the game model runs throughout the club right so um

That’s the stuff that the first team are working on the under ns are working on but it’s a much more watered down version if you like um so we’ve got to make sure that um we look at the the the player profiles for the for the first

Team players what does a first team player need um and then that will go filter down into what a PDP player will need what a ydp player will need and then what a foundation phase player will need and it’s probably pretty basic stuff um that we’re looking for in in

The foundation phase so our coaching program if you like is takeen from those player profiles what are the key things um that an under nine player will need um and and that’s how we we kind of we build the coaching program so you know um first touch uh receiving skills um short passing

Techniques um One V one moves and and skills um so yeah that that’s how the the coaching program is made for the for the foundation pH players and um I mean I mean how do you have what’s what’s the transition look like from 9es to 11s I mean what’s the difference in approach

There is any is there any difference in what the players are doing in that in those in that between those age groups um the program is very very similar um so the coaching program will stay the same but in effect um our our curriculum is like a a spiral curriculum so it’s

It’s six weeks working on the program um and then get the review week then we go again with another six weeks and all we’re trying to do really is just layer bits on all the time um so we’re kind of building from that first week that they

Come into nines and and we just keep layering things on you know working on the same uh topics um you know working on with with similar practices and just adding bits in all the time really and and you you’re quite sort of a unique position in terms of you’re surrounded

By big clubs here know big category one you know Premier League Giants I mean what do you what do you say we all know you know the pressures of recruitment what do you say to parents to say why they should come to Blackburn and maybe then choosing one of the other big clubs

Maybe yeah absolutely like you say this is um this is probably one of the hot beds in English football really um and you know it’s tough when you when you’re surrounded by the two big Manchester clubs the the two big Liverpool clubs um but what we say here at Blackburn rers

It’s it’s more of a family feel um that you know you are part of our blackb rers uh family when we sign players at at the foundation phase when we when when we say to an eight-year-old um we want to sign you at blackb Rovers pretty much at the well it is at

The moment that’s a promise of you will be here with us for at least three years so 9es T and 11s um we said to the parents you know that is our commitment to you we’re not going to we’re not going to throw someone away um who we

Who we signed at 8 years old and then at 9 years old say oh no sorry you’re not good enough anymore you know we will we will give them that that that’s quite unique is I haven’t heard that before yeah and I think that might even that

Might even change a little bit more with with some of the new developments that are going to perhaps happen in the club in the in the near future but um I think psychological safety is something that gets talked about more and more um one thing that we want we want the players

Here to be to be comfortable um to be able to experiment to try and things and if they’ve got that fear hanging over them every year at rain and release time um we’re not sure if um we’re not sure if players are going to feel psychologically safe and and probably

More so parents and and we know where a lot of the pressure comes from um you know quite often it’s the the parents worrying about return and release at the end of every season and that’s quite interesting because Greg’s almost used those same words there and he’s talked

About ear Lu talk to Greg the director football uh he said the same thing about you know is that an environment where players will try and be courageous and make mistakes so is this obviously then this is a club-wide sort of you know yeah you know consistent cultural thing

You go like DNA a the club yeah absolutely it’s something that we’ve that we’ve gone through um probably over the last year to 18 months it’s something that’s been talked about from from top to bottom and it’s it’s probably something that um although we feel we’re quite good at it now it’s

Something that we want to get even better at and and we want an environment where the players do feel safe and um that you know we trust them and and we believe in them and you know and we feel like that’s going to be the best environment for them young players to

Flourish in how do you um balance the you know individual possession with group possession particularly with the youngest age groups I mean how what I mean you talked about those skills techniques the One V one skills how much of your program particular nines is weighted towards individual possession

And how much would like the group possession like you know what I mean in terms of of the parts of the move of the group where rondos or group possession sort of stuff that Mak sense yeah um I think it’s something that um coaches and and clubs have wrestled with for a long

Time um I think we all know that there are certain clubs here especially here in the Northwest who are absolutely more down the route of um it’s all about the individual player uh and Academy is a a doggy dog we’re trying to just um create uh top individual players and and

They’ll encourage their found F players to get on the ball and just just just go with it and then there’s other clubs who are um you know probably more possession based and and we want to keep the ball more and and it’s about the team and and

And how the team do and and you know and making them good decisions but I think we’re probably somewhere in the middle I would say um yeah we want uh some players to be uh outstanding technically and and be able to keep possession of the ball on their own stay on the ball

Um but we also want them to be to be good decision makers as well so and I think at the foundation phase I think it’s just striking the balance right not being too far down one side and not being too far down the other side and each player is absolutely an individual

And what’s right for one player you know might be a little bit different for another player and I would you know I’m also going to ask you know we’ve using the my personal football coach at for a few years now what’s I mean why why did you choose use the my person football

Coach app and what does it bring to the club yeah I think we we only have a limited amount of time with the players right you know we we have we’re quite lucky we’re we’re category one club and um we do have pretty good training hours

But they’re not with us all the time and we just feel it’s important that um in that time away from us um the players can go and do something uh on their own in their own spare time you know and they’ve got loads of ideas at the touch

Of you just get the smartphone or get their iPad out and they can go and they can put on their own practices um so that’s been a massive help to us um it’s also helped the coaches as well um so where we are situated G geographically um sometimes tough for um

Parents to get their kids from Manchester or Liverpool or other places in Lancer um so a lot will set off straight from school to avoid traffic so we get a lot of players here quite early at times and then other players who are here late and so one of the other ways

We’ve used um the app is the coaches are really clear on right this week we’re going to be working on this skill this skill this skill from my personal football coach and um they just set them practices up the the children know at the beginning of the week so we’ll send

A message out to the parents this is what we’re working on this week from my personal football coach and they can come they can arrive if they’re there early and they’re there and they just set up the practice El and and they’re doing them so yourself you’re doing a

Bit in bit out yourself getting B skills out I know if I’m getting a little bit old for that noww appr brilant thank much Michael KY head of Academy recruitment tell us about your role here then uh at the club and so ply my rool is to oversee all the The Scouting

Network that we have whether that be from under six right the way through to under 18 and just’s more of a focus within the Northwest um and managing the network of Scouts that we have there and linking in closely with the amazing talent manager who looks after the 17s to 21 there’s a

Bit of a cross over there but is tends to be more outside the Northwest and look nationally and uh Tes gives an idea about how how big is your scouting Network for example at the club I mean compared to you you said you you experien other clubs as well what’s

What’s it like here in in this club and it’s probably a small in that way overall and we’ve predominantly Northwest based and the scouts we have about 30 Scouts and that’s broken down to six casuals H about 24 casuals and six senior Scouts right so the senior Scouts are more

Um Regional based so we have some in like you look after Lanier mey side greater Manchester Yorkshire being the the four big areas then they have your Scouts you reporting to them but we can distribute them right anywhere really and and and so what tell us what sort of

Things you’re looking for in a player what is sort of thing as a Blackburn Rover’s player what are the qualities you looking for a lot of what we’re looking for is in line with the the player profiles linking in from what the face team has set and so each position

Has different characteristics that we’re looking for and then that filters down into the younger age groups obviously it’s less detailed in like the foundation phase in the pre Academy and where we’re just looking for like athleticism and technique but then you get a little bit more meat on the bone

As they get older and it all falls in line to what the fa team want really and so obviously athletism and technique’s big but obviously we want ones who’ve got a good attitude and you know a good work ethic I think work ethic is a big you know theme throughout the club what

To do on the ball and off the ball it’s quite important and tell us about you’re in quite a unique position here because you’re almost nestled between you know you got the big clubs in Liverpool the big clubs in Manchester you all know how aggressive Academy recruitment is how do

You you know Thrive within that in in in you know within all those clubs around you plus you got all the other clubs as well I mean you know it must be a challenge for you but how how do you differenti differenti differentiate differentiate yourself from them guys if

That makes sense you know what’s the difference what’s us yeah yeah um obviously we we’ve got a good pathway here and so you know players from the outside know that that we sell that quite you know quite big when when they come in through the door but we have

Good relationships with the other clubs as well and so although we’re working against them and trying to get the best we can and we do work with them because we want some boys to come out of them clubs um you know it’s important to be the first

Protocol and for anyone coming out to L your man united your man cities Liverpool’s ever and because they have they do have good players and how we do it different they probably have enough staff to you know focus on every area we’ll be a little bit more specific on what we

Focus in so we do we get the best we can in Pre Academy but there probably more of a focus in Lancer there and then we tend to pick up the next you know number of players 11 to 14 Grassroots we’re probably you know as good as them at

Picking up them because you know we have a real clear Target of adding to the groups to them ages along with what they release at like 12 and 14 as well cuz they key age groups of you know retain and release really what about like International Players I mean obviously

David ryer came out of here famously you’ve had a lot of uh Success With Boys from around the country and Canada and Al Ireland and stuff how how important is that and how do you approach that you know in terms of weaving those players in with the local boys yeah it’s it’s a

Lot more difficult now with brexit so we can’t sign them a like they could previously and know David re come through the link that we had with cor all them years back and which you know wouldn’t work now because the rules around brexit so it’s probably more focused covering like the international

Tournaments and then it’s it’s doing like the pre-work for when you can sign number 18 right and that’s probably where we put our effort in really it’s and then we pass it on to the face team so with you I mean I’m just interested

So in terms of your I mean are you still bringing 18 19 year olds in and in terms of they’re Academy player but obviously they’re Pros then aren’t they so what do you work when does when does your when does your remix stop if you like and

When you stop is it just you know are you still getting the older players in to get into the 21s or is that more the first team pro yeah so we’ve got a head of a maing talent who right who oversees that part of it um obviously up to 18 in

Around youth teamers where while I’ll overse then Paul will take over from like the amazing talent ages like around the 21s but if we get the work right younger down there’s not as big as emphasis to add to it and to make the numbers up and then anyone who comes in around them

Ages now it’s probably been face team silence really and um we were talking to Paul Gray yesterday he was saying you know in terms of you know I said you know what’s your USP said that you know this is a real family orientated Club I mean that’s maybe the difference between

One of the you know these big you know Premier League Superstar you know International is that maybe the bit of difference you have here that you can make the connections a bit more you’re a bit more of a closeit family type environment yeah I think you probably see like a smaller building smaller

Amount of staff everyone speaks a little bit more because of that what that creates obviously when I was at Everton it was a bigger building more staff you don’t see each other as much you don’t talk in as much detail as what as what you do here and um everyone seems to be

More on the same page here all working towards the one goal um and it’s and like everyone seems to know the kids’ names like little things like that rather than you know they’re just another player they come in and out everyone in the building will know most

Of the the players names which is quite important how important is it being a cat one Academy in terms of keeping your players in terms of being able to isolate yourself from those those big neighbors you have um C being cap one’s massive and in terms of the games program at 18s

21s retaining players if we didn’t have that we’d be you know we’d lose players but from a recruitment point of view if if we wasn’t cat one then it it it hinder us if that makes sense and it’d be a lot more difficult in terms of getting them in the facilities that

You need the amount of staff that we we would have and it’s massive to be cat one more so for the train and compensation as well and you know some we’ve got some good players and if if we were in cat one they they could go for

Like half the price right so you know it’s it’s really important that we R te that so guys yeah really interesting chat there with the head of recruitment really interesting to see you know how this club not only survives but strives you know in this environment where they’re surrounded by big super clubs

You know and obviously they’ve got a you know know Pathway to the first team and a prolific track record of producing players so really good to see but now we’re going to head up for the last session back to the first team complex up the road there to see to the Astro T

To see the foundation phase work Eddie’s going to put a session on with the youngest a nice way to finish the trip really you know seeing the whole Academy work there we’ve gone from you know we’ve seen the oldest boys the ydp and now for the foundation phase so great to

Finish it off really looking forward to it uh but you have been so far so Good Eddie Stanford I’m one of the lead Foundation pH coaches at blackb yeah so io’s at the beginning so just just the individual learning uh objectives for the players it was based on more shooting so we we looked at shift and and shoot so little aspects of it we we

Did a combination of things from wider the box to in more Central areas as well so just looking at little details in and around how we get Defenders off balance to be in a position to shift and shoot we also looked at combining uh across

The box and we the third one we looked at was play receiving kind of movements off the ball and and almost like a disguise combination where we turn and shot ourselves so there there were the three kind of combinations and and areas of work we looked at uh and we set it up

In a in a variety of ways really so there wasn’t one set way um but just basically in a position where that would be relevant to the game um positions that that be receiving and combining uh in and around the box so that’s that’s pretty much how how the the setup was

Then we went into an opposed practice um so obviously our theme for the week is is organized defending um first session of the week would always start in a defensive third then then it Follow by tomorrow night being in the middle and then obviously the weekend that’ll

Follow up with the final third where we’re more High pressing and but so tonight’s session was more about being compact uh in and around the Box in our defensive third looking at various scenarios as well so balls going over the top balls in wide areas and how how

We’re reacting in certain scenarios of the pitch in defensive third um so again yeah similar similar setup defensive third uh we started with two center backs and a screener so all relevant to the players at the weekend and and stuff that we doing on a constant basis in the

Games so we just again just looking around dealing with different scenarios that that they might come across within within a weekend’s game or just linking it back into the small-sided games on a Tuesday night we do more kind of small-sided games for repetition so if you notice everything throughout was was

Always small numbers um just purely to get the repetition in so we’ve in a small sided games we favor doing those types of Works especially linking in with small practices um just to give them more repetition of Defending and actually practicing uh what they’ve just been working on his smaller numbers um

Seeing if it links him with the game and how many times they they bring out that kind of work on a constant basis and and constantly getting uh tested under under Pressure so guys what an expiring couple of days here at this Top Class Academy first of all want to say a big thank you to the academy manager Stuart Jordan head of coaching and obviously Greg browton the director of football here who’ve given us this access all areas to

This top class Academy really it’s really humbling uh to come to places like this and see such top practitioners work people are really obsessed with Player Development and you know Academy like this has got a real you know prolific trap record about producing with producing players but also a real

Pathway uh for the players that coming through and both of those things are really unique in Academy football so like I said it’s been a pleasure and a real privilege to be uh let in let in here and see what goes on but like I say remember uh like And subscribe and share

And remember to turn on notifications cu the next inside Academy just around the corner but Master the ball Master the game I’ll see you next Time