Applying the finishing touches or cutting them loose - post academy prospects

My first job after I finished University was working as a tutor to young professional footballers.  Working at 4 clubs – Oxford United, Reading, Wycombe Wanderers and Northampton Town – I spent my days teaching and at times babysitting young lads who all expected football would provide them with a living. Of the 35 or so lads I worked with, 5 or 6 have had very good careers with Dean Whitehead and Sam Ricketts particularly having played a lot of football at Premier League/Championship level. I kept an eye out for the other lads after I moved on and whilst 2 or 3 of them had a year or two as pros before playing a reasonable level of non league football, 25 of them dropped like a stone and to my knowledge didn’t even play at a reasonable level of non league football once they were released.

The fact 5 or 6 of them made a living out of the game is actually surprising - the statistics show that 97% of scholars (or YTs I still refer to them as) are no longer in the professional game by the age of 21. That’s not a big surprise – professional football in the UK is one of the most competitive job markets anywhere. There are 1000s of aspiring kids for every available spot in the game. What is more concerning is the number who drop out of the game altogether.

I find it shocking that lads can go from being on the verge of 1^st team football at a lower league club in the 2^nd year of their scholarship but 18 months later be playing in local district league or worse because they struggle to adapt to life after full time football. In most cases it’s then almost an inevitability that they’ll give the game up and choose to watch the football in the pub with their pals rather than continue to play at a low level so soon after they were a professional.

The reality is that most of these lads are simply not prepared for highly competitive, part time men’s football. As a player I used to see it every pre season. Lads released after their scholarship or maybe after a 1^st yr pro contract would come and do pre season. They looked the business – fit, sharp and technically very good. But when competitive games started, most struggled to have an impact. Mental and physical toughness was often missing, and the fitness they’d retained from the pro game soon wained because they weren’t full time any more. Juggling a job with your football can be tough too. For most it was just too much for them to deal with at 18/19 years of age, and so these lads who only months before had been playing reserve/U21 football for Newcastle, Leeds and Middlesbrough were now deemed not good enough for 6^th or 7^th tier football.

I think things have deteriorated further in the 10 or 15 years since I played. I can think of a number of reasons including

-          The death of reserve team football; academy and U21 football is just not competitive enough. The football played is very technical and played in sterile conditions. To go from that to playing in something like Evo Stik Premier football on a cold windy night in Feb away at a team full of scouse bricklayers who would step over their granny for 3 points is too much of a cultural shock

-          Quotas; many academies now just seem to be filling quotas to comply, to fulfil fixtures or to receive their allocated funding. The process doesn’t seem to expect to produce competitive footballers.

-          General culture; distractions have always been a problem for young footballers but today it feels like potential distractions are more evident than ever. Players have more reasons to lose focus than ever before.

The expectations the players have themselves are generally not realistic. I came across a player recently not currently at a club a few months after being released by a pro club. He was offered £100 a week to play non league football but decided not to because his agent told him not to. He is still not playing football a couple of months later.

I believe there is a lot of potential in that 97% of former full time players who are no longer in the game. It is a difficult transition to make – in most cases I think the players need to continue developing as footballers and as human beings before they are ready to play decent non league football. Sometimes perhaps they need some time away from the game to rediscover the love for the game. Most have been involved in serious, structured football for 10 years by the time they get released at 18/19 so perhaps the last thing they need is another serious programme and another coach demanding they do more.

One thing is for sure, once a pro club realises they no longer need the player, I don’t see many people willing to help these players. It’s an area of the game I think needs serious consideration – like so many people this season, I’d look to use Jamie Vardy as an example of one that got away or developed a little later but his case is one we should use as a reference point.

There’s so much focus on getting players into the academy system – perhaps the English game should be providing these players with more opportunities when they leave. I’d argue the game has a responsibility to the players to do more to prepare them for life after full time football anyway, but in doing so I think there’s a good chance some will blossom into players with the ability to go a long way in the game second time round. Some time spent in the footballing equivalent of the real world and a little more support whilst teenagers mature into adults might be just what they need.