THE ENGLISH ACADEMY SYSTEM

Every Premier League club must have an Academy operating according to strict guidelines. The objective of the guidelines is to ensure that players do not just possess high technical level, but are also schooled in proper self care, nutrition, character, and social skills. The goal is to produce intelligent, skillful players who behave as professionals, can take care of themselves outside the soccer field and who can seamlessly adjust to normal productive life after retiring from playing. The academies are fully funded by the pro clubs. The players do not pay a cent. West Ham, for example, spends $3 Million per year on the academy operations, maintenance, players and staff. The pay back is theoretically in the form of players developed for the first team or players sold to other clubs. Since the cost of an average Premiership player is currently around $3M to $5M, all it takes to keep the academy financially viable is produce one quality player per year or one exceptional player every couple of years. The academies start at U-9 and teams are formed in one year increments all the way through U-16 and then into a two year group of U-17/U-18 players. The soccer year is from September to August, to coincide with the school year. Clubs can sign up to 30 players in each age group, but most sign 12-16 players per group. Players are signed for one year at a time until U-12, making it a one year commitment from both sides. At the end of each year, the club decides which players to retain and who to release. Players are free to leave the club at the end of the year, even if the club wants to keep them, but if they go to another club, the new club must pay the old club a transfer fee to compensate for the time and effort invested into the player. If the two clubs cannot agree on a fee, the transfer fee is determined by a tribunal.

At the U-13 age group, clubs can sign players for either a two year period or a four year period. This longer term commitment is good for the players, but in turn, protects the club from losing the player for the next four years. At U-15, again the clubs sign players for a two year period unless they are already on a four-year deal. At U-17, the players who are good enough leave school to sign on a two year apprenticeship, where they start earning a living as full-time professionals. After the two year apprenticeship, at U-19, players are either signed on a normal professional contract or released.

The U-9 through U-12 age groups train 3 times per week and play one game per week, on the weekend. The training frequency increases gradually after that and by U-17, the players train twice a day Monday to Friday and play once on the weekend. Of the ten sessions for the apprentice professional players (U-17/U-18), three of them are required to be educational sessions to prepare them for a career outside of soccer should they not make the grade as professional players.

Scouting

All clubs have a wide and sophisticated scouting network. The scouting is arguably the most crucial component of the youth academy since it tracks down and identifies the best players outside the club who are the candidates for replacing the released players each year. Until U-12, the academy rules restrict clubs to signing players who live within a one hour commute from the training site. After that, the geographical limit is expanded to 90 minute commute and from U-16 onwards, clubs have no geographical limits for getting players. These commuting limits are obviously designed to force clubs to concentrate on developing their own local players and to prevent young players from spending excessive time traveling to sessions and games. The most important stage for scouting is at the pre-academy ages, U-6, U-7, and U-8. For these young ages, most clubs create satellite centers and invite players to train, so they can evaluate them and sell the club to the most promising players and their parents.

Since clubs are not allowed to sign them before U-9, the best 6-8 year olds can train every night at a different club and test the waters until decision time arrives at U-9. The pro clubs fight over the best players just like here, but once a player signs for a club he can only transfer for a fee. This way, the clubs’ investment is protected while players retain their right to move at the end of the year.

The English Academy Philosophy

The success of an academy program is measured by the number of players they produce for the first team. This is definitely a long term perspective, in stark contrast to how success is measured here by our youth clubs. In England, academy teams don’t have to win games, just produce players. The focus is on developing top players by the time they turn twenty, whereas here, the focus is much shorter term since youth coaches are on a race to develop winning teams to win State Cup at U-13.

In England, game results at the academy games are not important. In fact, academy games in England are all friendly games, just like our U-10/U-12 ‘Academy’ games, except that in England the games are friendly all the way to U-16. The Premiership academy teams play only against other Premier Team’s academies, so there are no promotion-relegations to worry about. There are no standings and no championships until the U-17/U-18 bracket. Since promotion-relegation is based on the results of the professional team, the youth team’s destiny is out of their control and they can just focus on development and let the professional players worry about results.

Academy teams play 8v8 from U-9 to U-11 and play 11v11 from U-12 onwards. The games are split into either four quarters or three thirds, to allow the coaches to bring the players in for instruction or adjustments. The philosophy of many of the academy coaches is to let the players make their own decisions in the game, and use the intervals for any instruction. They especially refrain from coaching the player on the ball and limit coaching from the sidelines for off-the-ball positioning or team shape and even that is done sparingly. The training is repetition based to develop technique, but using activities that replicate game conditions. The goal is to breed good habits by taking care of the little details via repetitions and corrections. The corrections must be positive with coaches careful not to embarrass the players in front of their teammates. By the time players reach 14, they should be technically proficient, so that tactical training can be accomplished. But work on technique is never neglected, even at the first team level. Academy players are not allowed to play more than 30 games per year. This cap on games was implemented to prevent player burn-out, which was a real problem in England prior to the academy system, and is a huge problem in our youth game. Once a player signs for an academy, his playing time is monitored and recorded to make sure he gets sufficient playing time without exceeding the maximum number of games. Academy players are not allowed to play for another youth team and most academies do not allow their players to play even for the school team. The player’s annual schedule is closely supervised to maintain the optimum balance between development and recovery. Furthermore, when a player signs up with an Academy, he is guaranteed to play at least 24 games per year. This mandatory playing time is applicable to all the academy teams at all the academy ages. It’s quite a paradox when profit driven, multi-million dollar clubs operating in the cut-throat business of the professional game treat their youth players with such sensitivity while some of our own youth coaches fail to do the same, even though most of our youth clubs are supposed to be community based, non-profit, volunteer run organizations.

According to Steve Heighway, the Liverpool Academy Director, anytime a player is released, his club helps him find another team at a lower level of the pro game. Parents get a progress report twice a year from the coaching staff, and the player’s school gets a copy of the report as well. The coaching staff works with the schools to monitor the players’ academic progress. The academies are very much in tune with the needs and welfare of young players and do their best to look after them. All academies must employ not just fully qualified coaches, but also medical staff and educational and welfare officers who look after the off-the-field needs and education of the players.

Parents are kept informed via progress reports and periodic communications, but they are not allowed to get involved in the same way parents are involved in the USA. In England’s academies, parents are prohibited from coaching from the sidelines and are generally kept at bay. During training, parents are not allowed near the fields and are usually confined to the club lounge or behind field barriers, where they can watch the session from afar, or relax and socialize.

Some academies, such as the West Ham academy, ask parents to sign a Code of Conduct that outlines the dos and don’ts. Steve Heighway emphasized in his presentations that the academy coaching staff goes to great pains educating the parents on the relatively low rate of academy graduates who actually become professional players. Steve stresses how competitive it is, and that parents have to prepare their son emotionally and practically for the possibility of getting released by the club. According to Steve Heighway, one of the toughest parts of the job is managing parent’s expectations and releasing players and shattering their dreams. The players in Liverpool’s academy are all technically strong, so the ones who do make it are those with the right mental strength and character that can deal with the stresses and the ups and downs.

In his presentation, Tony Carr, the West Ham Academy Director, outlined his academies’ philosophy on player development as follows:

- Open attacking style predominantly 1 & 2 touch movement.

- Player led philosophy.

- Let the players express themselves and let them make the decisions.

- Enjoyable learning environment. Serious but fun.

- Repetition based program.

- Technique based training, breeding good habits.

- Development of the player, not the team. The end product is what matters, not results.

Tony Carr emphasized that the goal is to develop players rather than teams. Game results are not important. West Ham do not emphasize conditioning/strength until U-15 but hire an expert to work on balance, left-right stability and coordination with the younger players.

WHAT LESSONS CAN WE LEARN FROM ENGLAND

The English player development system has undergone drastic changes in the last decade. The irony is that, while The FA has been for many decades a recognized world leader in coaching education and has exported its soccer educational curriculum all over the globe, its player development was steadily falling behind the leading soccer nations such as Holland, France, Italy, Brazil and Argentina. Cultural and historical traditions and a somewhat insular approach had to be overcome in England in order to embrace the methods of some of these leading soccer nations. But now, the ‘Europeanization’ process in England is in full swing. So, the first lesson we can learn from England is that we must also adopt an open mind and learn from everyone and not fall into an insular mind set of ‘this is America and we do things differently here’. We might be in America, but in soccer, we are competing with the rest of the world and can ignore it at our own peril. Our current youth soccer environment has very similar problems to those that existed in England prior to the academy system and we need to address them just as they had to address them.

Those of us who had the privilege to watch the Liverpool U-18 teams train and play against our ODP team would agree that technically, we are still behind the top youth players from abroad. Our players are still prone to giving the ball way needlessly due to poor control or misplaced passing and the lesson is clearly that our coaches need to spend more time on developing technique in the formative ages of 6-14. When the game is faster, our players’ technique breaks down too easily. The other lessons we can learn from England is in the area of child welfare and risk management. The Premiership academies’ commitment to a sensitive treatment of the players is impressive. Even though it’s a business, they are clearly committed to a child centered approach that puts the best interest of the individual player first. They are stridently monitoring player abuse, both mental and physical, ensure enough playing time for each player to build confidence and skill, and invest considerable resources and money to develop rounded human beings rather than just soccer players.

It’s an eye opener to see how the English academies are protecting the players as one would protect a fragile and valuable treasure. For example, restricting the number of games to 30 per year. In the USA, elite players play between 50-100 games per year, which is not only excessive and counterproductive, but a form of player abuse. The Liverpool U-18 team that visited Atlanta in May spent 10 days in America, but only played a total of 3 games. When our teams travel, they play multiple games per day, which is ridiculous. Our players’ experience should be about quality, not quantity. The academies are also very careful to educate and protect the players from any risky behavior, such as unhealthy life style, poor nutrition, lack of supervision, or any potential dangerous situations when traveling. Our clubs could learn a lot from their approach and high regard for players’ well being. Players’ code of conduct, as well as parents’ and coaches’ code, as well as policies addressing safety for team travel, practice and game days would be a good start. The English academies see their youth program as an investment for the future. In contrast, American youth soccer is regarded as a revenue producer, a profit center. The day will have to come when the MLS clubs will take over the development of our elite players and do it along a similar philosophy to the English academies. Until that happens, our youth clubs should monitor the behavior of our coaches and educate the parents to ensure that our players are protected from trophy hunting mentality, burnout, and a misplaced emphasis on winning at younger ages. We must follow the English example and do a better job of protecting the players’ safety, while promoting the technical and creative aspects of the game over team building.