Personally, as someone that remembers the position the Academy was in when Ricky Duncan returned in 2005 I feel this is a very sad day for the football club. We will have done very well if we find someone to fill the void who goes on to achieve half of what Ricky has done.
When Ricky arrived, he immediately showed his strength in recruitment, building practically an entire U18 squad and bringing in many more in the younger age groups, such was his reputation and standing in Academy football following his time with Cambridge United.
He also identified that it would be a good idea to involve supporters; as
@TITSUP has already mentioned, the Shrimpers Trust were brought on board with his vision from the very beginning, and it’s a relationship that has continued to the end of his reign.
There was fundraising for players’ digs, for the highly-successful European tour programme, giving our youngsters the opportunity to pit their ability against the very best on the continent, for transport, for gym and physio eqiupment, and also through annual donations for shirt sponsorship.
It’s one of the things Trust members recognise as being important, but Ricky saw that it was beneficial for supporters to feel like they were part of the players’ journeys. Home-developed players get more time from fans, and we’ve had over 50 of them taste first-team football in the last 16-and-a-half years. In fact, at times it’s been just as well we’ve had such a successful Academy as we wouldn’t’ve been able to field a team at all without one.
On the pitch, the club went from a team that were regularly beaten heavily by local foes such as Colchester United and Cambridge to one that was good enough to win a league title ahead of clubs such as Brighton & Hove Albion, Millwall and QPR, as well as reaching the last 16 of The FA Youth Cup twice.
Ricky saw that there were three targets for any player in an Academy system. The best scenario for the club and player was that they went on to feature regularly for the first team at Roots Hall, a model that saw Franck Moussa, Kane Ferdinand, Dan Bentley, Jack Payne, Jack Bridge, Dru Yearwood, Nathan Bishop, Ted Smith and others flourish.
Another scenario was that the club and player benefitted if there was interest from bigger clubs in our players. We gave those players a platform to perform and, if the right offer came in at the right time, we wouldn’t stand in their way. Isaac Hayden, Stephy Mavdidi, Finley Burns, George Murray-Jones, Cameron John, Joseph Joseph, Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel, Keith Asare, Lyle Della-Verde and others are examples of this.
And thirdly, it was always highly likely that a number of players wouldn’t end up making it at professional level, so there was a focus on preparing those players for a career in non-league football (such as Nathan McDonald, Jamie Forshaw, David Cowley) or elsewhere, integrating them into the club in other positions (e.g. Ross Johnson, Dan King, Charlie Barlow).
It isn’t just players that have been developed at the Academy; look at how coaches such as Luke Hobbs and Terry Mason (Arsenal), David Johnson (West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur), Mark Bonner (Cambridge United) and Dave Huzzey have gone on to flourish in the game after spending time at Boots & Laces.
That is all testament to the environment created at Boots & Laces. We’ve regularly ranked in the top 5 Category Three Academies for player development and in other measures. Our facilities, largely, are the reason we’ve not been able to apply for Cat Two status and it’s sad that Ricky won’t see that come to fruition with us should Fossetts Farm and the associated developments get the go-ahead and we ever regain our EFL status.
These are tough shoes to fill for whoever comes in. The many excellent full- and part-time staff at the Academy of course have played their part in its success, but Ricky Duncan is the man who pulled all their efforts together. I believe he will be missed.
