Bar na bas
Schoolboy⭐
Chairman's Blog
This week’s topic – Youth Development – is one of my favourites. This is probably in recognition that the Club’s advancement must be from organic growth.
Over the last couple of weeks I have talked about player purchase and the increased structure that we have, and are continuing to, put in place to assist the decision making regarding player purchase and to lessen both the “foreign experience” and “agent influence”.
We are never going to eradicate agents and I can equally see the necessity of some players needing guidance. It is only when those agents are clearly not working in their clients’ best interests that I have become concerned. In my view their interests take priority over their clients’ interests i.e. the footballer far too frequently. That said, I am a little jaundiced on this subject and, of course, I always want what is best for Southend United Football Club.
The way in which we can improve not only our knowledge and judgement and perhaps also lessen those external influences is to ensure that our players are brought up within a culture that reflects not only their best interest but also those of the Club.
Our Youth Development Programme will achieve that unity.
I remarked last week about how able Ricky Duncan is. Ricky was employed by the Club some years ago but left to join Cambridge where there was good advancement in their youth setup. However Cambridge United’s first team’s fall from grace provided an opportunity for Ricky to rejoin Southend – now approaching four years.
Prior to that our youth programme, whilst always important in my mind, was a secondary issue relative to the Club’s finances, first team success and a whole host of other issues that we first needed to address. Nevertheless, as soon as we had corrected other parts of the business the nurturing of young players and providing both the infrastructure and investment to achieve an eventual assembly line was next in my sights.
It is my thought that a lot of clubs in the lower divisions pay lip service to their Centres of Excellence, operating within the grant budget as opposed to making available additional funds to achieve a true investment in the Club’s future. I can understand other Club’s reservations because it may take a considerable amount of money before any fruits of those labours are seen and even then it cannot be guaranteed.
When Ricky rejoined us he was fortunately able to bring some personnel from the Cambridge set up and a few players also followed. That helped kick start this area of the business.
Our growth has been rapid and I have no doubt this will continue as we apply more funds and personnel to the system. I set out below a family tree (prepared by others) of the individuals involved in the Football Club’s management which identifies the various strands including our current youth programme.
Football Management Structure:
You can therefore begin to see the investment that goes on behind the scenes and careful planning all in an effort to provide future success together with stability and longevity to our Club.
The fruits of this initial investment are already beginning to show with the likes of Franck Moussa, Johnny Herd and Stuart O’Keefe. I am confident there are several others waiting in the wings.
We have already established satellites outside our immediate geography together with the beginning of a network overseas which includes a development exchange programme with CD Javea in Spain. Indeed at this evening’s match against Crewe Alexandra we have not only Javea’s Manager and President attending, but also the Chief Scout of Villarreal, who have a close association with Javea, so that we may broaden the Club’s opportunities.
The next and most vital step in our Youth Development Programme is to achieve academy status which will be obtained in conjunction with the new stadium plans. I am hopeful we will meet those criteria within 18 months.
Apart from a requirement for improved education for academy footballers we also have to provide a 60m x 40m indoor area which I am planning as part of the retail development adjacent to the new stadium.
I therefore hope that our supporters can begin to understand the pivotal role the new stadium plans will play not just in terms of increased revenues but the impact it will have on attracting young players.
I know that some supporters feel that funds are diverted to the new stadium. This is not correct, but significant funds are employed in building and developing the Football Club’s business for the future whilst, of course, our attention remains focused on the present.
I am convinced this holistic approach is the right way forward.
Next week I want to stay with Youth Development and just reflect on some of the Club’s activity over the past five years and give you my outlook over the next five years as a direct comparison of how I see your Club advancing.
However, for the moment my immediate attention is focused on tonight’s match against Crewe Alexandra and three more points. Keep the faith!
Up the Blues!
Ron Martin
Chairman,
Southend United Football Club
This week’s topic – Youth Development – is one of my favourites. This is probably in recognition that the Club’s advancement must be from organic growth.
Over the last couple of weeks I have talked about player purchase and the increased structure that we have, and are continuing to, put in place to assist the decision making regarding player purchase and to lessen both the “foreign experience” and “agent influence”.
We are never going to eradicate agents and I can equally see the necessity of some players needing guidance. It is only when those agents are clearly not working in their clients’ best interests that I have become concerned. In my view their interests take priority over their clients’ interests i.e. the footballer far too frequently. That said, I am a little jaundiced on this subject and, of course, I always want what is best for Southend United Football Club.
The way in which we can improve not only our knowledge and judgement and perhaps also lessen those external influences is to ensure that our players are brought up within a culture that reflects not only their best interest but also those of the Club.
Our Youth Development Programme will achieve that unity.
I remarked last week about how able Ricky Duncan is. Ricky was employed by the Club some years ago but left to join Cambridge where there was good advancement in their youth setup. However Cambridge United’s first team’s fall from grace provided an opportunity for Ricky to rejoin Southend – now approaching four years.
Prior to that our youth programme, whilst always important in my mind, was a secondary issue relative to the Club’s finances, first team success and a whole host of other issues that we first needed to address. Nevertheless, as soon as we had corrected other parts of the business the nurturing of young players and providing both the infrastructure and investment to achieve an eventual assembly line was next in my sights.
It is my thought that a lot of clubs in the lower divisions pay lip service to their Centres of Excellence, operating within the grant budget as opposed to making available additional funds to achieve a true investment in the Club’s future. I can understand other Club’s reservations because it may take a considerable amount of money before any fruits of those labours are seen and even then it cannot be guaranteed.
When Ricky rejoined us he was fortunately able to bring some personnel from the Cambridge set up and a few players also followed. That helped kick start this area of the business.
Our growth has been rapid and I have no doubt this will continue as we apply more funds and personnel to the system. I set out below a family tree (prepared by others) of the individuals involved in the Football Club’s management which identifies the various strands including our current youth programme.
Football Management Structure:
You can therefore begin to see the investment that goes on behind the scenes and careful planning all in an effort to provide future success together with stability and longevity to our Club.
The fruits of this initial investment are already beginning to show with the likes of Franck Moussa, Johnny Herd and Stuart O’Keefe. I am confident there are several others waiting in the wings.
We have already established satellites outside our immediate geography together with the beginning of a network overseas which includes a development exchange programme with CD Javea in Spain. Indeed at this evening’s match against Crewe Alexandra we have not only Javea’s Manager and President attending, but also the Chief Scout of Villarreal, who have a close association with Javea, so that we may broaden the Club’s opportunities.
The next and most vital step in our Youth Development Programme is to achieve academy status which will be obtained in conjunction with the new stadium plans. I am hopeful we will meet those criteria within 18 months.
Apart from a requirement for improved education for academy footballers we also have to provide a 60m x 40m indoor area which I am planning as part of the retail development adjacent to the new stadium.
I therefore hope that our supporters can begin to understand the pivotal role the new stadium plans will play not just in terms of increased revenues but the impact it will have on attracting young players.
I know that some supporters feel that funds are diverted to the new stadium. This is not correct, but significant funds are employed in building and developing the Football Club’s business for the future whilst, of course, our attention remains focused on the present.
I am convinced this holistic approach is the right way forward.
Next week I want to stay with Youth Development and just reflect on some of the Club’s activity over the past five years and give you my outlook over the next five years as a direct comparison of how I see your Club advancing.
However, for the moment my immediate attention is focused on tonight’s match against Crewe Alexandra and three more points. Keep the faith!
Up the Blues!
Chairman,
Southend United Football Club
