A harrowing read. What support does the club offer its youngsters? Anyone have any ideas? https://news.sky.com/story/max-nobl...oys-on-brink-of-premier-league-dream-12207548
Hard to believe this is happening in these times. Maybe 30 year ago and still then it was disgraceful. Just wow pretty speechless to be honest. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This is hardly a secret. The parents share some of the blame. Whoring their kids out for a golden ticket.
Parents, responsible for their own kids? In this day and age? What is the world coming to? That's not to say it's not a horrible situation and should be investigated. We need to learn from stuff like this and work to ensure it never happens again.
The fantastic Michael Calvin has written a great book on this subject that's well worth a read: https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Hunger-Paradise-Players-Journey/dp/1780896301 And it was also made into a documentary on BT Sport. It's a depressing state of affairs, less than 1% of academy players go on to have a career in the game and the practices used by clubs are despicable. As I've said on here a few times to defend the clubs U23 strategy - everyone at the club will know a majority of the u23 team will go on to not have an impact in the game, but football is a team game so you need a team to support the 1 or 2 players who are earmarked to potentially make it. Some clubs are using absolutely despicable practices and bending kids over the barrel in terms of contracts.
I agree it is a terrible situation. But it is no secret. A simple google search shows articles detailing the negative aspects dating to 2009 on the first page of results. Yes, the racism and bullying must and probably will one day be eliminated and things can change to prevent injuries. But ultimately, not every kid is going to make it as a professional footballer and those that don't make it have drastically reduced their chances of making it in life due to missed education and lack of basic life skills. That is just a fact of the amount of footballers needed compared to the number of applicants. Supply and demand. The probability of a kid making it is microscopic. But some will, so people will keep on trying. How do you prevent parents gambling with their kids lives? You can't.
Must be so tough to deal with as a kid. One minute dreaming of a career as a footballer, the next unemployed and watching those you trained with, maybe you believe you were better than, on tv and earning millions. Feeling you've let your parents done and parents probably acting like you have. Parents have a lot to answer for and shape much of our lives. I know I wouldn't have the life I have now without a lot of direction from my parents in my teens.
My youngest was on the books of a club currently doing very well in the EPL, although they were in the old Division 2 at the time, before the creation of the EPL. Luckily, within a month of being there, he sussed out for himself, when just 15 years old, that he was being used as a "team filler", being played in all sorts of positions except the one that had brought him to their attention in the first place, because his best position was also that of the lad they hoped would be the "breakthrough" player. He received little direct coaching for his preferred position, with the coaches instead being told to try to convert him to what we would today call left wing back. Together we agreed he would see out the season, and when they asked him to come back for the next season, he told them he wasn't interested. They were gobsmacked, and couldn't understand how they'd sucked all the love of football out of him. Despite that, the league club in the town we live knocked on the door & rang us almost every day for a month, and he weakened and went to their set up. He stuck it for 2 months and then jacked it in. 10 years of thinking of precious little other than playing football, and he could barely be bothered to kick a ball for a year. He did play in local men's football for a while, but when he went to Uni he preferred to play rugby. This was almost 30 years ago....I'm sure the pressures and disregard for welfare are even greater now, whatever the lovely "mission statements" claim.
The Harefield Academy always made a point of ensuring that you would be qualified for something else if you didn't make a career in football. But then again, we get told a lot of things that don't actually happen.
Clubs are clearly only really interested in the 1 or 2 who might make it and become a first teamer or realise a fee. The rest are just a cost in terms of £ and time, and they are not charities. However they absolutely have a moral and social obligation to all those in their academies. Hopefully they will see that some serious naming and shaming will result in prospects choosing to join other club's academies. It's not just the general education but the psychological support that is important. Would be interesting to know how the education at an academy compares to a regular secondary school.
If true, some of that stuff is disgusting. Unfortunately as soon as football gets to the more serious side you see the absolute worst in human being all too often.
Academy operations really should be very highly regulated given that they're working with minors. Treating them like schools would be a good start, with appropriate independent inspections etc. The mandatory schooling age being raised to 18 should have taken care of being pressured to drop out without qualifications, at least (which is horribly predatory behavior).
I have to take some of his specific allegations with a pinch of salt. I don't doubt there is an element of truth behind all of them, which is bad enough, but he's painting a ****ensian nightmare with specific details which just sound made up.
Parents are some of the worst culprits. A child may have a particular talent but pushing them constantly will turn what they love into a chore and make them into a far less rounded individual who will struggle in society and as often happens find someone else is better as they go up the food chain. Looking at classical musicians of extreme talent at a young age some were put off for life by the pushing and demands. In others sympathetic parents and pedagogues made sure the right balance is struck as with young Elisey Mysin a piano prodigy in Russia. The same applies to sporting coaches and the support network for children. Even if you never make it to the top great coaches will still instil a love of the sport or pursuit that lasts a lifetime. Sporting bodies still neglect the welfare of juniors as clubs around the world are desperate to find the next prodigy for themselves. As TUT says the moral obligation is there but many unscrupulous agents and clubs ignore it. It's only recently that clubs have decided to try and help those that do not make it in the game by offering courses and general education. However the horror stories continue with trafficking from Africa and South America.
One occasion sticks out. I’d driven back 100 miles, leaving work early, on a Tuesday to pick my lad up, and another from the same County youth squad who was also in this club’s youth ‘scheme’. I then drove another 40 miles in rush hour traffic on the M1, getting to the training ground about 10 minutes late after getting stuck in the nearby traffic (ie not on the motorway). As my lad & his mate were doing the training and ‘coaching’, a member of the club’s ‘youth scheme’ suggested they could have ‘missed’ school so as not to be late. I was speechless.
Go and stand on the lines of any youth team football match and you'll spot "those" parents pretty quickly. The higher the level the worse they get. I've probably mentioned this before but I once had to restrain one of my parents when I was running a team when the coach of our opponents pushed over one of his players as they were leaving the pitch, (his own child). It was under 13s. Our own keeper at the time played horrifically whenever "dad" turned up and screamed all game, but was always on form when "mum" just watched quietly. Who'd have thought?
I coach an Under 9s team (when there aren't Covid restrictions!) and did my FA Level 1 coaching course recently. Much was made on the course that 99% of the players will never get anywhere near a pro-contract, and that our focus (as coaches of children or pub-type teams) should be on creating a positive atmosphere, win lose or draw. However, I think that this message goes over the heads of many youth coaches and parents, who think their role is to drive their children's team to victory and to get weaker players out of their team.
https://trainingground.guru/articles/three-quarters-of-released-players-not-offered-enough-support Interesting article out today.
I'm afraid to say this is also very common practice within tennis. Tennis centres encourage children as young as eight to leave school and "go full time". It's pyramid selling dressed in a tracksuit. I was attending a meeting at a well known midfielder Duck near where I live. I arrived early and saw a lady whose child I used to coach at a previous club. The girl had gone to Haileybury for her secondary education,she was barely of club team level. The lady approached me and we chatted. It transpired that the girl had been invited for a "performance trial" so she could train to be a full time player. Her mother asked me if this was viable,as she was disbelieving,she also asked me to watch just to make sure. I told her I would but we both knew the answer without me trundling down to court 7. It's so transparent and in tennis people are making decisions that they have neither the expertise or the experience to make. Parents can be easily swayed because they so want to believe the myth. All it does it turn children and teenagers away from the sport and the game itself is harmed. I think tennis and football are the worst but I'm told golf isn't far behind. No surprise that they are the three biggest purses available.
https://news.sky.com/video/sky-news...to-released-football-academy-players-12226893 This is a follow-up to the original article. Haven't watched the whole thing yet but posting here as there seems to be quite a bit of interest in this topic. 0.5% of kids entering academies at 9yrs old will make it in the game... That's got to be incredibly tough one those with no backup plan. Academy kids and parents need to be realistic about their chances and prepare them for failure.
Of those groups a lot would have been released before they were 14, children of that age shouldn't need a back up plan as they would still be in education system working towards GCSEs. I think the Harefield model we set up would have been a good working model where training and education are closely linked. I understand that players who were behind in their work were excluded from training.
Maybe being thick here but what's in it for whoever's doling out the invite to the performance trial? I presume there's fees to be paid to stay on the books full time etc?
