An update from the Academy!
Chester FC Academy Head Coach Mike Allcock provides an update on the Academy and Youth section of the football club…
The Scholars
“We’re really pleased with the twelve new scholars we’ve signed and they have integrated really well into the group.
“We’ve had a good strong pre-season which was followed by an excellent victory in the National League U19’s Alliance opening game of the season against Guiseley, winning 4-0.
“Our North West Youth Alliance Under 18 campaign started with a 1-1 draw against the current champions Irlam, which is a good result. As ever, as an Academy we’re really excited about the FA Youth Cup with the draw expected in the coming days – we’re looking forward to whoever we get.
“A large amount of the second-year scholars will be going out on dual registration early this year to give them experience in Men’s Football. We want to give them FA Youth Cup experience and then once that’s done try and get them out playing senior football as the last part of their development with the Academy.”
Around The First Team Environment
“As many of you would have noticed, current second year scholar Oskar Rosenblatt has featured on the bench for the First Team this season, and impressed us in the Isle of Man, scoring in the win against Lancaster City which was a very special moment.
“We’re really pleased with Oskar’s progress so far, he’s doing really well within the first team environment. But as well we’ve also had Henry Briscoe, Luca Boon, Corey Muirhead, Tom Beswick and Paddy Davies involved in first team training sessions over pre-season and the start of the season.
“It shows good progress and alignment between the Academy and the First Team and the players have done really well and handled themselves really well in that environment. We’re really pleased and very proud of them.”
Academy Staff
“I’d like to start by saying a big thank you to James Jaggard for all of his hard work within the Academy, he was our Professional Development Phase Coach, but has now moved on to pastures new. He guided the U18’s to an Open Cup win last year which was a really special achievement for the lads and for James. We’d thank him for all his hard work over the last two years.
“We have recruited Dean Sibson who will be our U17 lead, Dean’s worked at Salford, Wigan and abroad. He’s come in and has been brilliant with the boys. Dean will come in and work for us at the back half of the week to work with our first-year scholars in particular to develop them tactically.
“We’ve also got Jack Bainbridge with us as our Under 18’s Coach, who will work with us front half of the week. His responsibility will be to give players advice and use his experience of being within our First Taeam and playing Non-League football, and even higher to give lads experience, advice and to give them little tricks of the trade. He has started really well also, and the lads really like him and enjoy his work, so he has been a fantastic addition to the academy.
“Harrison Burke will again work closely with the U17’s and Dean. He will provide some experience as well having come through the Academy and now playing for the First Team. His job will be to look after the physical side of the scholars as well as provide them with some knowledge about how to play Non-League football to prepare the U17’s for their next step.
“A special mention also for Paul Reid who again continues his fantastic service with us, working with our Colts. He’s done a great job recruiting the players he has. They had a great year last year, getting to the semi-final of the Open Cup and finishing second in the U17’s division. So naturally we’re really pleased that Paul continues his work with us and will lead our U16’s for this season.”
The Juniors
“We’ve undergone a restructure at Junior level within the Academy which has taken some time, but now we’re really excited about the boys being back in this week and that they can start their journey and development this year.
“Staff-wise at Junior level Carl Wild has left, and we want to put on record that Carl has been absolutely amazing for the Football Club and we thank him for his service for the last two and a half years. He was absolutely outstanding and he’s developed the junior programme immensely.
“We’ve decided to have a slight restructure which will introduce Lead Coaches now for specific age groups rather than having one overseeing it. For the groups, we’re going to enter them into a games programme as well as having bounce matches against Academy clubs in the area.
“We’re really excited about the progress that’s being made. Hopefully we start to see some progress in terms of lads coming from our younger age groups into our Academy and First Team!”
And Finally…
“Just like to make special mention to Directors Steve Jones and Mike Vickers who have been helping out with the Junior Programme in particular.
“Another big thank you to James and Carl who have departed the club and we wish them the best for the future. And also to our amazing volunteer coaching staff in the junior programme who continue to produce incredible work for the Academy setup.
“Youth Team Sponsorship has returned as well for this season at just £50+VAT per player, which gets your name in all Match Programmes, on the Club Website and into an End of Season prize draw. Please email albert.davies@chesterfc.com if you’re interested in supporting the Academy!”