Manchester City kids learn to do it the Barca way
City have introduced an innovative new training scheme which they believe will close the gap on world leaders Barcelona, writes Stuart Brennan.
The Blues have signed an educational partnership with St Bede’s College in Alexandra Park which sees their under-14 players receive afternoon coaching five days a week – a big increase on the old system, when boys would train one day a week with additional evening sessions.
The Blues feel the new set-up will give the boys more quality coaching time and help to begin the long haul of catching up to Barcelona’s brilliant youth system.
There are already 18 boys in the programme and academy head Mark Allen said: “It’s a three-year bespoke programme for our under-14s, 15s and 16s.
“Coupled with that is the chance for us to get access to the boys every day for what I consider a full-time football programme. In its crudest sense, it’s education in the morning, football in the afternoon, and a game on a Sunday.”
Agreement
But Allen refutes any suggestion the scheme will damage the boys’ education, saying: “We would not be allowed, and we wouldn’t enter into, an agreement that broke any rules in terms of the amount of education. If you look at the school reports, all of our boys are doing above average.”
Surveys have shown that England lags well behind Spain, Holland and other European countries in terms of the amount of coaching time young players receive. But the Premier League’s controversial new elite player performance plan is aimed at bringing our players up to scratch.
And Allen feels this scheme will take City close to the admired Barcelona model.
“We previously had two days with the boys, so we have gained another three days, which is at least six hours’ coaching,” he said.
“Clubs like Barcelona tend to have a very similar programme where they are educating the boys and combining that with football.
“It also means we get quality time with the boys, as opposed to having them at night-time when they might be getting tired.”
Jordi Hiwula bagged a hat-trick as City moved smoothly into the fourth round of the FA Youth Cup with a 4-1 win over Corby Town at Ewen Fields.
The visitors took a shock early lead through James Harrison but the young Blues hit back through former Stretford High School boy Hiwula’s treble and Adam Drury’s tap-in.
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