PDP Editor, Dave Wright is joined by Dan Thomas, Lead Youth Development Phase Coach at Fulham FC. Dan has a vast amount of coaching experience and has been immersed in player development at Fulham FC for 10 years. Dan specialises in working with teenage players making the transition from academy to scholarships and discusses the non-linear journey that many players experience. He also gives candid insight into the Fulham FC philosophy and the world of academy football. Don’t miss another fantastic learning opportunity from one…
Clubs and Academies
Insights from tops clubs and academies, focussing on how they develop players and the environments they create.
Jonas Bliksted is the Lead Foundation Phase Coach at FC Midtjyalland in Denmark, a club known for it’s innovation. In this conversation Jonas joins PDP host, Dave Wright for a candid discussion which outlines the FCM player development philosophy, some of the challenges the club faces through being geographically isolated and Jonas shares many of the innovative ways the club tries to ensure young players have the best possible chance of maximising their potential. An excellent insight into one of the top clubs in Denmark,…
In this in depth discussion, PDP Editor Dave Wright speaks to Jeremy Sauer, Academy Manager at AFC Wimbledon. Jeremy is a coach and leader with a wealth of experience. He gives us background on the evolution of one of the fairy tale stories of English football. Known as the ‘Phoenix Club’, AFC Wimbledon rose from the ashes of Wimbledon after the club was relocated to Milton Keynes. Jeremy describes the journey the club has been on and how their player development pathway has gone from…
In this fantastic interview with England U18 Rugby Coach, Russell Earnshaw, PDP Editor, Dave Wright dives into a conversation with Russell on the types of environments England rugby is looking to create in order to develop sustainable success. Russell shares his own experiences both as a player and coach, talking about the importance of player ownership, decision making and chaos. This is a fantastic conversation in which coaches across all codes can tap into the knowledge of a man driving standards in England’s youth rugby…
After a summer of unprecedented success at youth level, English football has demonstrated that there is no shortage of talent in the country. However, the vast sums of money that now dominate the bi-annual transfer windows are still causing a crisis when it comes to opportunities for many of these young players to showcase their talent in the top leagues. PDP Assistant Editor, Jon Hoggard discusses football’s financial crisis. At the time of writing, transfer spending in the Premier League sits at £850 million,…
In this Masterclass Discussion, PDP Lead Researcher James Vaughan shares his PhD research after a 12 month stay in Barcelona where he immersed himself in Catalan culture and football. We go inside La Masia, examining the playing style of the world’s most famous academy and look at how it ties in to the history and culture of this great city. Some fantastic examples and footage are provided by James as he takes us on a virtual tour of FC Barcelona’s story. Image Source: depositphotos.com
Neel Shah is currently the CEO of DSK Shivajians FC and the Liverpool FC International Academy – DSK. Within this role, Neel oversees all business operations for the Pune based professional football club. Prior to joining DSK Shivajians FC, Shah served as the Business Director for Libero Sports, a Delhi based football consultancy and also previously worked for MLS as Director of Fan Development. We speak to Neel about the ever-growing football culture in India, the clubs partnership with Liverpool FC, their coaching approach, the…
What role might emotional intelligence play in coaching? In this two-part blog, we follow the personal journey of Sam Grace, Youth Development Phase Coach at Reading FC, as he seeks to understand the importance of emotional intelligence and how applying the principles outlined by leading psychologist Daniel Goleman can help coaches. According to Hoffenheim manager Julian Nagelsmann, currently the youngest top-flight manager in Europe’s leading leagues at age 29, “Thirty percent of coaching is tactics, 70% social competence” (Honigstein, 2016). It’s coaches like Nagelsmann who…
Daniel Giansiracusa is a former professional AFL player who ran out for the Western Bulldogs 265 times over the course of a 16 year playing career. Daniel is now an Assistant Coach on the Bulldogs coaching staff and was part of a coaching team and playing roster that broke a 62 year drought at the club, claiming a long awaited AFL Premiership in 2016. PDP Editor Dave Wright speaks with Daniel on his transition from playing to coaching, the importance of empathy, the power of…
El Clasico is the most anticipated regular football fixture on the planet. Player Development Project Lead Researcher, James Vaughan was fortunate enough to experience the rivalry himself in early 2017. The legendary Barcelona vs. Real Madrid fixture got James thinking about the history of his adopted home in Catalonia and the way it has shaped FC Barcelona. In this two part article, we follow James’ match-day experience and find out how Catalan and Barcelona history and social construct interlink. I emerge from the metro in Badal…
In the second part of this ethnographic insight on El Clasico, the biggest match in world football, PDP Lead Researcher James Vaughan continues with his observations from his experience watching a masterpiece inside Camp Nou… My friend and I part ways as we reach the Camp Nou and I walk the well-travelled path through access 18, in gate 39 and up to level 3. As I climb up and out into the open-air stadium I see the green grass and the colossal circular stands, and my heart…
Josh Cullen is a young West Ham player on the rise. PDP Editor, Dave Wright spoke at length with Josh about his long journey through the West Ham Academy, the value of honesty and the challenge of being pushed outside of his comfort zone. Josh Cullen was born in Hackney in 1996. For the first few years of his life, he lived in Bow, East London – a stone’s throw away from the future home of West Ham United, the Queen Elizabeth Stadium. At…
Jon de Souza was appointed Academy Manager at Colchester United in July 2016, after a coaching career that has taken him from club he joined as a schoolboy, Luton Town, to a coach education role at the Football Association and Brentford FC. PDP spoke to Jon about his career, and discussed the importance of coaching the individual. Jon de Souza began his footballing journey at Luton Town, signing for the Hatters as an under-14 player. Despite their fairly lowly status, Luton Town are a…
In this PDP Masterclass Discussion, our Lead Researcher, James Vaughan joins PDP Editor, Dave Wright to take us through his PhD research from 12 months spent immersed in Catalan culture and observing at La Masia. James shares insights into how the culture and history of Barcelona has shaped the clubs playing style. This is the first of a four part presentation which discusses the impact on playing style, creativity and aligns with the PDP model of player development which accounts for the importance of environmental…
Pedro Passos, Duarte Araújo, Keith Davids The Big Idea Since these investigators brought it up in their abstract’s first sentence, let’s briefly talk about ant colonies as a bridge to the subject of self-organization in field-invasion team sports. Imagine this. There is a flood threatening a colony of ants. What do they do? No problem or panic: they simply build an ant raft. These pancake-like rafts are composed of the ants themselves—sometimes as many as 100,000—who instinctively connect themselves perpendicular to each other—always heads up—and…
Don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to hear from one of England’s most successful academy managers on player development. PDP Editor, Dave Wright interviews Fulham FC Academy Director, Huw Jennings. Dave speaks to Huw on his personal journey from grassroots to his role leading Southampton’s academy before he worked for the Premier League & his current role as Academy Director of Fulham FC’s highly regarded academy. Huw discusses the rise of Gareth Bale, Adam Lallana & many of the famous Southampton graduates as well as some…
Tom Mallinson is a UEFA A license holder who works at Nottingham Forest as the U16 coach. Tom has been part of the staff at Nottingham Forest staff for a number of years and worked his way up through the academy. Tom shares some of the methodology he uses with his players as well as giving us an in depth insight to the club player development approach and playing philosophy. Don’t miss this excellent interview with one of England’s brightest young coaching talents. Show Notes…
Adrian Bradbury is the founder and academy director of Football for Good, Uganda’s only full-time residential elite youth football academy and scholarship program. He has over 10 years’ experience in international coaching, education, and community advocacy and development. In this article, Adrian explores the unique obstacles impacting young footballers in East Africa, and explains that we all have ‘outset obstacles’ to overcome in our coaching. Aubameyang, Mahrez, Mane, Salah and Wanyama are just a few of Africa’s growing list of global household names, rightly…