What does leisure look like for young players? A wealth of free time after training? Latte's at the local Costa? Shopping for 'drip'? The reality might surprise you and it is something young players and their parents and guardians must understand.
There are some inherent dangers in this project and other collaborations seeking to attract young people who have been released from professional football clubs. Players and parents need to understand these dangers.
In this blog, I share some of the research I have done over the past 15 years in this area and serve up five ‘need to knows’ about life in an Academy.
This is the time when the Under 18s (and a handful of others) find out if they are to be awarded a much coveted professional contract. These months are the point they’ve been focusing on for the past two seasons. What happens to them all?
