Shaymen aiming to inspire the next generation to reach first-team ranks
BRIDGING THE gap from youth team to first team remains FC Halifax Town’s youth development and community programme’s biggest conundrum.
It does everything else, engaging with children from toddlers to teenagers, culminating in a two-year education and football course at Calderdale College.
By the time its students graduate, they are prepared for a career on the pitch, or off it.
But so far, except for brief first-team appearances for Ross Barrows, Shiraz Khan and Sam Hillhouse. the pathway to The Shaymen’s senior side remains untrodden.
”I was waiting for that question!,” says the club’s head of youth development Steve Nichol. ”It’s why the programme was created. If you look at the start and end point, any player that enters the programme is a better player by the time they leave.
”I don’t think players are ready for our first-team when they leave us aged 18. We’ve tried various approaches to bridge that gap, including a hybrid approach where we’ve retained players on a contract and they’ll train with the firstteam and go out on loan to get some experience.”
Nichol’s own research indicates that only six academy players over the last 18 months have established themselves in the first-team at National League clubs.
”Many clubs are making decisions on these players at the age of 18. It’s in their third year where they’re making their debut and showing they can progress towards first-team football, so it’s about how we bridge that gap. That’s the challenge, how we cover the players from 18-21.
”Pete (Wild) and Chris (Millington) have a background in academy football and I think they’ve got a good grasp of what our programme is, where the players are by the end of it, and we’re looking at how we can work together to bridge that gap.”
Goalkeeper Carl Rushworth, who was called up to the England under 19 squad last week, could have done so eventually had he not been cherry-picked by Brighton.
Two players, Jake Taylor, 19, and Jay Benn, 18, are out on loan at Silsden in the NorthWest Counties League. The pair also train with the Halifax first-team.
”Ultimately it comes down to time on the training pitch at the appropriate level, and playing time in senior football.
”If we can bring Jake and Jay back at Christmas and look to step them up again, we can hopefully facilitate their development.
”There hasn’t been that progression to our first-team as much as we’d have liked, but there are players who can demonstrate the programme has brought them on and are doing well at various levels.”
The programme was given academy status by the National League and the youth team now play in the National League Football Academy North division. There are around 36 players in the club’s youth team squad, consisting of an under 17’s and an under 18’s group.
The club has also partnered the College in the delivery of their Centre of Excellence, which also caters for around 36 players.
Nichol says “a good percentage” of students on the programme are from Calderdale, with others from the surrounding areas or further afield.
”It mirrors a programme a Football League club will run as closely as it can.
”David Bosomworth and the board have always supported us within reason to try and progress it.”
Ben Hardaker is a lecturer in sport on the programme at Calderdale College, having been a football skills coach for the FA for five years. He sees the students for around 10 hours a week, but they also have to study away from the College.
They also take part in four football sessions a week, two gym sessions and games on Wednesdays and Saturdays, with home games now being played at Huddersfield Amateurs FC at Old Earth in Elland.
”The lads study for a BTEC level three, at different levels depending on their GCSE results,” Hardaker explains.
”If they get the full diploma, that’s the equivalent of three ALevels, and the lower diploma is two A-Levels.
”The second year’s are doing Sport Performance and Excellence, and the first year’s are studying Sport Development and Coaching Fitness.
“The lads could go into fitness training, sports coaching or leadership, sports development, physiology, nutrition.
”We try to set them up for ‘what’s next, what if football doesn’t happen?’ I think quite a lot of the second year’s are now starting to think about ‘what next’. I think a lot of them are realistic, they know the stats are against them, but it doesn’t stop them having that ambition and drive.
”One thing I don’t want to do is tell them ‘it’s not going to happen’ because I’d love to be proved wrong. We want them to represent Halifax, but if not, we want them to leave here a better person who’s going to go on and have a career.”
”It’s easy for the football to take priority,” adds Nichol, “but if you put the person first, what they do off the pitch is equally important.
“There’s a lot more expected from any person on this course than a typical student. The expectations of them are higher, so it requires a lot of commitment and dedication.”
Those traits are also demanded by lead coach Mike Jeffrries, who has been in the role for a year, but has worked on the programme for three years. He previously worked at Huddersfield Town’s academy with their 12-16-year-olds.
”We got to the first round of the FA Youth Cup, but we’re also in the new Academy League Cup and the National
League Youth Alliance League Cup. Hopefully we’ll see the return from the work we’ve put in on the training pitch. We do want to win things but if the lads buy into what we’re trying to do it should breed success for the team and individuals.”
The ultimate goal of firstteam football pervades the corridors at Calderdale College, even though statistically, most of these players will probably never get there.
”I remind the lads every day that I’m here for the same reason they are, because we want them to be in that first-team environment,” says Jeffries.
“It would be the ultimate if one of the lads could get in the first-team. I could retire then!
“We do have a responsibility in developing them in football but also as a person, so they can make good decisions off the pitch as well.”
Should a graduate establish themselves in the Town first-team, it would be the programme’s crowning glory. But that shouldn’t be the only yardstick by which success is measured.
“It’s evolving year-on-year,” adds Nichol. “On Thursday morning we have a Shaytots programme delivered by two mums to children as young as six-months-old. Above that we’ve developed our five-16’s programme. We have futsal sessions on Tuesday nights, and an under 16’s squad with around 40 players. We have under 10’s, 11’s and 12’s as well.
”When I first came into the club, it was ran at arm’s length to a degree.
”We formed a partnership with the College, which has become the hub of everything.
”We have more and better players, our recruitment stretches wider, we have more staff, and we deliver a stronger, more well-rounded education programme. The basic structure is in place, it’s now about developing it.”