Make kids learn in reserve school of hard knocks
Amidst all the excitement at full-time as Aston Villa’s kids cracked elbows with some Liverpool superstars, there was a moment to treasure.
Beaten but unbowed after Friday night’s FA Cup tie, these teenagers played up for the cameras and all eyes were on 17-year-old Louie Barry.
He’d swapped his jersey with Fabinho only for a member of the Villa backroom staff to burst his bubble and instruct him to chase the Brazilian up the tunnel to get his debut strip back.
Cajoled, but also with a look that if not he’d be chastised, a flea in Barry’s ear that will never be forgotten.
That was the moment of the night, the learning, a bit of professional thinking from his unimpressed coach which brought the teenager back down to earth, that was real development.
A coronavirus outbreak at Villa meant no firstteam players were available and they had to field a side of seven under-23 players and four under-18s.
There were four players who had recently reached the driving age of 17 and Benjamin Chrisene was the youngest of the lot at just 16.
It’s no exaggeration to state that all of these boys will have learned more coming up against the likes of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Jordan Henderson than in a season of academy football.
Which brings us to our own development strategy, Project Brave and pathways towards excellence, 2020 visions which have come and gone and pie in the sky blueprints for the future.
Now is the time to simplify, restructure without age banding and get back to the days of proper reserve team football, and consign development leagues to the bloated folder of footballing failure in this country. In the day when we produced proper footballers, the Premier Reserve League was where older pros would build up fitness after injury and personal memories are of facing men like Peter Grant and Ian Durrant.
There was no swapping of jerseys, only an up close and personal education where the experienced performers would talk you through games against big-name players who would show you exactly the level required for firstteam football.
It could be a painful lesson, men against boys, survive or fade away as the majority with stars in their eyes would find their dreams shattered and end up playing at semiprofessional and even amateur level instead.
Proper reserve team football is also the grounding for the minority who make the grade, a proper bleeding into the professional game and a world away from the hundreds kidding themselves in development and academy football. When football returns to some normality, the SFA and SPFL should bin all of the development initiatives and focus on getting second string leagues back up and running.
Shrinking the academies is a priority to stop clubs selling teenagers a pipe dream of a career in professional football very few will aspire towards.
Reserve leagues are sink or swim football and survival of the fittest against guys who can buy and sell you and also show by example the tricks of the trade while they’re at it.
Ask the boys at Villa what they learned against Liverpool. It’ll all be about the level required and what they need to do to reach it.
It was a painful lesson.. survive or fade away