DOM’S HIT THE BRIGG TIME!
CELTIC SPELL HAILED
WHEN Dominic CalvertLewin pitched up at Stalybridge Celtic, some of the club’s directors had their reservations. Stuck in a dog-fight at the bottom of the Conference North table ahead of a busy festive period, a 17-year-old loan signing from Sheffield United didn’t seem the answer to their problems. A goal and two assists on his debut against rivals Hyde later, opinions started to change about then-manager Keith Briggs’ new arrival. “We took a bit of a chance on him because he was only a 17-year-old lad, he’d never played adult football before,” Briggs recalls. “Because of my relationship with Travis Binnion and Nick Cox, at the time, at Sheffield United we got him. “They said he needed to get out, learn the game and be subject to men’s football. It was a bit of a risk, but he took to it like a duck to water. “I think even the directors at Stalybridge were thinking, ‘Briggsy, what are you doing?’ We were in a very difficult situation at the time and we were putting all our trust in a 17-yearold lad who is untried and tested. Once they’d seen him play they realised we had something special on our hands.
Unplayable
“He scored on his debut against Hyde and set up two. That was on Boxing Day as we won 4-2. On New Year’s Day we played them again and beat them 7-1. He scored two and set-up another three. He was awesome. That game in particular he was unplayable.” Briggs’ memory doesn’t need much jogging about CalvertLewin, but his starring role in England U20s’ World Cup win serves as a welcome reminder. The 20-year-old scored the winner in last Sunday’s final as the Young Lions created history. Premier League Everton forked out £1.5m for CalvertLewin less than two years after he was welcomed into NonLeague football with an elbow against Hyde. “It’s a tough league and it does sort out a few lads, I’ve seen a lot come from pro clubs and struggle – some of them can’t handle the physical side of it,” Briggs says. “That wasn’t the case with Dom. On his debut he got an elbow within the first ten minutes. I thought, ‘This could go one of two ways’. But we got into him at half-time and the rest is history.” The striker, who back then had been playing as a midfielder, scored six goals in five games and, Briggs estimates, helped himself to about 12 assists at a club that has turned out players like Tranmere’s Connor Jennings and Oldham striker Darius Osei. “It wasn’t so much his goals,” Briggs says. “It was his workrate and his attitude towards what we were trying to do at the club. I remember he set up Charlie Ennis’ goal. He ran back from the centre of the field, he tracked back about 40 yards, won the ball back, gone on a dribble and laid the ball across the box on a plate. It was his whole attitude and mentality – obviously his ability came with that.” Calvert-Lewin is the perfect example of a professional footballer who makes the most of a loan spell in NonLeague football and how the toughening-up process can aid a players’ career. It also shows the role Non-League clubs can play in the development of future Premier League and England footballers, even if it is a short term loan. Scan through England’s U21 squad for the ongoing European Championships in Poland and there are players who have done similar to CalvertLewin. Southampton midfielder, and fullycapped England international, James Ward-Prowse, used to turn up at Havant & Waterlooville training sessions to get experience of playing with men. Sunderland keeper Jordan Pickford is on the verge of a £30m move to Everton. Five years ago he was between the sticks for Darlington at a time the club were on the brink of ruin. Seeing people fighting for their jobs with a club’s future on the line can’t compare to sanitised experiences he would get in the academy bubble. The next season he spent more time in the Conference, this time with Alfreton, learning about the rigours of a part-time club in a full-time league. Fellow Under-21 stopper Jonathan Mitchell spent time on loan with Workington in 2013, while Swansea City defender Alfie Mawson had loans to Maidenhead United and Welling United. Mawson was signed by the Swans from Barnsley last August for a cool £5.5m before he made more than 20 appearances for the Welsh club. While at Brentford, the 23-year-old, who is also in Poland on international duty, had three separate stints at Maidenhead before a temporary move to Welling United for part of their first season at Step 1. He impressed for the Wings but his stay was ultimately cut short by injury.
Mentality
“From day one, Alfie was more than good enough to break into Brentford’s first team at some point,” former Maidenhead boss Johnson Hippolyte says. “In five-a-sides you’d think Alfie was a forward. He had two good feet and technically he was so good. One of the things Brentford warned us about was that he could be too comfortable on the ball. He was in a Rio Ferdinand mould. “So we had to explain to him when you can dribble and when you get rid. There’s a time to play out and a time when you’ve got to put the ball in the channel, squeeze up and start again. Fair play to Alfie, he didn’t get caught often. One or two times I had to remind of where he was but after that he took to it. But he always looked a good player.” Staines Town boss Hippolyte says getting away from ‘tippytappy’ academy football is huge for players’ development. Something Briggs, who this week returned to Stalybridge as Steve Burr’s assistant, agrees with. “A lot has to do with the mentality of the kid and the mentality of the parent club,” he says. “A lot of clubs are realising that U23 football, no disrespect to it, is not the same as going out when points, wages and jobs are on the line. It’s not the same. “They are kind of cocooned in this bubble. As good a format as the U23s is – and it definitely has its place – the pressure to do well as an individual and impress the academy coaches is there, but you haven’t got the other side. The points, the manager’s job, the fans, the club pushing for promotion or fighting relegation – it’s an eye-opener.”