Football Clevedon lads gear up for ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ Man City test
Clevedon Town Under-18s, back row, from left, Archie Dark, Harrison Williams, Ethan Streeter, Will Symonds, Jack Houghton, Will Mann. Ed Harris, Liam Bailey, Dylan Wallis, Clive Davies (secretary), Harry Palmer, Sam Larkins, Jack Sell, Tom Baker, Fraser Linnitt, Ethan Feltham, Jamie Close, Harvey Partridge, Emmanual Choi. Front row, from left, Zach Arney, Tyrell Squire, Ryan Jones, Alex White (manager), Mitch Osmond (captain), Ash Nevins (assistant manager), Jake White, Morgan Davies
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We’re looking at it as a oncein-a-lifetime tie for the club - it’s one of those that will probably never happen again and has never happened before
IT may have escaped your attention, but Manchester City are coming to the South West next Wednesday.
The Premier League champions’ under-18s are involved in an FA Youth Cup tie – but their opponents are not Bristol City or Bristol Rovers.
Instead, City’s youth team will be making the trip to the 3,500-capacity Hand Stadium to face Clevedon Town Under-18s.
While Manchester City boast a highly-regarded youth team comprised of players recruited from across Europe, Clevedon’s side is made up of local talent.
Town’s under-18s manager, Alex White, says it is only just sinking in that next week his players will face one of the world’s best youth teams.
He said: “We’re looking at it as a once-in-a-lifetime tie for the club – it’s one of those that will probably never happen again and has never happened before.
“It’s a bit surreal at the moment. This week is when it’s kind of started to sink in, with all the media hype and everybody getting really excited.”
White, 25, has been in charge of Clevedon’s under-18s for four years after being approached by firstteam boss and Bristol City legend Mickey Bell – and the results he has achieved have been mightily impressive.
He said: “We reached the first round proper of the FA Youth Cup last year, which was the furthest we’d ever got as a football club, which was an amazing achievement.
“That’s nothing compared to this year, pulling Manchester City. It’s one of the club’s greatest achievements to get this far and we’re going to savour every second of it.
“Every round we’ve played a side who, in terms of first-team level, were higher than us.
“In the first qualifying round, beating Bath City was a brilliant result for us as Bath have a fantastic set-up.
“From there, we’ve gradually got better as the competition has gone on, and I think the highlight for me was going over to Aldershot, who have a full-time academy programme and have their lads in 9-5 Monday to Friday. They were excellent, they were really, really good, but we beat them 4-1, which was a massive scalp for us. Every team we’ve played has been a scalp, so it’s a bit of a fairytale story so far.”
More than 1,000 tickets have already been sold for the game and, with fans also able to pay on the gate, the attendance is set to be the biggest at the Hand Stadium since the first team drew a record crowd of 2,261 for an FA Cup first-round tie with Chester City in 2006.
Yet it all could have been so dif-
ferent for Clevedon. They actually lost their second-round proper tie against Sutton United, who were subsequently kicked out of the competition for fielding an inelegible player.
White admits it is a rather surreal situation.
“It’s been a bit of a difficult one for the players to process, really,” he said.
“There was the disappointment of getting knocked out in the previous round against Sutton – and I thought we were the better team on that night, so that was a really tough one to take at the time.
“Then, with the week building up to the reinstatement, the players knew absolutely nothing about the process because we decided not to tell them in order to not get their hopes up.
“We got them in a week after we got knocked out and sat them down and told them about the news.
“I think they were a little bit shocked and every emotion you can possibly imagine between then and now.
“They’re proper buzzing, they can’t wait, they’ve got all their mates coming down and they’re asking about how many tickets have been sold.
“It’s going to be a once-in-a-lifetime night for them, so we’re really excited for them as they deserve it.”
White admits there is a huge gulf between his team and City’s, but he believes a lot of his young players will go on to have solid careers in the game.
He said: “Realistically, we want to be a club that gives boys a stepping stone into either semi-professional or professional football.
“These lads who we’ve got in our squad, the vast majority of them have been involved in academy football before but maybe either haven’t quite cut it at scholarship level or dropped out for whatever reason.
“They’re good players and they played in the academy system, and I do believe there are lads there who can go on to make a really good name in semi-professional football – but there’s nothing holding them back from even making the professional game.
“They just need either an opportunity, or the right mentality in some cases, to go and do that.
“I do genuinely believe a lot of them will make a good career out of football.”
And, if Clevedon are able to achieve the unthinkable and get a result against their opponents, White says it will put a lot of his players on the map.
E said: “We can’t forget the gulf in class between the two sides, and to actually compete with them for a start and get anywhere near them would be one of the biggest shocks in football.
“There’s nine leagues between our first team and their first team, but, ultimately, every scout in the South West is going to be there, so there’s going to be a lot of interest and a lot of eyes on our players.
“It’s an unbelievable opportunity for them to express what they can do and, you never know, if one or two of them have a worldy of a game or do something that catches the eye, there will be eyes there expressing interest.
“It’s great opportunity for our players to play against some of the best in the country.”
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