The Academy programme in Wales has undergone significant change over the last few years. A clear vision to identify and develop the best young talent in the country has emerged from this shift in approach and mindset, while a complete restructure ensures that these foundations will improve the domestic and international game in Wales both now and in the future.
Drew Sherman was appointed Senior National Academies Manager in October 2021 and recently sat down with FAW.cymru to explain how the purpose of the National Academi has been redefined and revised with new and clear parameters of what constitutes success. “I came in and the remit was to have a look at what we felt was a failing system,” Sherman explained. “What we discovered was effectively this ‘Hollywood’ grassroots system. We had so many clubs and it was so accessible that we weren’t certain if there was genuine talent in it or if clubs were just running grassroots programmes with an Academy title.”
Previously a privilege exclusively for clubs competing in the JD Cymru Premier, Academy status and its associated funding remains a licensing requirement to compete in the domestic top-flight. However, this initial review into the wider Welsh football landscape uncovered clubs from lower down the pyramid that were running significantly better junior and youth football programmes than those being funded by default through the success of the senior team.
“We found was that there wasn’t a correlation between the clubs that were doing a good job of running youth programmes and being productive, and those that we were funding,” Sherman added. “Then we implemented this process of categorisation. We consulted with the clubs about what that would look like and what they wanted to get out of it. We could then identify who the strong clubs were by creating three categories (A, B and C) and then funding them according to the quality of provision they had in place. We implemented this over an 18-month period, working with the clubs on their shortcomings, but allowing them to opt in at where they felt was best for them. Were they Cat A? Were they Cat C? Whatever worked for what they wanted their youth programme to be.
“Every club realised that there were probably too many clubs and that the gap between the best and the worst was significant. Yet when it came to the outcome process of determining who should be funded and who shouldn’t be licenced, we had friction. Obviously, at that point there was animosity because of the outcome of the process, but I think what is pretty clear now 12 months down the track is by and large we’ve got the clubs who were committed on board. We created a model that allowed clubs to opt in. Now what we have to do is allow some to opt out, and hopefully we’ll see further reduction and further focus of resource.”
With the restructure explained, it was time to find out the real purpose of the National Academi and the short and long-term outcomes that will define it’s success. “We wanted to create a sustainable player development system in Wales,” explained FAW Technical Director David Adams in a recent interview with Sgorio. “We hope these young players get real benefit from being involved in this programme with the vision that long-term, they can hopefully play at the top level that they want to play at. That opportunity is there for them, whether they play for Caernarfon in the future or for Newtown or for Haverfordwest, or they go on to play for Wales, we hope that it improves the overall ecosystem in Welsh football.”
One important point from David Adams’ interview highlights how the pathway in place is not restricted to reaching the top of the domestic game, but how the players who are unearthed, nurtured and developed through the National Academi can use that career foundation to make it in the professional game and onto the international stage. “What we’re seeing now is what it will always be,” Sherman explained. “We’re seeing players whose journey started in the Academy system who then moved into professional clubs. This system is about unearthing talent and having an efficient pipeline that passes it through.
“It’s not about seeing someone who’s at Cardiff Met for example playing for Cymru U17’s, because the reality is if they’re at Cardiff Met and good enough to play for Wales, they’re at Cardiff City. That’s where they can forge a career as a professional player, so they may start their journey at Cardiff Met at U8’s or U9’s but then sign for a professional club. We have that happening more and more. We have it with our U15’s now where four of our players have played in the Academy system. They’re not in it now, but they were unearthed by it, and we will see it happening more frequently. So what the Academy system does really for the national teams is service our elite field.”
Sherman also explained how the Academy system is improving standards for the women’s game. “There’s not the depth of female talent in Wales to run a full club based Academy programme,” he explained. “Research suggests to be an elite level female player in the national setup you need to play against male players for as long as possible. We’re seeing the talent that we’re producing in the female space is much, much stronger. That’s in no small part due to the competition that’s in our North Wales and our South Wales academies playing in the National Academi against boys at tapered age groups.
“One of the criticisms here is about the pay to play model,” he added. “Which I understand, but clubs have to find the balance of making sure that their programmes are accessible and affordable to meet the criteria. I don’t think we’ve got an access problem, and we have pots of funding that are designed specifically for this. We’ve got the PAWB fund, which ensures that we’ve got access for talented players to get into the academies irrespective of fees.”
Sherman also spoke about the ‘one player – one club rule’, which is another subject of debate in junior football circles across the country.
“I’ve seen some of the challenges of that,” he explained. “In the grassroots space, you don’t want kids to have to decide at 8, 9, 10, 11-years old if they want to stop playing with their friends because they actually see a career in football. But equally so, there has to be some point when children need to start thinking about if this is for them. They are on this pathway and this is what the journey looks like, and they need to maybe balance that a little bit. Ultimately, it’s a FIFA regulation that’s in place because it allocates where the training compensation goes. So it’s not something we as the FAW have necessarily enforced just because we want to make that choice difficult for kids.”
Sherman was also keen to discuss the criticism of scorelines from National Academi matches, with some teams hitting double figures and with it questioning the competitiveness of the competition. “We’ve just done data analysis on it for this season,” he explained. “So there are outliers, and typically they happen on either specific age groups or specific clubs. We’ve definitely seen that the competitiveness of the games programme has improved this season compared to last season. It’s quite significantly down from a scoreline variance of around 3.6 to about 2.8 now, so it’s much more competitive. Yet we still have outliers, but they are in place for quite specific reasons.
“We just have to believe in the process around driving quality standards and making sure that we evaluate it as part of the licencing process. We’ll change this over a longer period of time. We’re seeing it in year one, but it’s a marathon, not a sprint. It’s going to take some time. As I said earlier, the option for clubs to opt out of the Academy is important. For example, putting together ten teams in a village that’s got a population of 1000 people, that’s challenging, and of course we’re going to expect there to be quality assurance issues. It’s up to us as the association to be a little bit adaptable and move our support and our flexibility on it, because we’re in a place now where the clubs are on board and we can trust them to deliver and maintain the quality standards as it’s also their own reputation at stake.”
Sherman brings extensive experience in this field having worked across the world. In addition to working with Southampton, Aldershot Town and Crawley Town, the 36-year old from Cardiff also managed the Cook Islands national team between 2015 and 2017, before holding senior positions at Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory in Australia. Prior to this, he had his own playing experience in the Welsh domestic game, representing Afan Lido, Cwmbran Town and Airbus UK Broughton in the JD Cymru Premier.
“I think I was given the job because I’ve been away for so long,” he added. “I came into it without any preconceptions, no attachment to any of the clubs that were in it. I had a little spell at a few clubs that are involved in it, but in the Academy infrastructure I have no ties. And I think that was probably part of the reason why the FAW saw myself as being able to help because it needed some change. We have to understand that to evaluate change takes time, particularly when it’s something that’s about long-term development. Kids that are entering the system now at seven and eight, you’re not going to see them being on the cusp of a senior teams for another decade.”
