Interesting comments from a guy with 12 years coaching experience overseas, much of it with young kids, incl 5 year's at Fulham's Academy. Brentford prior to that, and then afterwards Melbourne Victory's U20 team, before landing back in Auckland.
Wonder if he will end involved with any AFC Academy.
Anyway sounds like for now AFC may just recruit talented 18-21 yr olds from the Northern League, and form a stacked reserve team in the same league.
Let the young 14-17 yr age bracket develop at their home clubs. Different to the Nix model of signing kids at a younger age, and them boarding at Scots College if they are not locals??
I guess as a 14-17 yr old in much larger Auckland, you are constantly coming up against better players in local club football. Different to say the smaller cities like Dunedin, Christchurch, Nelson, Napier etc where as a talented young kid you are best to relocate to Wellington to develop??
And of course the longer a young player is at the Nix, the larger the Solidarity payments if they do sign for a pro club overseas. That model likely not so important to billionaire Foley at the moment, as he starts a new club from scratch.
https://www.friendsoffootballnz.com/2024/08/20/special-feature-a-conversation-with-high-performance-coach-dave-wright/......
if we’re honest, there are two professional clubs here now who could be described as academies.
One, (Wellington Phoenix) has an established academy, has clearly had some success developing players and has had some great people involved over the years. Now, Auckland FC have arrived and at this point, are not starting a conventional academy as such, instead building slowly with a view to identifying and tracking players before selecting them later. I’ve been impressed with their approach so far.
My point is, if we contrast New Zealand’s system of player development with the brutal nature of many players being released in England at 16 (from the YDP) or at 18 from scholarships, we are under no pressure to do this.
Both the Wellington Phoenix and Auckland FC will be a pathway for top young players who may have a chance to forge a career, but beneath that we need to stay patient, allow players to excel in their clubs, strive for first team selection, or simply, stay in the sport and enjoy the game.