Season › 2012-13 › News
The Future Path for Everton Academy
Alan Irvine talks to The Liverpool Echo about his philosophy for developing young players who are coming up through he ranks of the Everton Academy.In November the Everton Academy was awarded category one status in line with the FA's Elite Player Performance Plan or EPPP. It capped 12 months of hard graft for Alan Irvine and his staff, and the Scot is now ready to concentrate on emulating some of Europe's best academies.
"I left academy football in 2002 to come to Everton with David, and at the time all the talk was about how the continental players are better technically than we are.
“I came back just over a year ago and people were saying the same thing. That surprised me. I was disappointed. I thought, ‘What have we been doing for 10 years?”
Irvine believes English clubs must readdress the importance of practise — and quickly if they are to catch up with the rest of Europe.
“My feeling is that we need to improve technically and how do you do that? Practise,” he says. “Our mentality in this country towards practise isn't good enough. We love a game. We like a competition.
“By the very nature of that people want to win — and while that is important — it's not everything. Sure, clubs in Germany, Holland or Spain envy us in terms of our never say die attitude and competitive spirit and we should never lose that but we need to get what they've got. They're looking to get what we've got and vice versa.
“Funnily enough it may be harder for them, because it's taken us generations to develop into the fighters we are. But there's no reason why anyone can't improve technically.
“We need the buy-in of the parents too. If they come along and think, ‘they didn't even have a game' it's going to be an issue for us unless they realise why. Games have to be played, but they should be a test of the techniques you've learned.
“You want to see that technical work reflected in a game and hopefully see the decision making improve too.
“You can't develop players without putting them in positions were they have to make a decision. But what it boils down to is that I can never understand why in football, where there is such a range of techniques to refine compared to a sport like tennis, and yet tennis players spend far more time working on their technique than footballers do.”
Everton's footballing philosophy at academy level is playing with style, although Irvine insists there will always be a degree of pragmatism as well.
“When I was academy director in Newcastle and I was coaching the Under-17s I wouldn't let the goalkeeper kick it,” he says.
“We lost some goals because of that but gradually we got better and the team developed as a result. The good thing is that it's less about results at that level and more development. Winning is important but it comes after development.
“It's about when to do things and when not to do them. If another team is pressing on, and you throw it out to one of your players who is under too much pressure and you concede a chance — that doesn't make sense.
“It's about when to play it from the back, you get your chances to do it. Quite often it's during the course of the game, when play is flowing, rather than dead-ball situations when everybody has got time to get in position and set traps. There's got to be a realism to it all.
“So yeah, playing from the back is a philosophy of our academy but you've got to be clever with it. We don't want players who make poor decisions about when and when not to play at first team level because it's too expensive then. The first team is results first.
“Any manager of a first team will take a scrappy 1-0 win week after week and if they're doing it enough times they'll say OK let's start doing it with a bit of style. They'll always take three points though.”
“The academy is extremely important at a club like this. The club plough a lot of money into it — money that could perhaps be used by David to sign a player. It shows they understand the importance of it, but also makes us accountable. We need to produce players because we don't have the money to go out and buy them.
“Even at academy level some clubs are spending huge amounts of money to buy players in that we couldn't dream of. We'll buy the odd player from a smaller club but it won't be significant. There are certain boys that we show an interest in but when we find out other certain clubs are interested we just back off. We know that we can't compete financially.
“But opportunity is our biggest selling point. We don't carry big squads at any level. We play players up the age range, and in our youth team then. We're trying to anticipate where the game is going in the next 10 years. What will the game look like for our nine-year-olds when they're 19?
“I think it will be less physical in terms of contact. Defenders will need to be better at defending without smashing into people. Positional sense will have to be better, as will spoiling and pressing. I think it will be even faster. The ball will move quicker. It will be even more open then it is now, with the game moving quickly from end to end.
“That's why we need to be better technically as it goes on — making better decisions with less time. At the moment the top players at the top level in midfield get maybe two touches in two seconds. If they have any more they'll probably get challenged and lose the ball.”
Quotes or other material sourced from Liverpool Echo
Reader Comments (20)
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2 Posted 25/03/2013 at 17:04:10
Many academy coaches don't have that experience and knowledge. Many supporters have commented about how few make it from academy to first team although I think that rule applies at most Prem clubs, also the higher up in the league the club is means the level of player coming through needs to be very high.
3 Posted 25/03/2013 at 19:11:54
4 Posted 25/03/2013 at 19:12:30
Look at Southampton and West Ham, they've played youngsters and have provided England and the Premier League with some fantastic players.
Ferdinand, Lampard, Joe Cole, Gareth Bale, Alex Chamberlain, the young lad Shaw.
We could produce a lot of exciting talent in the future if we started playing them now and again.
5 Posted 25/03/2013 at 19:31:52
6 Posted 25/03/2013 at 20:04:23
Yeah those coaches should have stopped Messi and Maradonna being so left footed.
7 Posted 25/03/2013 at 20:36:18
Also, when was the last player to come from west hams youth team...Joe Cole???????He's 32 or so now
Only McAleny looks like he could make the step up at this moment imo
What irvine is asaying is the opposite of what we are calling for, and seems to explain a little or is simply a propaganda piece to justify the tactic. He's saying that too many fans are calling for the lads to be thrown in, get a game while he is saying that it is important to develop the technical side of their game first, work on the training pitch a develop and not just focus on the pragmatic side of top-flight football. This would explain Barkley's, McAleny's and co time spent on the bench.
No idea if what he's saying is bollocks or not, I aint a football coach and my knowledge is limited to tv screans and occasional trips to G.P.
8 Posted 25/03/2013 at 20:52:24
9 Posted 25/03/2013 at 21:03:01
10 Posted 25/03/2013 at 21:13:46
This is his second spell at Everton... I wonder if his eyes have only recently been opened to the demands of the modern game? An academy lad has the opportunity of a phenomenally lucrative lifestyle and should be prepared to put in the hard yakka.
11 Posted 25/03/2013 at 21:32:48
12 Posted 25/03/2013 at 21:12:26
The trouble is the fans — unless a change brings instant success, à la Wenger at Arsenal and Martinez at Swansea, we all demand up and at 'em kick their bollocks till they squeal stuff.
I am elitist regarding football, skill is everything to me but I can only watch the clever triangles of European teams for about 5 mins.
I like Irvine's words but let's not get too Brendan Rodgers about it: good football is and always will be skill mixed with endeavour — see present day Barca.
Although football circa 1970 (you know I'm right) was the zenith both domestically and globally.
13 Posted 25/03/2013 at 22:11:03
14 Posted 25/03/2013 at 22:40:01
The category 1 level just means that we can go to lower category clubs and get their youth players for peanuts. Everton buy players from abroad at U13 and above, where is the development? When are we going to see a local lad break into the team when the likes of Naismith gets a shirt ahead of Barkley! It's all about results.
16 Posted 26/03/2013 at 07:17:17
Just to get this straight, what he's saying is that we need to practice technical football more and that after 10 years we hadn't progressed much in that department. Players need to be put in to position to think quickly and that matches should be the direct result of good practices in which to refine their technical ability...
OK. First off, however much he's being paid, I promise I could do a better job on half his salary. For him to be around football for however long he has and to speak so simply about the game is frankly a little frightening. Equally frightening and more of an indictment of him and Moyes being incompetent, is the fact that, for however long they've been here, you'd think we'd have an identity and be teaching our youth in the School of Science model. Hopefully that's the case now.
One last thing: why is it also that he's talking about what he "will" do...? It's so obvious – why wasn't this implemented 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years ago?
How is this new? Why are we still surprised and talking like amateurs about how the game is played? Isn't he a coach? Isn't it his job to understand the game and see what direction the game is going?
Styles change all the time. That's how innovation occurs. It's as if no-one at the team has watched a match on TV until this year?
I know Everton are a magnificent team and we all bleed blue, but there are a lot of even better teams out there. Maybe we should hook that cable back up and check out some other teams. Heaven forbid we see how the game is supposed to be played and maybe learn a thing or two?
17 Posted 26/03/2013 at 13:59:38
Irvine, talk is cheap — get on and change it.
18 Posted 26/03/2013 at 20:56:40
The young lad Junior had a bad 45 minutes against Leeds in the League Cup, and that was the last we've seen of him, even though he's been excellent for the youth team and pre-season for us.
Shane Duffy was also excellent for us in the 3 games he played last season, he didn't put a foot wrong and for some reason he has never been given as much as sniff since.
19 Posted 26/03/2013 at 22:03:06
Here in Oz referees have the power to caution junior coaches that do it but sadly it still continues. The outcome from grass roots to professional levels has been stronger, faster fearless robots whose every move is predictable.
Oh for a few more like De Canio, Best, Puskas, Alex Young, Pele, Maradonna and the like. Players like that could raise our sport into a true art form.
20 Posted 27/03/2013 at 10:18:04
The first main point to make here is that this (youth development/technical skills etc) is an English issue and not just an Everton one. It has been identified by the FA and you can read about it on http://www.thefa.com/st-georges-park/discover/coaching/the-future-game.
The second thing to say, is that Irvine makes a very clear distinction above between youth development and playing in the Premier League. The philosophy will be different as the Premier League is all about results. I know that many people may be frustrated with Moyes not giving younger players a go. However, he has to balance the needs of the player and the team. It seems to me that he is trying develop them (eg, Barkley, Duffy etc) as much as possible (eg, playing U21, loans to Championship sides, the odd 1st team appearance) so that, when they do become regulars, they are better players.
Reading recently about Michael Owen retiring at 33, one article noted that as a youngster he was lightening fast and had a fantastic shooting ability. However, he had limited technical skills and in fact Liverpool (Houllier etc) never bothered to develop them. As Owen got older (and slower) defenders could handle him easier and he had no other skills to fall back on. Compare him to Allesandro Del Piero (38) plying his trade here in Sydney – now that is a guy with technical skills.
21 Posted 27/03/2013 at 20:36:39
Bayern Munich, Man U and Barça do, Real Madrid, Chelsea and City don't. Which model do you prefer? The FA should also be organisng the grassroots of the game along those lines as last night against the might of Montenegro showed once again.
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1 Posted 25/03/2013 at 16:34:09
There needs to be a lot more emphasis on running, clapping of hands, and defending corners with everything available.