Academies:

• Are very competitive
• There is jeopardy: retain or release?
• Parents often think they know more about footie than coaches
• Character, a positive attitude, mental resilience, athleticism and a strong work ethic are just as important as raw football talent
• We mainly saw the positive aspects of players making it through to the next stage -not the negatives of being released.

But looking beyond the obvious themes, credit must go to Crystal Palace FC and the parents for allowing the cameras behind the scenes to shine a light on operations. It showed just how professional the staff are and how much they respect the boys.

Having been a parent taking our own son through the academy system for more than 10 years, it was an excellent representation of our experience too, albeit at a different club. The obvious points above all made for good TV entertainment but there are other facets which are more important but may not make for good TV.

Missed off learning points

Education first

The football leagues and academies have a responsibility for ensuring education is always plan A. Not football.

We are aware of too many boys who do not fulfil their academic potential and may not pass any exams at all. This is despite clubs being obliged to pull boys out of training if their school performance declines. If parents don’t spot the issue, don’t rely on football clubs to raise the alarm and take action. Parents must assume responsibility.

As exam season approaches, it is not unreasonable for you to pull you son out of day release to attend school instead. The club we are at welcomed our decision to do so and he is still in the academy as a year 2 scholar. So don’t be afraid to ask.

Physical workload on the body

Injuries are common during the growth spurt years and can be a tremendous psychological test of the young player. This can also can extend to when boys hit 16 and start to spend time with first- and second-year scholars. The greater workload on the body can really take its toll and it may turn out your son is just not able to take the physical demands of academy football.

For the majority of the boys, parents should trust the advice of the physios and coaches. Do they get it right all of the time? Everybody is different so probably not. But the club’s strength and conditioning programmes do build resilience and should overcome most common injuries. If you have any doubts always seek advice from your own doctor and sports physio.

Commercialisation of academy football

The final point we observed is the number of academy TV programs have suddenly emerged. We know of three in 2022. This could be the result of an industry needing to rebuild its reputation following well documented abuse cases or maybe it is an attempt to commercialise the academy system.

Some clubs are better commercially than others at recouping academy operational expenses through the sale of academy players in addition to the Premier League’s financial contribution to lower league academies.

There is a strong case for a stronger commercial model in lower league academies. Some changing facilities should be condemned and knocked down. Pitches come in wide variety of standards. Some clubs lack enough pitches to play on and some make do with pitches marked out by cones. One pitch in London has a three-foot-wide mound that spans the entire width of the pitch.

Looking forwards, it will be interesting to see how football clubs square the ethical issue of feeding exceptional players into the national teams and Premiership without exploiting the boys. body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.