A proper academy

As Burnley’s academy manager, mentality is important to me. 

I want to instil a mentality that is straightforward, straight-talking and tough. A mentality that reflects what the town and people of Burnley are about.

I have a great affinity with the club and town, having been born and raised here, and still living in the area. My dad was a footballer who moved to Burnley in 1967 for a then club record fee of £27,000. He played, coached and managed at the club for over 20 years. So Burnley means an awful lot to me, from a personal as well as a professional perspective.

I understand what the town is about. It’s a traditional, working-class, northern town that is tough, gritty and honest, as well as friendly and welcoming. The people have strong values and are very clear on what Burnley is about, in terms of how people here should act and be perceived. 

They are very proud of that, and they are proud of their football club – the best supported in the country. There are something like 90,000 people in the town, and we get 23,000 fans at Turf Moor.

And when I look at the Burnley first team – the likes of Connor Roberts, Max Estève, Josh Laurent, Josh Cullen and Lyle Foster – they are all players who will run through a brick wall for you. The difference with a lot of players who make it from the academy system to first-team level is mentality. Developing that in a young player comes from how they apply themselves every day to their work, on and off the field.

“I wouldn’t dream of turning up late for a meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson”

As an academy, we did a lot of work with the players and staff on what we want to be and what we believe in. The answers were professional, accountable and respectful. I look at the players in the first team and they embody all three. We are fortunate that the academy is integrated with the men’s and women’s first teams at the training ground. We can see the professionalism of the first-team staff and players.

Professionalism for me means things like turning up in good time, giving your best, working hard for your teammates, being dressed right. It applies whether you are an eight-year-old in the academy, aspiring to play for the first team, or whether you are playing for a living. 

When I was a young player at Manchester United, I wouldn’t dream of turning up late for a meeting with Sir Alex Ferguson. No one would. If the manager said that a meeting started at 10.30am, you were in at 10.15am to make sure you were early.

Young people need to learn this professionalism, taking accountability for themselves and being respectful. That is what we are trying to achieve at Burnley. It doesn’t cost anything to have manners, to say hello and be kind to people off the pitch. On the pitch, you are a completely different animal, so to speak. You have to be, because it’s that competitive. But off the pitch, you’ve got to be good people. Again, it’s a reflection of what people from Burnley are about.

I’d like to think I grew up with good values instilled in me by my parents. In football I was fortunate that I grew up at a club under the management of Sir Alex, who reiterated a lot of the values I was growing up with at home.

We also had the same from our youth-team coaches at Manchester United. There was Eric Harrison, who came from another northern town, Halifax. We had Nobby Stiles – a World Cup and European Cup winner, and league champion. Brian Kidd was a European Cup winner and league champion with the club. Sir Bobby Charlton was always around, too. They instilled a culture in us, including the history of the club and what it meant to the people of Manchester.

“If players feel under pressure from their parents, the parents are not doing their job very well”

My role at Burnley is to give the young players in our academy the benefit of my experience, and what I believe to be the right values. To develop them as young footballers and, most importantly, young people.

Parents probably have the most important job in young players’ development. The amount of time children spend with their parents, going to and from games, at home and all the rest, means that parents play a massive role. What they say to their children can impact their development.

If a player, no matter how old they are, has not had a great game, a parent doesn’t have to sit next to them in the car and tell them they’ve not played well. The player already knows. Instead, parents should wait for them to speak, or they should ask: “Are you okay?” And give them some positive feedback if they’ve done something well in the game. Always look for positives out of a performance. If players feel under pressure from their parents, the parents are not doing their job very well.

I have been through the experience myself with my son, who is a goalkeeper. He’s been at Burnley for nine years and can have a great game, but if he makes one mistake it could cost the team. He doesn’t need me to point that out. What he needs is for his dad to be there to love, support and put an arm around him.

There are a lot of opportunities for players and parents to voice their opinions, through an ever expanding player-care system, where they get so much support. That is great, because we want to hear from them and get feedback. The key message is that they should let the qualified staff do their job. Parents don’t have to interfere with that, because the club has all the experts that their child needs to help with the football itself.

I was fortunate that my dad never interfered with what I was doing at United, or when I went to other clubs. We’d talk about the game, but he never interfered with the coaches or got involved in that. He could have very easily sat at the same table as them because of his experience, but he never did. Instead he played his role as a parent, which was to love and support his son.

“We can’t lose sight of what proper football is”

As a young player at United I learned a lot about the game, but I was also learning about life. That included high standards and a work ethic. No matter whether you are a footballer, a teacher, a bank manager – whatever you become, without the right standards and behaviours you are never going to be successful in life. You give it your best, and that is all that anybody can ask. It is the same at Burnley.

We have a saying here: “It’s proper football.” If you go into Burnley and someone says to you “he’s a proper lad” or “she’s a proper woman”, it means that they are honest and hardworking. They are proper people.

I was fortunate that I grew up at United with proper players like Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona, Steve Bruce and Roy Keane. They were very skilful, but they were so tough mentally and physically. They would never give in. Sir Alex Ferguson was what you’d call a proper manager as well.

Trying to instil this mentality in our players at Burnley is important. In the last 10 to 15 years, things have moved on with youth development and the introduction of the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP). I was part of this at the Premier League, where I was a club support manager, working with clubs to develop and implement the EPPP. But I do think there’s a lot of fluff sometimes with youth development. There can be a one-upmanship, I suppose, with academies trying to outdo each other by trying to reinvent the wheel. It doesn’t have to be like that.

We can’t lose sight of what proper football is. It’s about dominating your opposition, winning your 1v1s, your duels, and working hard as a team.

At United, Nobby Stiles always used to say: “If you see a red shirt, pass to him.” Then either support to give him an option, or run and create space for somebody else to play in. Leave that player to decide what he wants to do. They might then find a pass or use a trick to take somebody on to create a goalscoring opportunity. 

It was simple. When you break it down, it is what Manchester City have done with Pep Guardiola – give options to the player on the ball. They took it to an extreme, of course, and have been so successful in the way that they’ve done it. Liverpool have had a contrasting style in the last few years, which has also been really successful. 

“To change from one style to another so fluidly takes a very, very good coach”

In Burnley’s academy, we are trying to create players able to play in as many systems, shapes and styles of play as possible. To give them the tools to have a career in the game, whether that is at Burnley or elsewhere. Top academies and clubs have identified that we are developing players who can fit into different styles and systems. We’ve just lost a couple of players, bought from our academy by Man City and Liverpool. That suggests we are moving in the right direction.

We’ve got to create players who can play in proper football, whether that is the Man City style, the Liverpool style or the Burnley style – whatever that will be. In the last five years we had Sean Dyche, who was very direct and had a successful career at Burnley doing what he needed to do, very well. Then Vincent Kompany’s way of playing was the complete opposite, with a lot of possession and control in games. 

The gaffer now, Scott Parker, was similar with the way he got us promoted, but has been more pragmatic in the Premier League. He can alter to any style needed to get a result. To change from one style to another so fluidly takes a very, very good coach. In Scott, we’ve got that.

When I came in as academy manager in November 2024, the first part of my job was to help us go from a Category 2 to a Category 1 academy. There are a lot of benefits to being Category 1, not least the games programme supplied by the Premier League and the EFL. All the experiences you get from that run all the way through the academy, from Under-9 to Under-21. And being a Category 1 club is a massive attraction when you are trying to recruit players and staff.

When I joined we knew an audit was imminent, so we looked at as many things as possible with our set-up. I was fortunate that the head of operations at the time, Connor Park, did a fantastic job in preparing as well. We were audited just under two months after I joined, and are now classified as Category 1 for this season. 

With the change of category, we’ll get audited again at some stage this year. Without taking things for granted, I’d like to think that we’ll keep Category 1 status moving forward. That is because, right from the top, the owners have backed us. There is support all the way through the club.

“When you see league tables about productivity with academies, they have to be taken in context”

The main part of my job, however, is to produce players for the first team. In the last 20 years the club have produced players for the wider game, but only Jay Rodriguez has really come through the system. You could add Dwight McNeill, who signed as a 14-year-old, but even then it has only been a couple of regular first-team players over the last 20 years. That is damning.

It does have to be put into context to a certain degree, which is the needs of the first team. Trying to stay in the Premier League is hard enough, which Sean did for five seasons in a row. That was a massive success – and, if you do drop out, getting back into it is a success. It is very difficult for young players to come into a team like that.

The word I keep using is ‘opportunity’. At United in the 1990s, the young players were afforded opportunities, which was helped by the UEFA 3+2 rule. That was a rule that limited the number of foreign players in European competitions, so the young English players had to be part of United’s European squad.

So when you see league tables about productivity with academies, they have to be taken in context. When I became manager of Bury in 2005, the club was bottom of the league and had no money to spend. I had to make do because I couldn’t bring any players in, so I looked at young players I’d worked with as youth team and reserve coach. That meant opportunities for players including Nicky Adams, David Buchanan and Andy Parrish, who went on to play hundreds of games. 

I also looked into the loans market and got a very cheap goalkeeper for next to nothing from Man City, called Kasper Schmeichel. Mark Pugh was another one I had at Bury. He got released from Burnley, but ended up playing in the Premier League after his time with me. Dale Stevens was released from Man City and went on to play in the Premier League for Brighton and Burnley.

It was through necessity that I gave them opportunities, because I couldn’t do anything else. I’m not saying that you want clubs to be struggling, with no other way out than to throw young players in. But you need opportunities. Sometimes, if clubs are quite safe with 10 games to go, they might put one or two young players in. 

“Men’s football is completely different to Under-21 football, which is very fluffy”

We have to stick to our beliefs that we can get young players into the first team. And the relationship with the first team and the academy is very good. Our young lads train quite regularly with the first team, so the manager is looking at them.

I’m not saying it’s just a matter of time, but if we continue to do the right things, then ultimately you are just waiting for that opportunity. It might be in a cup game, or hopefully we get safe and the manager might put one or two in.

It might be that players go on loan as a benchmark of how they can handle first-team football. Under-21 football is classed as the reserves now, and it has had a lot of criticism. Men’s football is completely different to Under-21 football, which is very fluffy. 

With the old reserve-team leagues, if senior pros didn’t play on a Saturday for the first team, they’d play on a Wednesday for the reserves. At United, our reserve team could easily feature England internationals like Bryan Robson, Lee Sharpe, Dion Dublin, Mike Phelan and Paul Parker.

I was fortunate that I grew up in that era. At the age of 18 I was playing against Alan Shearer in the Central League. It was an unbelievable learning curve to play against Alan, even if he was coming back from injury. 

At United, Bryan Robson, Paul Parker and Mike Phelan played in an A game against Oldham at the training ground – equivalent to the Under-18s now – because they needed a game. To play alongside, as well as against, such experienced players was hugely beneficial. That is never going to be created again, so the main way to gain experience playing against men in tough games is to go out on loan.

“The best coaches make things simple”

As a player I went on loan to Bournemouth and Swindon. Some of the lads at United went straight into the first team, but David Beckham went to Preston. It is a good challenge for players to see if they’ve got the resilience and mental toughness to handle pressure situations in professional football. They are exciting situations to be in, when you hear the fans and your adrenaline is pumping. Every game is a special occasion. They are the building blocks to get you to the first team.

Young players will have ups and downs, so a good academy coach needs patience as well as knowledge. Communication skills have also got to be really good, because there are so many ways that young players communicate and take information on board. A good coach has to be flexible in using different learning techniques and styles, including verbal, demonstrations and peer learning.

The great coaches I worked with were clear, honest and straightforward with their communication. It was truthful and knowledgeable. Eric, Nobby, Kiddo, Jim Ryan and the manager spoke from experience and with clarity about what they expected from me. 

The best coaches make things simple, in what is sometimes a very complicated world of philosophies and other information. It doesn’t have to be like that. It should be clear, concise and honest. The expectation is that I do my job, and you are expected to do your job as well.