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Wanderers man and boy, there is no-one better qualified than Jimmy Phillips to talk about the role youth has to play in the club’s future right now.
A lot has changed since Phillips was installed as head of the Eddie Davies Academy in 2008, a time when Premier League riches were abundant and developing homegrown talent was not necessarily top of the agenda.
But with Wanderers now facing a challenging future where every penny invested must be seen to have a return, the emphasis has shifted considerably. Unlocking potential at the academy is now of paramount importance.
Thankfully, despite a reduction in funding that saw the club abandon its category one status last year the work Phillips had done creating a family environment and a trusted set of coaches in the last eight years is now bearing fruit.
Bolton born and bred, the former defender who made more than 300 appearances for Wanderers cut his teeth in austere times at Burnden Park, which fast-tracked the likes of Neil Redfearn, Warren Joyce, Steve Thompson, Wayne Foster and Simon Farnworth.
The same is happening now, as Rob Holding, Josh Vela, Zach Clough, Tom Walker and Kaiyne Woolery lead the way in Neil Lennon’s survival fight.
Though times are hard, Phillips, who turned 50 this week, believes the academy can offer some hope for the future.
“I’ve lived in the town of Bolton for over 40 years, for most of my life, and there is a real interest from the fans in the players coming through,” he said.
“I’ve been in the position that the youngsters are in now and luckily for me, I ended up playing in the first team whereas five or six of us from the age bracket I was in went on to enjoy football careers spanning over decades.
“That’s the aim of the academy – to ultimately produce players to figure for the first team or like some players from years gone by, Chris Basham for example, play for the club but then prove to be an asset too.
“It’s something of a food chain of sorts, with the money going straight back into the pot to produce more players for the future.
“The one thing we can offer as a club, especially at the moment, is a chance to play first team football – an opportunity that other clubs really can’t readily offer.
“The message here is loud and clear – if you have the talent, you will certainly be given opportunities here at Bolton Wanderers.
“We feel as an academy we’re producing some good young players and it’s also credit to the manager Neil Lennon because he’s been willing to give them a chance.
“Without that opportunity you never know how good they are going to be but at the moment we’re able to do that, and it’s great for the academy and great for the club as a whole.”
Downgrading to category two last year saved more than £1million a year and was viewed dimly by some fans who feared it could harm the coaching that academy players received.
Inside the club the move was seen as a blessing in disguise. The Premier League’s Elite Player Performance Plan was hatched with massive budgets in mind – and to keep up with the likes of Manchester City, pumping an incredible £8m a year into their youth system, let along the recommended £2.5m, would be difficult.
Phillips has embraced the change and believes the quality of coaching plus the attraction of a first team route gives hope that more players can follow the path laid by Clough, Vela et al.
“The big importance of going down to a category two academy as a club is that we get really good games at the schoolboy end,” he explained in the club's matchday magazine.
“This in turn allows John Hawarth, our head of recruitment, to get as good as possible raw material into the academy and then for Nicky Spooner and Dave Garner at the Under-15s and Under-16s level to bring the best out of the boys.
“To play the other category one and Premier League teams in the North West is certainly a good challenge for the players and it’s one that the schoolboys have certainly met.
“Recently it was great to see our Under-15s qualifying in a competition where they were in a group with Manchester City, Liverpool and Everton – two out of the four qualified for the next round of the competition and we finished behind City.
“That was particularly pleasing because we are still coaching the boys from the local areas, whereas these category one academies can recruit nationally.
“With that in mind it’s good to see that our recruitment is good and coaching philosophy is paying dividends with the boys playing well. We’ve certainly got some players for the future in the Under-15s and u16s.
“Although our resources are not able to match those of the higher teams at this moment in time we’re certainly competing, and some would say over-achieving, which is a testament to the staff here.”
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A lot has changed since Phillips was installed as head of the Eddie Davies Academy in 2008, a time when Premier League riches were abundant and developing homegrown talent was not necessarily top of the agenda.
But with Wanderers now facing a challenging future where every penny invested must be seen to have a return, the emphasis has shifted considerably. Unlocking potential at the academy is now of paramount importance.
Thankfully, despite a reduction in funding that saw the club abandon its category one status last year the work Phillips had done creating a family environment and a trusted set of coaches in the last eight years is now bearing fruit.
Bolton born and bred, the former defender who made more than 300 appearances for Wanderers cut his teeth in austere times at Burnden Park, which fast-tracked the likes of Neil Redfearn, Warren Joyce, Steve Thompson, Wayne Foster and Simon Farnworth.
The same is happening now, as Rob Holding, Josh Vela, Zach Clough, Tom Walker and Kaiyne Woolery lead the way in Neil Lennon’s survival fight.
Though times are hard, Phillips, who turned 50 this week, believes the academy can offer some hope for the future.
“I’ve lived in the town of Bolton for over 40 years, for most of my life, and there is a real interest from the fans in the players coming through,” he said.
“I’ve been in the position that the youngsters are in now and luckily for me, I ended up playing in the first team whereas five or six of us from the age bracket I was in went on to enjoy football careers spanning over decades.
“That’s the aim of the academy – to ultimately produce players to figure for the first team or like some players from years gone by, Chris Basham for example, play for the club but then prove to be an asset too.
“It’s something of a food chain of sorts, with the money going straight back into the pot to produce more players for the future.
“The one thing we can offer as a club, especially at the moment, is a chance to play first team football – an opportunity that other clubs really can’t readily offer.
“The message here is loud and clear – if you have the talent, you will certainly be given opportunities here at Bolton Wanderers.
“We feel as an academy we’re producing some good young players and it’s also credit to the manager Neil Lennon because he’s been willing to give them a chance.
“Without that opportunity you never know how good they are going to be but at the moment we’re able to do that, and it’s great for the academy and great for the club as a whole.”
Downgrading to category two last year saved more than £1million a year and was viewed dimly by some fans who feared it could harm the coaching that academy players received.
Inside the club the move was seen as a blessing in disguise. The Premier League’s Elite Player Performance Plan was hatched with massive budgets in mind – and to keep up with the likes of Manchester City, pumping an incredible £8m a year into their youth system, let along the recommended £2.5m, would be difficult.
Phillips has embraced the change and believes the quality of coaching plus the attraction of a first team route gives hope that more players can follow the path laid by Clough, Vela et al.
“The big importance of going down to a category two academy as a club is that we get really good games at the schoolboy end,” he explained in the club's matchday magazine.
“This in turn allows John Hawarth, our head of recruitment, to get as good as possible raw material into the academy and then for Nicky Spooner and Dave Garner at the Under-15s and Under-16s level to bring the best out of the boys.
“To play the other category one and Premier League teams in the North West is certainly a good challenge for the players and it’s one that the schoolboys have certainly met.
“Recently it was great to see our Under-15s qualifying in a competition where they were in a group with Manchester City, Liverpool and Everton – two out of the four qualified for the next round of the competition and we finished behind City.
“That was particularly pleasing because we are still coaching the boys from the local areas, whereas these category one academies can recruit nationally.
“With that in mind it’s good to see that our recruitment is good and coaching philosophy is paying dividends with the boys playing well. We’ve certainly got some players for the future in the Under-15s and u16s.
“Although our resources are not able to match those of the higher teams at this moment in time we’re certainly competing, and some would say over-achieving, which is a testament to the staff here.”
Source