Former Town U18s captain and combative midfielder Curtley Williams is poised to sign a one-year contract with the Glenn Hoddle Academy within the next few days.
The scheme, which is being run by Hoddle, former Blues coach John Gorman, Nigel Spackman and Graham Rix, is designed to offer a genuine route back into top level football for some of the youngsters discarded by the professional system. Up to 40 players will join the Academy, which is based at the Montecastillo Resort near Jerez in southern Spain.
Williams, who joined Town as an under-11 player and was told in March of this year that he wouldn't be offered a professional contract, feels that he was well supported by his hometown club: "Tony Humes and Richard Hall both went out of their way to help me find another club. It so happens that Tony was the person who told me about the GHA. He had received a phone call from Nigel Spackman and after speaking to me, put my name forward.â€Â
However, the Glenn Hoddle Academy wasn't the first place that the Town coaching staff had helped Williams to look following his release in mid-March. Hall set up Williams's first trial at Lincoln, whilst specialist skills coach Steve Foley got in contact with Peter Taylor, then manager at Stevenage, and arranged a trial at Broadhall Way. A further spell at Peterborough United followed before Colchester United approached Williams himself.
The 18-year-old felt he came close to winning a contract on a number of occasions: "In my first match for Lincoln I had a good game â€" well enough for them to ask me back the following week to play at Elland Road. We were totally outclassed by Leeds, they battered us for 90 minutes, so it was hard for me to play well and impress.
"Then I went to Stevenage and played well in a reserve game against Grays. Peter Taylor was interested in signing me but wanted me to finish off my other trials at Peterborough and Colchester. Taylor is the nicest person I have ever met in football and it's easy to see why he is so well respected throughout the game.
"I don't feel that Peterborough treated me fairly as I played youth team games, but ultimately I was judged by their manager Darren Ferguson. He only saw me play 20 minutes in one game, so I was a bit disappointed with that.
"Then at Colchester I had two good games, one of which involved me playing in the last competitive match at Layer Road. However, they never got back to me having also said they were interested.â€Â
After spending a weekend in London having a trial with the Glenn Hoddle Academy, Williams impressed enough to be offered a one-year contract. All the players at the Academy have been released by professional clubs, with Chris Fagan (Manchester United), Loren Maxwell (Watford) and Lino Goncalves (Fulham) just three of around 70 players that attended the trials. Former Town reserve team keeper Andy Plummer also went along but wasn't offered a contract.
Williams is hoping to make a quick return to the professional game, adding: "Whilst I'm over there, I'm looking to learn as much as possible and develop my game as much as possible too. With the wide-ranging network of scouts that Glenn, John, Nigel and Graham have between them, hopefully I can get back into professional football as soon as possible, whether it's in England or not.
"I'm grateful for everything Ipswich have done for me, especially Tony Humes, Richard Hall and Steve Foley, and I'm looking forward meeting them again somewhere down the line."
Thanks to James Ager for the article.