Former Blues striker Ian Marshall is launching a new Ipswich-based football and education project, the Ian Marshall Football Academy.
Marshall, who was with the Blues between 1993 and 1996, scoring 38 goals in 96 appearances, is setting up the Academy with PTC Group, who run similar set-ups with the likes of Muzzy Izzet, Steve Walsh and Steve Claridge elsewhere.
"I met the guys from PTC four or five months ago now and they’ve successfully launched these academies in Leicester, Portsmouth and a few other cities around the country,” Marshall told TWTD.
"They asked me whether I’d be interested in running one in Ipswich. I’ve always wanted to come back because I didn’t want to leave and it’s taken me 19 years and a big journey to get back but it was the ideal opportunity to come back and do something that I’m quite passionate about - football and education as well. It really fitted together.”
He says the Academy for boys and girls aged 16-18 will be organised along the lines of a club’s youth set-up: "We’re going to run it pretty much as if they were an apprentice at a football club.
"In the morning they’ll come in, get changed and do football training just like a young team would then in the afternoons they’ll go into a classroom and do one and a half or two hours on a BTEC Diploma in sport. They’ll play in the English Colleges League, which is very competitive, on a Wednesday.
"It’s just a way of getting them away from doing nothing and into doing something. They love football and they’re getting an education, which is the main thing because obviously it leads them onto other things.
"I’ve seen so many apprentices and young professionals who have thought they’ve made it and they’ve been released but they’ve got no education at 21 or 22 years of age, they haven’t done anything to help them get a job.”
But the Academy is far from just aimed at those who have been released by professional clubs.
"It’s unlikely that they’ll never have played football before, but they won’t necessarily have played at a reasonable level,” the 48-year-old former striker continued.
"Someone who is very keen on football and isn’t bad. There are an awful lot of lads you see on a Sunday who are a decent footballers. OK, they’re not going to be professional footballers but they’re decent players.
"If they’re willing to learn and to listen, they’ll always get better. But again the back-up is that they get an education which can lead on to other things for them in a job that they would like to do. Instead of working in a factory they’re involved in sport.”
While one or two of the most talented players might find their way into professional clubs, the vast majority will go on into higher education or will use their new skills in the community.
"They can go out and work in schools. They do apprenticeships, it can lead to all sorts of things and get them going.
"It will start in September, we should finalise a venue in the next few days, but we’re starting recruitment now, getting the kids interested, getting them to know what’s happening.”
Those registering an interest will be invited to training sessions at Easter where Marshall will assess their footballing ability.
To register your interest or to find out more call 01709 913600, visit the PTC Group website, email marketing@ptcsports.co.uk, follow the Academy’s Twitter account @IMFootball_UK or Marshall’s personal Twitter @BigMarshy20.
Marshall also spoke to the ICR FM breakfast show about his new project.
Earlier in the season Marshall was the star of one of TWTD's Ex-Files.