Mick McCarthy and his assistant boss Terry Connor were amongst those attending Monday’s Academy Open Evening and Brochure Launch at Playford Road. TWTD, an academy sponsor, was at the event and spoke to operations manager Helen Broughton about the new brochure and the latest academy developments.

Each season the academy produces a brochure as part of its recruitment strategy, giving an insight to life at the Blues’ youth set-up.

At last night’s launch sponsors met with a number of the current scholars, including David October, Jack Marriott, Tom Winter, Jonny Leddy and Mark Timlin, who were all offered one-year professional deals last week.

McCarthy also talked to sponsors and gave a short speech, as did U18s skipper October and academy sponsorship manager Simon Milton.

In academy director Bryan Klug’s absence — he was on a scouting mission — Helen Broughton also added a few words on what she feels is the ethos of academy and afterwards spoke to TWTD.

Helen, who has been part of the academy set-up since its inception in 1998, outlined the purpose of the brochure: “We will obviously circulate it to existing academy players, just so their parents can see their own son’s picture in the brochure, as a souvenir as much as anything.

“But it’s used more widely than that as a recruitment tool for our scouts and for [new academy recruitment officer] Steve McGavin when they’re going around the country competing with the likes of Norwich and West Ham, and more locally with Colchester and Southend, for players to give a little snapshot of who we are.

“Bizarre as it seems, even at U10 and U11 there is competition out there for who is believed to be the best player in that age group at that time.

“The staff in the recruitment department have to sell Ipswich Town and hopefully it’s a snapshot of who we are really. It’s used as a recruitment tool, a PR tool and just to put our face out there.”

She says it helps give parents — some of them abroad — an initial taste of the academy: “Families are sending their precious son across the water and I, as a mother, would want to know my son was being looked after.

“It’s only a flavour, it’s only an introduction but you start somewhere and obviously when we take players from abroad they haven’t been in day-in, day-out for years on end and we have to give them a real introduction.

Helen Broughton

“They have to visit, they have to meet us all because there’s only that that really makes it alive, but having a brochure is a very good start.”

In addition to its role in recruiting players, the brochure also helps to attract sponsors who can augment the academy’s funds and in turn its activities: “It goes out to local businesses, local colleges and all those sorts of places to raise the profile of the academy because it does need financial support, as an enhancement.

“It’s obviously financially supported by the club and the club has made that commitment, but anything that we can do to enhance the programme is good for the players’ development, and that’s the reason behind it.

“Putting on things like the annual U15s Manchester United game, which has now become the annual Tottenham Hotspur game, at Portman Road.

“That gives kids the chance to play under floodlights with, maybe not thousands and thousands there, but a decent crowd, which is fantastic for their development. They all have to start somewhere.

“Going on tours, going to tournaments, arranging festivals, all those sorts of things. The coaching staff will tell you how valuable a tour or a tournament is because when you take a child away from familiar surroundings for maybe two or three days, maybe up to a week, you see characteristics from a player that you don’t necessarily see if mum’s sitting in a car five yards away.

“You see those that can take responsibility, those that are self-reliant, it’s a real window into their characters.

“Sponsorship enhances all that. The club provides the essentials but sponsorship enhances it, making the programme a little bit richer.

“There’s always more equipment to buy, there are always better facilities, the education suite and all that sort of thing. Computers, for instance.”

The academy was recently given the good news that it successfully came through its independent audit and will be confirmed as a Category Two youth set-up in the wake of the EPPP reorganisation which took place last summer.

Helen says that that was the culmination of a lot of hard work and that while there was criticism of the club’s decision to opt against going for Category One status, switching up wouldn’t be a huge task.

“The Professional Game Board hasn’t made its announcement yet so there is a rubber stamp to go, but the recommendation is going from the ISO which has been endorsed by the Premier League that Ipswich Town will be Category Two,” she said.

“We are delighted. I know the perception is that it’s a little bit second class but what we’ve put in place to get to Category Two is massive in terms of facilities and staffing and the next step up isn’t that massive.

“Hopefully, it’s a matter of another couple of members of staff and another classroom, so it’s quite small really.

“The stipulation is that you put in £1.5 million at Category One and you get £750,000 as a grant on top, but this club spends a lot on its youth development anyway, so while there’s a little bit more investment required, it’s not massive.”

There was another big positive for the academy last week with five of this season’s second-year scholars getting professional contracts. “They’re good lads," Helen says. "They're a combination, we’ve got two from Ireland, Mark Timlin and Jonny Leddy, Tom Winter’s been here since he was about three feet tall and Jack Marriott and David October joined us at 14. I’m thrilled for them all.

“I remember Tom when he was first here. He was a quiet lad. I’ve been here probably too long now and they all know that I remember when they were eight.

“Teddy Bishop, the first year scholar, he’s the classic. When we used to serve lunch to them here on a Saturday he couldn’t even reach the counter, he was very tiny and I do remind him of that!”

She says there’s that sort of family feel around Playford Road: “It’s kind of a bit corny ‘Ipswich Town, the family club’ but actually if you look at how long the staff stay here and I hope that the people out on the pitches there, the families who just give such a commitment to the academy, feel that they’re not just a commodity, that whatever we do we can do something to improve their son.

“Whether they make it to the top, who knows, but academy life should be enhancing and I think that’s what we really believe and you have to have a staff team which can work together because we’re here for far too many hours a day, the friction would be impossible.

“We try and create that sort of atmosphere where nobody is bigger than the other and nobody’s more important. Obviously there is a hierarchy, but it is very much a family, it sounds very corny but that’s how we are.

“Bryan and I have worked together for such a long time. We’re the older generation now, we’ve got a new generation now, which is great to see.”

Several of that new generation of staff are former players coming back home: “I don’t know if it’s accidental. I think the trend stared with Gerard Nash, who had horrible injuries, and Bryan Klug, who was in his first stint as academy manager.

“Gerard had made the decision that his playing couldn’t be at the level he wanted it to be, so he told Bryan one day that he was hanging his boots up and he saw such potential in him as a young coach that we almost invented an apprenticeship on the coaching side for Gerard.

“I don’t know whether that was what started it, Bryan, of course, was a youth player himself here, so maybe not.”

Dubliner Nash, a centre-half who made one senior appearance for Town before knee injuries curtailed his career when he was just 20, has since been joined by other Playford Road alumni: “Gerard joined us, then Liam Manning and Adem Atay were both scholarship players here and went off and played abroad when they weren’t offered professional contracts but gravitated back and started with a bit of part-time coaching and the potential was seen in them.

“[Former academy manager] Sammy Morgan offered Liam a full-time job here and then Bryan offered Adem one. So, all our senior coaching staff are ex-players because [U18s coach] Russell Osman, of course, is one as well.

“Then there’s Lee O’Neill, he was a player here, his father [Tommy] was a player here, and again through injury and luck and all the rest of it, he didn’t get a professional contract.

“But he’s a bright lad and he went to Loughborough University, which shows the academic worth of the scholarship because the NVQ and the BTEC that he got gave him enough UCAS points.

“He went to Loughborough, did his degree in sports science and has now come back as head of sports science.

“There’s probably only me and David Baynes-Robinson [head of education and welfare] who haven’t been players here.

“James Krause, [a member of the 2005 FA Youth Cup-winning team], is now our match analyst, Scott Mitchell coaches here, he’s worked in the development centres, James Scowcroft was a player here, as was Jason Dozzell, of course. Then there’s Steve McGavin, who is the new head of recruitment, he was here as a player.

“So, the majority of the football staff have been through our system, which means they know how it is. A lot of them have worked under Bryan and having him back has completed the full circle really.”

Helen says that in addition there is also another generation of future Town players coming through too: “We’ve got Jason Dozzell’s son and Kieron Dyer’s son and we had Harry Wright until Manchester City took him off our hands, but hopefully he’ll be back. I’m sure Richard will settle in this part of the world.

“We’ll wait for the next Billy Clarke and the next Darren Bent to emerge over the next five or 10 years.”

TWTD has already agreed to sponsor the matchball for the academy showcase at Portman Road on Wednesday 1st May when an U15s side will take on Tottenham under floodlights.

If you’re interested in sponsoring some aspect of that game or anything else relating to the academy, email Simon Milton or call him on 01473 400942.

Photo: ITFC

Photo: Action Images

runningout added 18:18 - Feb 19 fingers crossed our current coaches at all levels, stick around for many years to come
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CanadianBlue added 20:42 - Feb 19 I honestly love that so many of our coaches were ex-Academy players. It really does give a sense of a family feel to the club and that can only be a good thing. I'm sure we'll see more Academy players in our side with time, starting with our most recently signed professionals.
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