Shareholders' Association Forum, 2nd June 2008
The People's Club Lounge, Goodison Park, 7:30 p.m.
With Special Guest Ray Hall, Everton's Academy Manager
IN A fascinating presentation, Everton academy manager Ray Hall told a Shareholders Association forum of the huge amount of work put in at the club on developing elite young footballers.
The Everton Academy now has 27 full-time staff and more than 200 part-time covering all aspects of development of young footballers - physical, mental, social and educational.
Not only are the staff enjoying the new, expansive facilities at the Finch Farm training ground, but they also use the latest sports science methods.
Games are filmed and players are given videos of the matches to help them analyse their own performances. A variety of physiological tests are carried out, ranging from how fast a player can run with the ball to how high they can jump.
Projections of future progress are made although allowance is made for the uniqueness of individuals - Gavin McCann was only 5ft 1in at the age of 14 but shot up to over 6ft 2ins.
Huge emphasis is put on engendering a positive attitude among the youngsters with good manners to the fore.
"We believe our young players should be ambassadors for the club and we place much emphasis on respect and discipline," said Ray, who has been in charge of the academy since 1990 when there were just a handful of staff.
He explained how boys start training with Everton from as early as the age of six, although they cannot be signed up in any way until the age of nine. There are 170 boys in the Everton Academy from the age of six to 18.
Although the various age-group teams have regular games against other clubs and take part in tournaments, they do not play in leagues until the age of 17 so that the emphasis can be kept on development of the individual.
Players needed to come up to scratch in four areas: technical ability, physical strength, mental strength and lifestyle.
He said there were high hopes for several young players coming through the ranks but would not like their names widely publicised just yet in order to avoid excessive pressure on them.
With all youngsters, there was a variety of factors which impacted on whether a lad reached his potential, not least mental strength.
Ray a former non-league player, said: "Technically I was a gifted player for my age in Merseyside when I was 15 or 16, but I was not tough enough mentally then."
The aim is to bring through one player to the first team each season. Some 24 lads - most of them local - have come through the ranks to play for the first team since 1998. Sales of Academy-produced players have netted the club over £50 million.
He said one of the tests of how far Everton FC progress in the coming years will come when we wish to retain our most talented young players in the face of offers from other clubs. He acknowledged that players such as Michael Ball, Richard Dunne and Wayne Rooney have been sold in an effort to stabilise finances.
Ray said the club was now in better financial shape than in past years so he hoped there would be no need to sell young players like 17-year-old Jack Rodwell who the club have high hopes for.
Rodwell is of course one of several players in the current first-team squad who have come through the Academy. The others being James Vaughan, Victor Anichebe, Leon Osman and Tony Hibbert.
Premier League clubs are allowed to name seven substitutes for each game next season and the Academy is hoping that David Moyes will include some Academy players on the bench for each game in order to boost their experience of the big match atmosphere.
At the Shareholders Association forum, Ray showed a selection of videos, including highlights from the 2002 Youth Cup run that featured several stunning goals from Wayne Rooney.
It was obvious that Ray took great delight from the fact that seven players developed by the academy were involved in Holland in the UEFA Cup victory over Alkmaar - Victor Anichebe, Tony Hibbert, James Vaughan, Jack Rodwell and Bjarni Vidarsson - and that another two were on the bench, John Irving and Paddy Boyle.
He believes the fact that youngsters are being given first-team opportunities at Everton is helping to attract the most promising schoolboy footballers to the club.