New centre of excellence will help give Gosport Borough ‘the best off-field structure the club has ever had’

A new scheme will see former Borough players Joe Lea and Pat Suraci head up a centre of excellence which will ultimately feature teams from Under-9 through to Under-23 level.

Lea will manage the Under-18s and Suraci the Under-23s in 2020/21, while the pair will share the management of the academic football programme. Both men managed the club's under-18s last season.

They will be assisted by Aaron Haggard, who will manage the Under-17s next season while also serving as Borough’s Development Liaison Officer - offering a link between the club’s youth section and local youth football clubs.

Lea is a qualified UEFA B licenced coach, while Suraci and Haggard are currently working towards that qualification.

An ‘academic football’ option, run in partnership with the local St Vincent College, will continue where youngsters aged 16-18 can play and study to earn a BTEC Diploma.

McInnes admitted the youth set-up revamp is an idea that has been on his mind ever since he joined Gosport in December 2017.

It has taken the former Pompey chairman longer than he would have liked, but other parts of the club had to take priority.

Gosport reached the FA Trophy final at Wembley in 2013/14, but three seasons later almost ceased to exist due to financial problems.

‘It’s been as tough a task trying to put it all back together as I had at Portsmouth,’ said McInnes.

‘Gosport had a big fall from grace in football, and the image of Gosport as a club suffered, and now we are putting things right again.

‘These things always take longer than you’d like. At Pompey it took us five years to win promotion, but it wasn’t for the want of trying.’

He continued: ‘After leaving Portsmouth I didn’t really expect to get involved anywhere, but Gosport came knocking pleading poverty.

‘Now, as they say, I am repenting at leisure!

‘The idea of football at this level is that it has got to be a big family, that’s what you have to try and create. And like any family, you have to have various age groups.

‘When I joined, the youth part of the club was totally separate to the main club, which was a bit bizarre.

‘The priority was to put the first team back together, to make sure the club is still running.

‘We have to build the family from the bottom up, and I’ve been thrashing around with this idea since I came here.

‘That’s why it’s important to me.

‘Now we have probably got the best structure off the field that Gosport have ever had.’

Among that structure are Colin and Di Farmery.

Colin - well known in local football circles for writing books on Pompey and for his work with the Supporters Trust - joined Borough’s board in a voluntary capacity in January of this year.

He was a former assistant principal at St Vincent College, while his wife Di - who also joined Gosport’s board at the same time - was the principal of the College for many years.

‘Colin and Di coming on board has been key, and we have Aaron Haggard who will be the linkman between the main club and the youth teams,’ said McInnes.

‘Off the pitch, I’m happy with the structure.

‘We have probably got the best structure off the field that Gosport have ever had.’

Haggard has been vice chairman of the Gosport Borough Youth FC club for the last five years, and though he has now given up that role he will carry on sitting on the committee.

He coached one of two Borough under-16s teams in 2019/20 - one played on a Saturday and one on a Sunday - and was also assistant manager of the club’s Wyvern Combination Premier League team.

Explaining the centre of excellence idea, Haggard said: ‘There’s a big crossover at the 16/17 age range - some players get part-time jobs, others discover new sports at college. The percentage of players who can drop out is quite high.

‘We are trying to make sure there is something there for those who want to continue all the way through and are good enough to do it.

‘There will be a seamless transition from the under-16s through to the first team.

‘We want to give players the time and support to reach their potential.

‘We don’t want to lose players because there is no pathway for them. Kids can now start out on their journey aged 9 or 10 knowing if they are good enough they can end up in the first team.

‘Those youngsters are the future of the club, the bloodline.’

He continued: ‘We know we can’t compete with the professional academies, they are in a different world. But if anyone does go to a pro academy and it doesn’t work out, we are a good alternative to go to because we have a pathway. It’s nice to be able to offer that.

‘We have got coaches worthy of the ‘centre of excellence’ name - Joe is a UEFA B coach, he’s part of the Chelsea academy, and I’m currently doing the same course.

‘It’s not a case of ‘this is a centre of excellence and the coaching will be done by Joe Bloggs.

‘We are the senior club in the area and we should be offering this level of coaching.

‘I’m obviously biased, but we’ve got a great youth set-up - next season there will be 55 teams and this will affect everyone eventually.

‘And it’s not just for the benefit of Gosport Borough. We want to invite all the local clubs - Gosport Falcons, Crofton Saints, Warsash Wasps - to send their best players for open trials and training squad selection.

‘There won’t be any games, just midweek coaching, and they will be able to take what they’ve learnt back to their clubs at weekends.

‘It’s a case of identifying the local talent and starting them out on a journey a little bit earlier than before.

‘The centre of excellence shouldn’t just be for our players, it should be for the whole local community. We want everyone to feel a part of it, but we won’t force anyone’s hand.

‘But once they see the level of coaching that will be offered from Pat and Joe then hopefully they will want to be part of it.

‘Everyone should benefit.

‘We want to roll out sessions for junior team coaches as well, try to upskill them.

‘It would be nice if we could reach every kid, but if we can’t then we will try and improve the coaches who do see them every week.

‘We want them to take notes, ask questions - this isn’t just about player development, it’s about coaching development as well.

‘There might be junior team coaches who want to progress, and we can offer them a stepping stone.

‘It’s obviously early days - we don’t want to roll everything out in the first five minutes and fall at the first hurdle, but overall it’s really positive, really exciting.’

Gosport’s set-up mirrors that of many professional and leading non-league clubs. Gone are the days of reserve team football - the Premier League clubs have been taking part in an under-23 league since 2012 while non-league clubs such as Eastleigh and Hawks no longer have a reserve side either.

Haggard feels this is the way football is now going, even at grassroots level.

‘I noticed last year with the reserves that most of the teams in the Wyvern Premier were virtually an under-23 side,’ he said.

‘We played Portchester and they had some 17 and 18-year-olds in their side, it was great to see that they were giving youngsters a chance.

‘That seemed to be norm in the Wyvern and it was brilliant.’

Haggard summed up: ‘If we can get three or four players coming through into the first team squad every year then the chairman is going to be happy and the manager is going to be happy, as that’s four players he hasn’t got to go elsewhere to find.

‘If we see that happening, then we will know it’s worked, all the hard work will have an end game.

‘What’s more, it will be local talent coming into the first team and that’s a big buy-in for the supporters.

‘It’s small steps at the moment, but hopefully in five or six years time you will see the benefits.

‘We have had success stories in the past, but we want them to be on a season basis rather than one every 10 years or so.’