Creating young men who're ready for life - the inside track of the changing emphasis at Portsmouth Academy

Matt Ritchie, Joel Ward and Adam Webster are rubbing shoulders with the world's best in the Premier League.
Pompey Academy in action this season. Picture: Duncan ShepherdPompey Academy in action this season. Picture: Duncan Shepherd
Pompey Academy in action this season. Picture: Duncan Shepherd

Conor Chaplin and Marlon Pack are plying their trade in the Championship – and doing it well.

At Pompey, Ben Close and Alex Bass are first-team regulars, while the likes of Brandon Haunstrup and Adam May have the ability to forge Football League careers – just as Dan Butler has done since departing.

But Mark Kelly was still not quite satisfied.

Pompey Academy boss Mark Kelly. Picture: Joe PeplerPompey Academy boss Mark Kelly. Picture: Joe Pepler
Pompey Academy boss Mark Kelly. Picture: Joe Pepler
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The academy's productivity ranks among the best in the country.

However, the Blues’ youth boss pondered if he had done all he could to prepare those previously under his remit for a life journey.

Kelly said: ‘About a year-and-a-half ago, I sat there. You look at the list of players who’ve come through and some people, on paper, will say it’s a brilliant success.

‘Actually, you just feel that year on year, you’re failing a bit. The feeling of failure is thinking: “have we done enough, have we supported the boys enough, have we helped enough?”

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‘I can look back over quite a few years and think: “no, actually some of ours could have been a lot better”.

‘That’s the way football should be looking at it in general, right from the PFA and the FA.

‘We feel like we’re trying to get to the point where kids are armed with what they need.

‘You want to be succeeding everywhere. Yes, we’ve created some players and, don’t get me wrong there have been some brilliant lads, but you want to build on it more and more.’

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That’s why Kelly sat down with his academy staff – Sean O’Driscoll, Liam Daish and Shaun North – to map out a shift in ethos last summer.

Football’s still important, but it was to be emphasised it's not the be-all and end-all.

Ultimately, their responsibility is about shaping teenagers’ lives at a crucial stage and ensuring they mature into young men who're ready for whatever is thrown at them in the future.

Communication between staff and players is fundamental as it allows youngsters to become confident decision-makers.

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‘You’re trying to set these boys on a bit of a life journey,’ added Kelly.

‘You’re trying to get the discipline and the attitude right because those are life skills.

‘That is something we concentrate on a hell of a lot. The boys are at an important age in their lives. They’re 16-18 and it comes back to wanting to get away from success and failure.

‘Development is long term. When you’re with us, it’s for at least 18 months and it’s about where and how they keep developing.

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‘We’ve really honed in on that, trying to get individuals to learn a bit about themselves. We’ve been teaching them life skills like cooking and it’s so important the boys have an understanding of who they are and what they’re about by the time they head off to wherever.

‘For example, Conor Chaplin still phones me up and hopefully he looks back and thinks: “that helped me on that journey”.

‘That’s our job – creating a pathway and helping and supporting these boys going off on a life journey.

‘If you get that bit right then football goes with it anyway because the boys understand themselves a lot more and can deal with the things they’re going to face.

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‘We’ve been trying to help on that part of the journey and I’ve seen some brilliant stuff going on this season.

‘The communication lines alone between us and the players have been fantastic and I’ve seen a lot of them grow into proper young men.

‘It’s the start of a journey because they're only 18 - do you remember being that age? What’s important is the support following on after it in five years’ time if they need it.

‘Recently, I had Andreas Govas, who was with us in the Premier League days, come back for some advice because he’s living in London and wants to go into coaching a bit.

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‘That’s the whole point of the job more than anything else.’

Even the most exciting upcoming player is an injury away from having to prematurely hang their boots up. Doesn't Kelly just know that.

Hailed as the next George Best by ex-Blues boss Alan Ball, a serious knee injury in 1991 virtually put paid to an upcoming 22-year-old winger’s playing days it had even started.

That’s why Kelly has been stressing his academy players to have at least one fallback.

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‘We call it a stable table. If you’ve got a table with one leg then it’s going to be wobbly,’ he said.

‘But if you’ve got all these support legs around it, with interests in other things and your education alongside it, then you’re stable.

‘If one leg happens to drop off then it’s not a major problem. But if you’ve only got one leg and it gets taken from you then, trust me, there is a big black hole.

‘I know because it was my story. You’re left in a really bad place and I don’t want the boys to be there.

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‘I want them to understand what they’re good at, realise the things they enjoy – whether it be art, reading, education or anything else – and keep getting involved in it.

‘Football is what you do, it’s not who you are. There are hundreds of other things that make you. That’s what we’re trying to emphasise, not having tunnel vision.

‘Having a thought process that having other interests will take away from your football life is how we were drummed as boys – it’s a load of rubbish.

‘It’s just the way it should be. We have a major responsibility wherever their lives go.

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‘We all love football but these kids have so many talents and the great thing is they’ve all had discipline, structure and hard work since they were kids.

‘They’ve been trying to become sportsmen for 10 years and having those assets is massively important.

‘I’ve looked at the boys growing over the past year to becoming proper grown men. It’s our duty to make people find out about who they are and what they are.’