First, I suggest you read ECA research on Youth academies available on https://lnkd.in/eQh69vNt. Here are a few tips on how to use this publication:
1. Go through the list of working processes used in the survey and see if you find any working process on the list interesting for you and are willing to work on its implementation (feel free to contact me for a list of working processes if you haven’t saved them from survey)
2. Go through lists of most used working processes and see if you have all of them (pages 60-61)
3. Go through the list of least used working processes and see which you don’t have (pages 62-63)
4. Go through the list of most correlated processes and try to identify causality for correlation and see how those working processes are relevant in your academy (pages 64-67)
5. If you find a specific working process especially interesting to you, feel free to contact me to reach out for the list of working processes it is correlated with.
6. Go through the list of most recognized indicators of successful transition from academy to the first team and cross-check it with your club (pages 70-73).
Looking forward to hearing (reading) your opinion, ideas, and comments!
*you can find the publication on this link https://www.linkedin.com/posts/slaven-marasovi%C4%87-075b551b_research-based-on-working-processes-in-academies-activity-6909413896734822400-64VV?utm_source=linkedin_share&utm_medium=member_desktop_web
What are we “producing” in an academy?
So, what are we “producing” in an academy? Obviously, players, but is there something else to “produce”?
Let’s see the player “production” case from Polish Ekstraklasa. If we see the table beneath, we will see that club which is in the top 3 (Lech) by points won in the last five seasons is having 87% of players’ value from homegrown players. Also, 16 of 25 sold players are homegrown players. On the European level, from a previous European Club Association (ECA) survey in 2017, results showed that for almost 60% of the participating club representatives, the academy is a source of revenue for their club. If you see other data on the table beneath, you will find that number of such players is transferred to another club for a fee and sometimes most players transferred with a fee were homegrown players.
Looking at on next facts list beneath, it is obviously that homegrown players are well recognized on the market (based on Polish Ekstraklasa analysis, made with Josip), although they generally, sometimes have problems in the transition from academy to the first team and as well in adaptation to the new environment after changing the club.
So, is there anything else you can “produce” in an academy besides players? I and my colleagues (Konstantin and Adam from LTTsports and Pouya from ECA) have asked academy directors do they produce coaches for 1st team and then transfer them on the market for fee. Also, we have asked them do they have a working process for the development of football to forecast how football will look alike in 5-10 years, a period in which most of your youth players will be playing professional football.
Out of 18, one interviewed academy is producing coaches for 1st team and further on for market sale, just as most of you usually do for players. Those coaches are coming from academies and maybe is worth spending a few words about the additional benefits of this process. It is most likely that the transition of players from youth academy to the 1st team will be much easier with a coach they already know and are very familiar with him, his training methodologies, playing style, communication, and general, overall environment. Support from above (board and 1st team coach) is one of the most recognized pillars for a successful transition from academy to 1st team found in this report. Is it likely that they will perform better under such a coach? Based on the importance of the transition process from the academy to the 1st team, most likely, yes. Finally, their value is higher.
From the club management side, finding a coach which will raise the value of youth homegrown players based on better performance is crucial, but also very challenging. A lot of times it can be failed for different reasons. And more expensive as well. For practical reasons, you can look at history where 1st team coach came up from the academy with homegrown players. Since each academy is having coaches on it’s it is maybe worth thinking about the process for their development for 1st team.
Also, in the transition process same playing style is recognized as one of the very important pillars of a successful transition. Besides having the same coach in the 1st team as in the academy, if we are using same playing style in the 1st team as we did in the academy, we are having more transition pillars in line. Developing, or “producing” playing style and tactical setup and making it competent in competition, then we will have more from of our potential of youth academy with the same investment in the academy and less investment in 1st team and most likely better performance, player (and coach?) value and finally results.
If you want to implement this process within your club, the process could be:
- Define the club’s values as part of the club’s DNA (include the community in the process)
- Align TID selection process (not just for players, but coaches and staff as well), playing style and 1st team based on values from the club’s DNA
- Create development path and individual plans for players and coaches selected in the TID process
- Implement a working process of developing playing style and tactical setup on regular basis to challenge your ones and to develop it further on.
- Create KPIs for each of three “products” (players, coaches, playing style and tactical setups)
- Regularly measure and report on development.