As part of EFL Youth Development Week, we caught up with Academy Manager Richard Naylor about the plans for the academy for 2025 and beyond.
Reflecting on 2024, the Tigers saw a number of academy graduates feature consistently in the first team. Seeing Jacob Greaves win three club awards prior to his departure to Premier League side Ipswich Town in the summer, fellow defenders Stan Ashbee and Matty Jacob made their respective first-team debuts during the 2023/24 season.
The academy also saw a host of graduates and scholars impact the Football League or senior football out on loan, including Harvey Cartwright at Grimsby Town and Callum Jones at Forest Green Rovers and now Morecambe.
“It’s been a really good year. I am really pleased with our progress with some of the academy lads’ involvement in the first team and the progression some of the teams have made across the year, making it a good year,” answered Naylor on 2024.
“We’ve invested in staff – we’ve had a few changes which is normal and it revitalises things when that happens. The Under-9s, Under-10s, and Under-11s all qualified for national tournaments in futsal and the older teams are at the top end of their tables. Across the board, everyone’s competing in the games programme which is really pleasing and we have some really good individuals that we are really hopeful can progress in the academy over the next few years.
“It’s ideal when you have lads that have come from Under-9s and go all the way through to making their debut, especially someone like Stan [Ashbee], who made his first-team debut in the FA Cup having only just turned 17,” added Naylor when asked on debutants in 2024.
“It’s a real testament to the work the academy staff put in; that’s not just the full-time staff but the casual staff that give us their time to work with the boys and it is vital to the running of the academy.
“We’ve also done a lot of working in signing players later on in their academy career like Harry Vaughan and Tyrell [Sellars-Fleming] who we have identified and feel there was untapped potential. That restructuring of the recruitment programme is one of the real improvements we have made due to the investment and staff we’ve brought in.”
Focusing on Jacob Greaves, the defender played 177 games for his hometown club since progressing through the ranks, as well as featuring 35 times in a productive loan spell in League Two with Cheltenham Town.
Highlighting him as an example for the players currently at the academy, Naylor said: “Someone like that going on to play in the Premier League, following in the footsteps of ‘Keano’ [Keane Lewis-Potter], shows we’re producing players capable of playing at that level.
“Players like Jacob have been great servants for the club and are good ambassadors for the academy with the way he carries himself on and off the pitch. I’m really pleased to see lads go on and play at the highest possible level, because that’s what we want from them.”
Currently working with Rubén Sellés to integrate players into the first team, the academy have seen a number of players train regularly at Cottingham. Under-21s’ trio Zane Myers, Rocco Coyle and Nathan Tinsdale have all come close to debuts by being named in matchday squads, while scholars Archie Howard and Ramell Carter have trained with the first team as the players aim to catch the eye of Sellés.
“I will work hard with that relationship. I have had brief conversations on how we can help him and certain players, and he’s made positive noises on how we wants to integrate them,” explained Naylor on the relationship between the first team and academy.
“The lads that are training at the moment, he’s mentioned how pleased he is with them; not only their on-field stuff but the way they carry themselves off it. That relationship will develop over time, and we’ll work together for the benefit of the football club,”
“We just want to keep progressing. We’re in a good position and we have some good players coming through. It’s important to us that we cherish those players, work hard with them and keep pushing them through. We’ll get some exposure through loans and try to get as many people into that first team as possible.
“The other big thing is about how we develop our own training ground and I think that will be a really good step forward, and hopefully we’ll see some progress on that this year.”
