THE famous former Chelsea manager Gianluca Vialli once told the Italian media the visiting Coventry City youth academy was one of the best in England.
That was nearly a decade ago. But with the Sky Blues’ relegation from the Premiership and mounting multi-million pound debts, it’s not just the first team that has suffered.
Academy bosses admit to looking over their shoulders in envy at other clubs’ youth academies, which have an embarrassment of riches in comparison.
The financial purse-strings have been squeezed and talented local youngsters are being snapped up by other football clubs from under Coventry City’s nose.
Where ten years ago the club’s scouts were able to scour Europe for young talent, they are now largely reduced to recruiting from within a 25-mile radius of Coventry, because of financial restrictions on staffing levels.
The current financial crisis threatens the future of the academy, yet the academy is the future of the Sky Blues.
With crippling debts, Sky Blues chairman Joe Elliott knows the bank at any stage can insist the club sells its best first team players, whether or not a major investor is found to take over the club.
The Sky Blues, no longer able to buy in million pound players on high wages, are likely to rely increasingly on young home-grown talent coming through the academy.
But with your donations and fund-raising, Sky Blues’ chiefs insist our ‘Your City Needs You’ appeal could play a massive part in the future of the academy and the football club.
The academy needs £15,000 a week to stay afloat.
If our appeal could help pay the academy’s bills, and expand it, it could also alleviate some of the financial pressure on the whole football club.
And it’s not just the Sky Blues that would benefit, with the academy continuing to produce top players such as current young Sky Blues stars Isaac Osbourne and Ben Turner, or former Sky Blues’ players England goalkeeper Chris Kirkland and Birmingham City striker Gary McSheffrey. They both made massive contributions to the first team before their transfers put millions of pounds into club coffers.
The whole of Coventry and the wider community would benefit.
Working alongside the Sky Blues’ Football In The Community scheme, the academy has provided coaching and promoted healthy lifestyles for tens of thousands of local schoolchildren – not just the most talented.
Among them is current under-18s team midfielder, apprentice Andy Ritchie. He came through the Football in the Community Scheme – spotted during a week-long coaching course in Kenilworth when he was very young.
Andy is very clear about the benefits of the community scheme and the academy to local youngsters.
Speaking after a training session at the Sky Blue Lodge, Ryton, he told us: “It gives a lot of structure and enjoyment to my life. I have to watch what I eat and not go clubbing.”
Sky Blues under-18s captain Liam Robinson said: “I started with the under-10s after being spotted playing for my Sunday league team in Southam.
“It has kept us out of trouble and it gives me discipline. It makes you more mature too. I’ve a different lifestyle to my friends. We get first-class training, which is still as good as when I started.”
The academy works alongside schools so the players’ education is not jeopardised. Later, each young apprentice has to complete a BTEC or A-levels to gain the NVQ-level Apprenticeship in Sporting Excellence, which qualifies them to become FA coaches.
Their boss is recently appointed Academy manager Gregor Rioch. He is the son of Bruce Rioch, who played for Scotland, Everton, Derby and Aston Villa, and was Arsenal manager.
Gregor said the academy, which has 130 players aged nine to 18, had seen its main funding grant of just £138,000 from the FA’s Football League Trust stagnate over many years, without inflation rises. Other money comes from cash-starved Coventry City and other small grants, including from the Alan Higgs Trust.
Gregor said: “The money we receive is a massive help. The Football League Trust money has to go into certain areas of the academy.
“We’re doing very well in every department on the finances we’ve got. Fans can still expect to see the next players come through the ranks. But in every department we want to do better.
“Fund-raising can open up all sorts of avenues. People might be reluctant to fill the pockets at the higher end of a football club, but they are very willing to fund the grassroots.”
Apart from a Sky Blue Trust academy appeal which raised £50,000 two years ago, hardly any cash has come from community fund-raising events in its nine years of existence.
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