After England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, many in the game lamented the lack of quality young players coming through the ranks. But the Manchester United youth academy, and the philosophy behind it, contradicts the generally pessimistic view that the country is lagging behind the more technically gifted nations, writes Henry Winter.
The academy’s director, former United forward and Scottish international Brian McClair, says that United could field a youth team that would perform well in England’s second tier, the Championship. Speaking after the U-15 Premier Cup tournament in which United’s team beat its Juventus counterparts, 4-1, McClair said of the tournament’s eventual winners Fluminense: “They’re not better than our best players. They just have more of them.”‘
United manager Alex Ferguson believes United’s U-15s “definitely” learned more playing Real Madrid, Paris St. Germain, Fluminense and Juventus than by playing against English rivals. “I watch [English] academy games and I see humdrum stuff all the time,” Ferguson said. “I don’t see anything exciting or exceptional. It’s always nice to see technical players like here [in the Premier Cup].”
McClair’s younger age-groups “play four-v-four, small-sided games which place an emphasis on technique and intelligent movement,” writes Winter. McClair also said that the academy is far ahead of the FA’s ‘Respect’ campaign that began this weekend: “We don’t accept any bad behavior. In our academy games, if anybody turns round and says anything to the ref or linesmen, we take them off. Sometimes we play with 10 men, so everybody understands.”