Academy Update and Alan Lord Appreciation from Ian Watts

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                                                                   ALAN LORD

 

The resignation of Alan Lord ends a lengthy involvement in the club's youth system in both its past and present guises, aside from time as manager of the first team.

 

The first reference to Alan, already by then  a long time manager in non-league levels in the North West,  was as a coach at the then Centre of Excellence back in 2000.  He had several years as player development manager until redundancy when we went into admin saw him follow Jim Gannon to Motherwell.

He returned to the Hatters a year later , in a similar role to his previous one, and was soon involved more with the first team with assistant and manager roles.

When County set up their youth system again in 2015 Alan was in charge, not surprisingly as it was a coaching system he was running that moved under the club's banner. Alan then dealt with that side of the club along with various assistance from coached, to physios, welfare staff and educational specialist for the non football side of the qualifications the youngsters study as part of their commitment. The summer changes saw Alan take the role of EMERGING TALENT SCOUT but that near 21 year involvement at Edgeley Park is now over.

 

On a personal note Alan supported my voluntary role as a club historian over the last few years before the Academy changes by allowing me access to the online communication  channels he used, allowing me to keep track of youth team friendlies. It is good to read that his skills and expertise will not be totally lost as he goes back to concentrate again on his profootball player development system..

 

                      ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++



                                                          Academy in LOCKDOWN

The monthly feature taking a look at the Academy's competitive games came to a halt with the suspension of fixtures with the second lockdown. Whilst preparing the opposition pen pics for an upcoming County programme I came across mention of a visit by Huddersfield Town to Carrington for a Friendly on 1st April so thought I would fill you in on a few missing competitive games I did not cover - including a completely new division County had a team playing in

 

When we left things the North West Youth Alliance : Premier Division side were to play at Altrincham on 1st November. Clarke scored our goal in a 1-1 draw.

 

Next in action were the National League U19 Alliance : Division H side who fell to a 4-2 defeat to the Rochdale EDC U19 side. Mackenzie Cookson and Sam Kewley got our goals that afternoon.

 

Back with the NWYA Premier side, and they travelled again a week after that draw with Alty but this time came out on top against Prescot Cables' youngsters. In a game postponed during the first lock down, County scored nine without reply. Scorers were Daniel Billington-Boateng, Josh Clegg 2, James Walsh, Cookson, Reon Donkor and a Dan Taylor hat trick.

 

A week later Curzon Ashton were hosted in the same competition and another four goals were recorded. This time Josh Edwards got three goals with Toby Green adding the other, and Ted Bentham again kept out the opposition forwards.

 

The extra team I have found since these articles began figures in the North West Youth Alliance : Development Division. This squad appears to contain the younger players with games at Under 18 level. Certainly a few of the names have been mentioned in dispatches as members of the County Colts in recent seasons.

 

This team were only able to fit in five competitive games before the season came to a halt - and they even managed to lose some hard earned points through the selection of an ineligible player.

 

They started with a visit to Hyde United two days after we had been beaten by them in the FA Youth Cup, The youngsters beat their hyde opponents 6-0 but no scorers are listed on the fulltime websire. It is possible that Leyton Lees was on the score sheet. His name is missing from the line-up, but when the points were deducted later in the year his appearance in this game was given as the reason why.

 

A fortnight later this side played their first home game, with Southport the opposition. Goals from Dylan Gwyther and three from Lewis Thornbury gave then a point in a 4-4 draw.

 

They had to wait until early December for their next competitive action, This came with a trip to Saint Helens to play Town's Development Squad. James Thorpe scored, but we went down 2-1 by the final whistle.

 

Next they were at Egerton FC. Another big win was recorded by a score of 6-1. Gwyther 2, Lees, Ethan Robson and Jake Whittaker 2, were the scorers.

 

Their last game, and the last for any Academy side in a League or Cup fixture this season, was on 20th December when a visiting Altrincham recorded a 3-0 victory.

 

All fixtures for our four Academy teams on the full time website are shown as postponed at present, and it seems likely that for some if not all of their respective leagues the season has been abandoned.

 

Scorers totals in the academy competitive games for this season are:

FA Youth Cup (1) Tomas Kelly 1

National League Football Academy North Division (10) Wessam Al-Abbus 2, Zack Clarke 2, Jack Hopkins 2, Jack Hinchy 1, Tomas Kelly 1, Jamie Walsh 1, Scorer not listed 1. Goals scored against Solihull Moores who later resigned (9) Adam Owen 3, Tomas Kelly 2, Jamie Walsh 2, Zack Clarke 1, Josh Edwards 1

North West Youth Alliance Premier Division (24) Josh Edwards 4, Dan Taylor 4, Wessam Al-Abbus 2, Daniel Billington-Boateng 2, Josh Clegg 2, Toby Green 2, George Neal 2, Zack Clarke 1, Mackenzie Cookson 1, Reon Donkor 1, Nicholas McDonagh 1, Nick Sumner 1, Jamie Walsh 1

National League U19 Alliance Regional Division H (13) Mackenzie Cookson 3, George Neal 3, Aaron Owens 3, Sam Kewley 1, Nick Sumner 1, Ben Taylor 1;, Scorer not listed 1

orth West Youth Alliance Development Division (17) Dylan Gwyther 3, Lewis Thornbury 3, Jake Whittaker 2; -, Leyton Lees 1, Ethan Robson 1, James Thorpe 1, scorers not listed 6

 

That Huddersfield game I mentioned above sounds like it would have been quite entertaining. The County youngsters led twice in the first half but Huddesfield equalled each time then went 4-2 up, only for the Hatters to pull one back, then hit the post and have a goal disallowed as the clock ran down.

 

Finally there appears to be an opportunity to follow some of the Academy players in action this month as Clitheroe are hosting a tournament over a few weekends.

 

In their group games County face The tournament hosts on Saturday 10 April, Accrington Stanley on Sun 18 April and, Rimmington on Sat 24 April

All 3pm kick offs with the Saturday games at the same time as County's first team are away at Wrexham and Boreham Wood.

 

Although there will be no spectators allowed there is reportedly to be a stream of all games by RibbleFM. I presume this is a video stream but it may be worth checking in advance of buying a ticket.

For more details of the tournament and ticket details go to

https://www.tickettailor.com/events/clitheroefootballclub/495281

And...... Editors word: Here is the hedgegrower report and photos( basic but interesting) from the July 2015 pre -season friendly at Clitheroe which saw a 3-0 County win.

https://hedgegrower.blogspot.com/2015/07/clitheroe-fc-0-stockport-county-3-pre.html

 

 

                                                                              Ian Watts

 

 

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