About The Academy
The highly-regarded Nottingham Forest Academy was launched in 1997 under the Charter for Quality drawn up by Football Association Technical Director Howard Wilkinson.
All major clubs have academies, which have to be licensed and have approved outdoor and indoor facilities, coaching and medical staff and other requirements laid down by the F.A.
The Academy is run and financed by Nottingham Forest Football Club and the four Academy Directors - Nick Marshall, Finance Director John Pelling , Tim Farr and Bob Fairhall - report back to the Football Club Board.
Under the umbrella of the Forest Academy, there are between 20 -30 boys on the full-time staff who play for the club's representative teams at Under-18 and reserve level as well as getting the chance to take advantage of further education organised at the club's own Study Centre.
From this group of teenagers, those who prove themselves good enough graduate to the reserve and first team squads.
Said Academy Director Nick Marshall: "The whole idea of the exercise is to work with and develop youngsters to the level at which they are good enough to be considered for the first team. The entire operation is built around producing talent for a higher level and, of course, the success of the venture can save clubs a lot of money in terms of producing more of their home-grown talent and having to delve less into a costly transfer market. At any level of football it is good to win matches and it is prefable to bring on young players in a winning environment but that is by no means the priority."
Since the emergence of the Forest Academy, the likes of David Prutton, Marlon Harewood, Gareth Williams, James Perch, Chris Doig, Wes Morgan, Andy Reid, Michael Dawson, Felix Bastians, Lewis Mcgugan and Jermaine Jenas have made their way onto the first team stage.
Under guidelines set out by the Charter, professional clubs are allowed to have as many as 270 youngsters between the ages of 8-19 on the books but Forest prefer to work with smaller numbers (around 100) to give the young players more concentrated coaching and support .
The Wilford Site
Forest's Academy is based at a 24-acre site in Wilford Lane, Nottingham. It was purchased from Nottinghamshire County Council in 1998 and major developments have taken place since then.
The first phase, which was completed in 2000, consisted of three senior full-size pitches - one of them an arena pitch, which is capable of hosting showpiece events like prestigious international tournaments
The second phase, completed in September, 2001, involved the relaying of one full-size junior pitch, one three quarter size junior pitch and one junior small sided pitch and the introduction of a full-size synthetic floodlit pitch and an indoor synthetic pitch measuring 66 yards x 44 yards.
The Academy building itself includes changing rooms, a physiotherapy room, a coaches room, the Academy Director's office, toilets and a parents and player common area with seating and access to hot and cold snacks and drinks.
Future work at the site will involve the extension of the current building including additional changing room provision to bring the number of changing rooms from the current six to the proposed number of ten.
The Academy Staff
Nick Marshall heads up a full-time staff of 12 who have responsibilities within the framework of the Academy. There are four coaches, Chris Fairclough (Youth Team Coach) , TBA (U16/15 coach), Tony Cook (U9-14 co-ordinator) and Russell Lovett (Pre Academy coach and Recruitment Officer). Russell also co-ordinates the many feeder 'Development Centres' run by the Academy and is this role is assisted by the centre managers who include ex Forest player Steve Chettle and ex Notts County Youth Development Officer Trevor Powell.
The coaches are assisted on a part-time basis by ex Forest Goalkeeper Steve Sutton and Damien Beattie who work with the youth team and schoolboy goalkeepers respectively.
In addition Mel Hackett who has over 40 years of experience in Youth Development works as the Academy Administrator and scout while Malcolm Hayes co-ordinates the transport needs of the Academy.
There is a full-time Education Officer Brian Smith, who supervises the further education of youngsters who are on the full-time staff at The City Ground. Another Education Officer Jim King assists him. Both are qualified teachers who have been working on the program for almost 30 years between them.
There are two full-time physiotherapists - Phil McLoughlin and Andy Hunt as well as the Academy Doctor Jeremy Griffiths. Secretary Debbie Irving completes the team.
At the Academy in Wilford Lane there are two full-time groundsmen and Dawne Robinson, who helps maintain the building and runs the refreshment bar serving the parents, players and staff. .
As well as the full-time staff, there are between 12-16 part-time coaches and a scouting network, many of them working locally, of between 40-50 scouts.
The Process
Most football-mad youngsters dream of the chance to join a professional football club. But just how do they get that chance to take the first steps to stardom with an Academy?
The Forest Academy gets thousands of recommendations about players every year - most of them from its own scouting network but many from individuals and some from the most unlikely of sources.
As Nick Marshall explains: "We pride ourselves in checking on every sensible recommendation made to us on a potential player. The first aim is to see the player operating with his team in his own environment to assess his current ability and future potential.
If we feel that youngsters have the necessary skills we would follow up by offering them a trial at the club. This can be of anything up to a maximum of six weeks in length and that gives us the opportunity to make a more detailed and considered assessment.
"Players coming through that procedure would be offered the chance to join Academy forms. After that they will carefully monitored with a view to being offered a place on the full-time staff. It has to be remembered that of all the thousands of boys who want to be a professional footballer, only a percentage get the chance to work with a professional club and a far less a number are invited to join the full-time staff.
"There is no doubt that is a very demanding and difficult process but for those who make it through the selection process, the rewards and levels of satisfaction are considerable."
