|
|
The Nightmare with the Dream Ending? |
 |
 |
 |
|
The Second Coming
Peter Coates was born into poverty. The local boy became a self-made millionaire and was a football fan. His first spell in charge of the club was disastrous, ending in relegation to the Third Division thirteen years ago. Driven to sell to Icelandic owners, after relegation ended in hatred and abuse directed at him, he left, but Coates returned, bringing in Tony Pulis as the manager for his second spell.
It paid off. Pulis led Stoke City back to the big-time, maintaining Premier League status and leading the club to its first FA Cup final. He may have been an unsung manager when he joined Stoke, but he certainly is not any more, having led Stoke City to a chance of their second major trophy – they won the League Cup in 1972. They also lost in semi-final of the FA Cup in 1971 and again the following year.
Team Spirit
Pulis has built a team spirit with a fraction of the budget available to today's opponent Roberto Mancini. Among the bargains he obtained was Jermaine Pennant. The former Arsenal and Liverpool player had failed in Spain and Pulis got him cheap. He repaid the investment as Stoke brushed an appalling Bolton aside 5-0 in the semi-final last month. It could have been more.
" A great moment," Pennant said of reaching the final, "not only for me, but the club. I think it's the first time they've been there in their history. The atmosphere was great. We know what the fans are like from the Britannia, It was loud; it was great. We might have had the edge, because our fans wanted it more."
History Beckons
They could be the not so secret weapon that lifts the Potters to one more odds-defying performance. "It was more, not just for me, but the club as well," said Pennant. "Everyone wants to play in a final. It's a big occasion. There's a lot staking on it and also for the club, it will be the first time, not only for myself, but the lads. They've made history for Stoke City." And regarding the final, he made an easy prediction. "I doubt it will be 5-0, but we'll see what happens."
If Stoke City achieve their dream at Wembley this afternoon, Coates' status as local hero will be secured. The villain status of his last tenure, which was unjust, will be banished for ever. Pulis will undoubtedly be a serious contender for Manager of the Year and Stoke's players will be honoured in the city and by all serious students of football for such an unlikely triumph. It will rank as one of the great upsets in FA Cup history. |
Youth Policy
"From the actual academy I think it's probably nearer 13, or 14 players have come through," Ardley told us. "There’s probably about five or six that have been sold on. At the moment the figure that they have brought into the club stands somewhere in the region of £14m in transfer fees, so if you’re looking over the last five years, it’s a nice sort of profit."
But Ardley wants far more than just making a profit. He recognises that players develop at different rates and that a slow starter can turn into a good player, so patience is vital. "You can't pigeon-hole," he says. "You can't say, 'well if you are not a stand-out player at this age, they are not going to be.' I think people develop at different ages and that's what you've got to take into consideration."
The Right Way
Cardiff City has a very strong youth policy. "It would be fair to say the lads at Cardiff have probably got their opportunities earlier because of the club that they’re at," England's Under-19 manager Noel Blake told us exclusively last year. "That comes into it. Sometimes where you are based – the club you are at – [opportunities] may come earlier than the other clubs, so Cardiff are a youth development club. They're producing players, but it's not the fact that the academy is producing players. Some make the mistake of putting the tag of academy onto it. They are a football club with a youth department and they were producing players prior to becoming an academy."
Cardiff allows talented young footballers to play, rather than warming a bench after the academy develops them. The Bluebirds' mix of social responsibilities, a vibrant youth policy and an excellent academy has won the club and its philosophy admirers beyond Britain's shores. "It's not only football in their lives," says FC Midtjylland's Executive Vice President Søren Bach about the boys in Midtjylland's academy. "It's so important for us that they have something after training to do. The Cardiff way, I think, is the right way to do it." |
|
Options
The Bluebirds missed out on automatic promotion again, but qualified for the playoffs again, having missed out in the final stage last year, but the future remains optimistic thanks to their spectacularly successful academy, which is managed by former player Neal Ardley. It is phenomenally successful and punches well above its weight on and off the pitch.
Their academy provides educational opportunities as well as high quality training and coaching and has produced several talented players in its short existence. "I'm happy with the way we're running at Cardiff City," Ardley told us exclusively last year. "There's always way for improvement. What they do here is they do media training as part of their course and obviously they get to know a little bit about how media works, because like you say different people have got different eyes for different talent – there is that."
But that is far from all that that the club offers its academy members in case they don't make the grade. "We've also got a programme in place where we share our fitness data with a large database where other sports can look at this," Ardley says. This offers talented boys who may be better suited to other sports another opportunity if football turns out to not be for them.
"For argument's sake if we've got a six footer who is a very quick centre forward who for whatever reason technically doesn't quite get where he should in this game, he might get looked at by a rugby team," Ardley explained to us. "They might look and say, 'hold on, all this might point to him being a very good rugby player,' and there's a net there where they may take a look at him with a view to a change of sport."
Punching Above its Weight
However, Cardiff City's Academy is aimed at producing footballers and it has done very well indeed, but what happens if a boy they invested time and effort in turns out to be better suited at another sport? Does the club get compensated for their efforts?
"The only time we get compensated is if we develop the player and we do a lot with the player and we offer him a contract at the end of his year and he decides that he wants to go elsewhere, because he's been tapped up, maybe, or he's been offered money by another club, etc. etc.," Ardley explained "That would be the only time that we would be entitled to compensation." Nevertheless, while Ardley sees the database as a positive thing, producing footballers for Cardiff City is his task. |
Manchester City's Life-President Bernard Halford explained his hopes for a season of hope to Empower-Sport's Satish Sekar earlier this season. Mark Hughes had found work with Fulham and immediately piled the pressure onto his successor Roberto Mancini. They had spent big in short time, but success was not guaranteed.
"We treat every game with wanting to win and we treat all our opponents with respect," Halford said. "We're developing a squad which hopefully can challenge on all four fronts that we're looking for. The manager's got a good squad where he can rotate players and we just want to do well in all competitions and we want to win something for those wonderful fans of ours."
It was a strange season in the Premier League, but Manchester City never really threatened to win the league – qualification for the Champion's League was their aim. Hughes said that Champion's League football had to be achieved with such a squad. It was left late, but that mission has been achieved. The club focuses on football ambitions as it must and has big ambitions.
"First of all, as a club, we want to become global, which we're working towards," said Halford. "We've got a wonderful marketing team that are working on that at the present time, but I mean our aims as a club in the football are to do well on all fronts and to do well in Europe and then take it on from there."
|
|
