The lads are obviously now on a well deserved break but the Under 15's and 16's actually report back on the 10th June. They will be working 2 days a week with our Conditioning Coach Wayne Richardson when, as well as conditioning ,they will be doing athletic work . They are back around 3 weeks before the others who report back on 31st June

For the older lads it is a massive season and to be honest I have had great support from Chris Beech, the Youth Team Director who has put his confidence into players from our Centre.He attends our sessions on a regular basis and he does watch them in action. As an example from the last Youth game of the season we had an Under 15's centre back and an Under 15 midfield player  playing in the team. Earlier in the season we had a striker in the side as well so to get Under 15's already playing in the Youth team tells you how far we have come in the 2 years. The lads also spend some time here on Day Release from school and when they get in with Chris they are learning all the time about what the club expects of its young players. 

To be honest we have replaced a lot of players within the Centre over the 2 years that I have been here and brought much better players in. I know that in the next 2 or 3 years we may have, fingers crossed, 4 or 5 boys coming through the Centre and being offered Scholarships.

I look at what Keith Hill and Dave Flitcroft have in place and do things in the same manner. I am exactly the same as them in that I want my teams to play football in the right manner. My session plans are based on what Keith, Dave and Chris do.I spend a lot of time watching their tarining sessions then write them down and bring them into the Centre to see how they work with the older boys.

We are now only at 1 of the training venues that we were at when I arrived. We have an excellent partnership now with the Soccer Factory and with Matthew Moss School and as well as that we are trying to get in at Wardle School. We have had a chat with them and they have a Schools for the Future bid in place which means that they are either going to get a new school or revamp the old school and sort the pitches out .Hopefully that will again give us something in Rochdale instead of travelling to Salford every Sunday. I want Rochdale the town to be a hub for the club and that would make everyone happier.    

As to the summer we will be having some pre season games. I have just organised some games for August and am really happy with the way that things are progressing overall. We are a lot further forward than I thought that we would be and that is down to the backing that I have had from Keith, Flicker, Chris and from Andrew Kelly. It is a massive help for me because if I ask for something I get it.

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