PC - Your Youth Academy

Youth training is more of a development process than just basically keeping players match fit. Youngsters need natural and specialist advice, so you'll need to appoint suitable staff to take your youth coaching sessions.

Many managers have a differing theory behind youth development, but the two extreme approaches are to cherry-pick a small academy and nurture them with more one-on-one training; or simply get as many youngsters involved with your club as possible and wait for those players to come through the ranks. Somewhere in between is a sensible way to develop your academy.

What a lot of young players require as part of their development is an increase in strength and stamina, so it is always a good idea to involve these two aspects to most schedules. From there it really is up to you where you think players will benefit from most, although technique, and areas naturally associated with their specific position is a good idea. (i.e. defenders will benefit from tackling and marking whilst wingers will see a greater potential improvement in flair and creativity if they have a natural gift for it).

Searching for good quality youngsters on the transfer market can also be a way of jumping ahead in their development. Quite often a player will no longer be required by his club, but still possess the potential to play at the highest level. If you can spot this player and get him in relatively cheaply, then with a bit of TLC you may well have a superstar on your hands. Honing your search with the filter is a great advantage - below is a tip on a typical search filter set-up we would recommend when trying to unearth that next superstar striker.

The final leg on the youth development path is assessment and experience. No club will ever hang onto all of their youth team and move them into the first team (some clubs barely keep any of their talent). But whatever stance you take, you'll need a system in place of how you decide who stays and who goes, and then how you go about getting your youngster experience.

For larger clubs this can be through cup football against teams lower down the league ladder, or for smaller clubs they can simply be introduced to cover injuries and prove their worth in big games. The decision is yours but you'll need to either get it sorted, or leave it to your assistant.