Laying foundations for a bright future

A BLUEPRINT for the future . . . that is the path Athletic youth team boss Tony Philliskirk believes the club are going down in giving young players a chance.

Since coming in, manager Paul Dickov and assistant Gerry Taggart have been keen to ask about and then invite talented trainees into first-team training sessions.

The approach recently led to young scholarship duo, converted centre-back Matthew D Carr and forward Andrew Crompton, playing for the seniors in the 1-0 home win over Preston last week.

Of the 21 players on duty in that game, no less than nine have come through the ranks at Boundary Park.

It is a record Philliskirk is proud of and he believes it can only help the club through lean financial times.

“In some respects, it has to be this way with the position the club is in,” he said.

“But at the same time, the management and the board won’t just hand out professional contracts to players who are deemed not good enough to make it.

“It is great for the lads who are in the youth team now to see the progression that can be made.

“And people often forget that someone like Kirk Millar is still only an apprentice, which shows how far he has come already.”

Philliskirk and centre of excellence manager Mick Priest have watched as sides often packed with under-16s players have performed strongly in an unbeaten pre-season, drawing 2-2 at Silsden, winning 1-0 at New Mills, hammering Rotherham 9-1 on home soil and drawing 1-1 at Ashton in midweek.

And he admits that the quality of the new batch of young talent at the club has taken the coaching staff’s breath away at times.

“So far, the nine first years we have got have made us take a step back and saw ‘wow’,” said Philliskirk, whose side face Grimsby at home on Saturday, and Blackburn away the following Tuesday before starting their Youth Alliance season with the visit of Morecambe on Saturday, August 14.

“Usually it takes a while to adapt but they are a very close-knit group, which has helped them settle in.

“We know that they will at some stage hit a wall this season and things will get very tough for them.

“But their attitude and approach has been excellent.”