Latest news with #ClubAcademyScotland
The Herald Scotland
03-07-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Aberdeen sign wonderkid and announce radical overhaul of youth set-up
However, the Scottish Cup winners, who plough £2.2m a year into rearing potential stars of tomorrow, are determined to retain their elite status within the Club Academy Scotland (CAS) framework. However, Aberdeen have decided they will not compete in the CAS Under-19 league going forward because they feel 'playing in a season-long, non-competitive youth league' was failing to produce the desired results. Read more: They are set to appoint a specialist transition coach who will work with a group of young players who will train with Jimmy Thelin's squad on a daily basis and gain international experience from a 'bespoke games programme'. Aberdeen director of football Steven Gunn explained: 'Given the challenge that Scottish football has in getting emerging talent into a first team environment, the decision has been taken to adopt a different approach, focusing on quality and not quantity. 'We are quite far down the line in terms of our recruitment of a transition coach and hope to have someone appointed in the coming weeks. This is a critical role, so we need to ensure we get it right. 'The transition coach will work alongside manager Jimmy Thelin and the wider first team coaching staff to help ensure a smooth and effective pathway exists, bridging the gap between the academy and the demands of senior professional football, technically, physically and mentally.' (Image: SNS Group) He continued: 'This group of young players, sitting under the transition coach, will train with first team on a daily basis. We need to have belief they can take that step up because they will get exposed to first team football more quickly. 'However, we also need to trust that we are still going to be competitive because ultimately, we must win games of football. We are committed to keeping the pathway open so that when those opportunities do arise the space is there for our young players. 'We must take a much more aggressive approach to strategic recruitment of younger players, both from Scotland and abroad, to complement the very best players progressing from our own academy. 'This is something Aberdeen has deployed with great success in different periods of our history and has brought forward players like Willie Miller, Alex McLeish, Arthur Graham and current board director Willie Garner. 'The club has committed additional budget both operationally in youth talent identification and in potential transfer and compensation fees to maximise our outcomes in the development of young players.' Read more: Meanwhile, Aberdeen made their fifth signing of the summer last night when they signed Icelandic youth internationalist Kjartan Mar Kjartansson from Stjarnan subject to international clearance and visa formalities. The 18-year-old has signed a four year deal. Thelin said, 'Kjartan is a player who our scouting department have been aware of and tracking for some time. We are pleased to have signed him given the significant interest from some big clubs. For a player still so young, he has played an impressive volume of minutes for the first team and the Icelandic youth international squads. 'He has a very good defensive and positional mind for the game. He has performed well for Stjarnan when winning possession back for his team, makes key interceptions and protects the team in transition – all the qualities we look for at the base of our midfield. It' s impressive when you consider his age. 'He is a very exciting talent, but we also know we need to work with him to develop further, and he will take time to adapt to a new club, a new league and a new country. We must be patient, we must nurture him and at times we must protect him to ensure we are able to realise his significant potential.'
BBC News
03-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Dons eye loans instead of under-19s to speed youth into first team
Aberdeen have changed the focus of their academy system to give young players earlier first-team experience by using Scottish football's new loan system while being "more aggressive" in attracting talent from other parts of the country and Scottish Premiership club has decided it will not participate in the new Club Academy Scotland (CAS) Under-19s programme and will instead train players at that level with the first-team under a new "transition coach".Meanwhile, Aberdeen will make use of the "more flexible" new co-operation agreements with lower-level clubs where young players can be sent out on loan but recalled at any time outside of normal transfer say it is a result of some "difficult conversations" in an "extensive review" over how "to make best use of our £2.2m annual investment in youth development". They say the transition of players from youth football to the first-team "has been getting progressively more difficult over the last decade" for all clubs and concluded "we have not adequately resourced" this Aberdeen were disappointed with the level of compensation for midfielder Connor Barron's switch to Rangers last summer and the effects of Brexit on the UK transfer of football Steven Gunn told the club website said they needed a different approach "focusing on quality and not quantity"."As a result, our young players won't be taking part in the newly adopted CAS U19s programme, but we will compete in the new CAS U17s format where the team will be predominantly made up of our schoolboys playing up an age group," he "expose our best young players to senior, competitive football at a much younger age", this group, "sitting under the transition coach", who will be appointed in the coming weeks, "will train with first team on a daily basis".Gunn said Aberdeen "has committed additional budget" and would "take a much more aggressive approach to strategic recruitment of younger players, both from Scotland and abroad, to complement the very best players progressing from our own academy".
Scotsman
11-06-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
and why they wound up Rangers fans at Easter Road
Youth league win built on psychological ploy borrowed from ex-Hibs boss Jack Ross Sign up to our Hibs football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Short-term targets, long-held ambitions, massive performances from big-game players. And, as you might expect given the age of those involved, maybe just the odd dash of daft boyishness when it came time to show off the silverware? As he reflects on a season of success for the Hibs under-18s, whose achievement in winning the Club Academy Scotland league title should not be underestimated, head coach Darren McGregor positively bristles with excitement. He can also see the funny side of THAT Easter Road lap of honour that left a famously temperate and generous away support voicing their mild displeasure … Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Revealing how he'd borrowed a psychological tactic from former Hibs boss Jack Ross to keep his youngsters on track over the course of a gruelling campaign, the former Scottish Cup winner, a fan favourite about to be rewarded for his long service with a testimonial against Bolton Wanderers, said: 'I set the boys a challenge at the start of the season and asked them if they could win the league. They all agreed, they all bought into it, so I said: 'Well what does winning the league look like to us? 'We used Aberdeen the previous year as a reference point and how many points did they get? So they got X amount of points, I think it might have been 67. Do we think they can better that this season? They said yes, so that's a reference point then, better than 67 points. 'We broke the 67 points down throughout the season into smaller, sort of mini-goals if you like, and we reassessed it every six weeks. The boys had planned out the six weeks in front of them and how they thought the games would go in terms of goals scored, goals conceded, so it was open and honest. 'Some of the times I said: 'I think that might be a defeat there or I think that might be a draw.' There was nothing wrong with that. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'You might think that's accepting defeat. But it actually worked in the reverse because we hit every single target, best goals for in the league, best defensive record against and then obviously we eclipsed the points total that we set out to do. 'So that was the most pleasing thing - that we actually managed to win the league, but also we exceeded our expectations in terms of that challenge we set ourselves. Obviously a by-product of that is winning the league and getting a wee shot at Europe, but also the development of every single player. Adding more detail to the grand plan to break the season down into more manageable chunks, McGregor revealed: 'Jack Ross did it with us once. Listen, if you speak to a lot of football guys it's probably a common theme, but I just really liked it because it got everybody together in the room, it got everybody talking. 'And you divide the groups, so if there's 16 we'll maybe put lads in fours and we'll have them off into different rooms and I'll put a coach in each room just to monitor them. Not really to give much input, just to allow them to discuss it and allow them to discuss the challenges. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'So they could sit and say: 'Well, Aberdeen's a really difficult place to go or Murray Park's a really difficult place to go, what happened the last time …' So I just think they get to reflect on previous times and then they also get to speak to each other about what they think this next game might entail. 'It definitely worked a treat. The lads enjoyed it, and it was good to get a catch up and to re-assess the previous, whether it was four weeks or six weeks before it and then plan the following four to six weeks.' Lap of honour included pantomime celebrations in front of away punters Simply declaring their intent to go and win the league felt like a leap of faith by the Hibs coaching staff. In an environment where the Old Firm of Celtic and Rangers effectively have their pick of the talent, or at least those not lured south by Premier League clubs stocking their academies, why did McGregor believe it was even possible? 'You look at the group, you look at the individuals you have within the group, you look at obviously the facilities and the coaching staff and the people at Hibs,' he said, adding: 'You always think you've got a real good chance to be honest. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'And this year's been such a good culture about the club, the first team, the women's team, obviously all working together in the same building, I just think that's really sort of built a togetherness. I think the lads have thrived off that. 'And the fact that we do try and treat them like adults as well. I mean we enforce certain rules and regulations on what to do when they're in the building, but we do sometimes give them a wee bit of leeway as well because at the end of the day they're on the cusp of adulthood. 'So they respect us, we respect them and it's reciprocal, giving them that wee bit of freedom. And there's some really good players in that group. 'Every single one of them wants to work hard, every single one of them wants to become a football player. Nobody's in pretending to be a football player and just wasting the days away. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'If you look at their testing results when they first came in, whether that be from a physical point of view or even a technical point of view, every single one of them is getting better and improving. They feed off that, they look at that and they see other lads improving and then they want to get after it and that sets the bar.' Having edged out Rangers for the title, the young Hibees were given a chance to show off the league trophy in front of a full house at Easter Road. Their half-time lap of honour in the final match of the season, a 'meaningless' 2-2 home draw with Rangers, included the lads hamming up their celebrations in front of the away fans. With predictable consequences. 'Aye, I told them they'd better watch!' admitted McGregor, the former centre-half adding: 'I mean they're young exuberant laddies so it's difficult to put a leash on them. 'I was walking behind them and then I saw they were getting a bit carried away. But for me it was just a bit of fun, just young boys enjoying themselves.'
