'De Zerbi shows great courage with our academy players'

Under-21s head coach Shannon Ruth looks back on a season where a number of players have progressed to Albion’s first-team squad.

Shannon Ruth

2023-06-11T06:00:00Z

Albion have had a number of academy graduates involved with the first team this season.

It’s been another excellent season for our U21 group in all areas, be it those who have performed so consistently in Premier League 2, those who have impacted our first team when called upon, the players who have impressed out on loan, or the scholars who have made the step-up to the U21s from our U18 squad.

The ultimate aim is to produce players for our first team and we’ve had eight academy graduates feature for the senior side this season. Evan Ferguson is now an established squad member, Andy Moran, Odel Offiah and Cam Peupion have made their Premier League debuts, while James Furlong, Ed Turns, Jack Hinchy and Jack Spong have all featured in cup competitions. A special mention, too, to Jack Hinshelwood who, in his first season stepping up to the U21 group, has featured on the bench in the Premier League.

As we’ve seen, Roberto [De Zerbi] is keen to promote from within, with age no barrier for him. It takes a lot of courage and belief to have that outlook at the highest level, and our players take great encouragement from seeing their teammates stepping up. We take great pride when one of our U21 players gets called into the senior squad and, given we’re competing at the top end of the Premier League, there is real satisfaction that we’re producing players of the necessary quality – and on a regular basis.

To see so many players making the step-up speaks volumes for the pathway we have created at the club, which I believe sets us apart from our competitors. While Gary Dicker and I work with the players who make that final step from the U21s, there is plenty of work done throughout the academy, by various coaches and staff members over a number of years, to get the players to this point. Their work is invaluable and key to our continued success.

Under-21s head coach Shannon Ruth, alongside Gary Dicker.

The main strapline of the U21 development programme is elite performance and winning – but it’s HOW we strive to win and what our identity is that’s vital. As a Brighton team, we have an obligation to play a certain way and factoring in some of Roberto’s principles is key to aid the players in their transition to the first-team squad. All the staff and players have bought into that this season, and we have certainly reaped the rewards on the pitch since the turn of the year.

Never was that more evident than in April when we drew with Liverpool and Arsenal away from home [2-2 and 3-3 respectively], beat league champions Man City [3-2, thanks to a Cam Peupion hat-trick] and Man United [3-2] at Lancing, then beat Chelsea [4-1] at the end of the month.

We achieved those results with six scholars in the squad, which is a fantastic achievement, and to be as dominant as we were in the Chelsea game, with the young age of the squad, is a really good benchmark of where we’re at and the type of opponent we are now to the so-called ‘big six’ teams. When teams play us now, they know it’s going to be a tough fixture.

Aside from our league campaign, we’ve also gained plenty of experience and different challenges by competing in the Premier League International Cup [against Feyenoord, Monaco, PSV Eindhoven, Sparta Prague and Valencia], the EFL Trophy, Sussex Senior Cup and end-of-season trips to Monaco [beating the hosts 2-1 in a friendly last week] and Hong Kong. In total, we have played 47 games and playing against such varied opposition and systems can only contribute to the players’ development moving forward.

With the first team doing so well in the Premier League, the challenge we now have as an academy is to ensure that the players we produce now are of a certain quality and have the potential to be part of the first-team squad. Roberto has played a huge part in how we think about the game at U21 level, how we set targets, how good we need to be and how determined and ambitious we should be.

Sadly, not every player in our U21 squad is going to fit the required criteria, and we’ve had players leaving us this summer who have been here for ten years or more. It’s been really hard to give them such disappointing news, but given the level we are now at, they have a good platform to pursue a successful career elsewhere. They leave us hopefully a better player and a better person, and they know that they will be given the best exit strategy possible. We’ll still be here for them in one year, in five years, because once you play for us and leave, the care doesn’t go. It stays.

Talking of care, the support our players have extends far beyond the 90 minutes of football and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Gary Dicker (assistant coach), Sal Bibbo (goalkeeper coach), James Hamilton (S&C coach), Rich Scully (physio), Colin Brand (player care lead), Sam Hall (U21 performance analyst), Dan Farrar (lead academy analyst), Zach Hickmore (psychologist), Harry Wood (kitman) and George Taylor (football admin executive) who have all played a significant role in the development of our U21 players on and off the pitch this season.

Shannon Ruth has thanked his backroom staff, including kitman Harry Wood (centre) and strength and condition coach James Hamilton (right).

The demands and pressures on our players are high, yet the aforementioned staff members are experts in their fields and ensure the players can go and play and give their all in the best shape possible. I would also like to give a special mention to our academy manager Ian Buckman, who works extremely hard to support all the staff and players within our academy and it’s his ambition, vision and passion for our football club that will be key to our future success as an academy.

Last, but certainly not least, I’d like to thank our U21 assistant coach Gary Dicker for all his help and support this season. I couldn’t ask for a better person to be beside me every day, given his knowledge of the club, his attitude towards youth development and his experience as an ex-professional. He has so much knowledge to pass on to the players, the players relate to him and he’s been a joy to work with – as a coach and, just as importantly, as a friend.

I’ve been at the club for seven years now and I can say, with all honesty, that this has been one of the most enjoyable yet. It’s a season I’ll always look back on with great fondness and I’m already looking forward to pre-season!