FC Halifax Town: “It is important to be patient and trust the programme” says Nichol as Shaymen’s youth set-up continues to evolve

The strength of the set-up has been tested by Covid, which has disrupted both the football and education halves of the programme, but Nichol’s clarity of vision and purpose remains.

“It’s made things harder, certainly in terms of recruitment because a lot of our under 16 football is deemed as grassroots and sessions have been put on hold during the pandemic,” said Nichol.

“So we aren’t able to have contact in the same way with the players as we normally would.

“Fortunately, last season we were in a good position when Covid hit, so we had the bulk of the players already training with us at under 16 coming into this season.

“The lads are in a full-time programme and alongside football they are following an education programme.

“When Covid hit the games programme was suspended, we moved to a home-based training programme and the education lessons moved online.

“Our staff were excellent during this period, particularly our tutor, Ben Hardaker who continued to educate the players online for a prolonged period while we were waiting for a Government decision regards predicted grades.

“This took substantial time, way longer than the decisions taken on GCSEs and A-Levels.

“But with proactive staff, our partnership with Calderdale College, and the co-operation of players and parents, we were able to work our way through it.

“All players achieved their final qualifications and were able to progress onto their next step.

“Fortunately, due to the educational side of our programme we have been able to continue to train and educate our players onsite during the second lockdown.

“We’re running more of a hybrid programme at the minute where they’ll do three days a week on site, and one or two days at home with the support of online lessons, and their football supported by a home training programme.”

The youth teams compete in the National League Academy League at under 19 level, and the West Riding County under 23 Development League.And Nichol is proud of the track record of players reaching senior football that the programme has established.

“As you can see with Jay Benn, Lucas Schofield and Nick Crane (Benn has played for the first-team this season while Schofield and Crane have been unused substitutes), the manager and his assistant have tried to give our young players experience and integrate them in and around the first-team environment.

“It is fantastic for our players to know there is a pathway.

“Should a player show promise the process of successfully integrating players into the first team is not always straight lined.

“What is clear is that there is no healthier way of strengthening a squad than an academy player making it through to the first team.

“We are working on specific strategies to support our players bridging the gap to senior football.

“It takes a long time for things like this to manifest themselves, which is difficult in football because it can be such a short-term job, but there’s a lot of work going on behind-the-scenes that is helping the club move forward.

“But it will take time for those things to bear fruit.

“If you also look at some of the players that came out of our programme previously, like Carl Rushworth, Jay Benn, Ross Barrows, you can see players are given a pathway and a chance to reach their potential, either at this club or, if you stick at it and keep moving forward, what we give you here is a toolkit to help you further your career elsewhere.

“It demonstrates a pathway towards the first-team, so young players here can see someone else has gone down the path they want to follow.

“It is realistic and achievable. “It’s nice for the staff who work with these players day in, day out to see that happening as well.

“We’re working on a lot of the details we put around the programme, in terms of the sessions we deliver, the amount of time we spend on the pitch, but also about how we bridge that gap between youth team and first team.

“Ross Barrows was here for two years as a young player, then two more years as a young professional. He was very close and on the fringes of the squad under Billy Heath.

“Ross gained experience on loan and since leaving the club he’s gradually made his way back up the ladder and now a regular in the Kings Lynn side.

“There are a number of players who have left our programme and doing quite well in the league or two below.

“As much as we want to get players towards our first-team, one of our other aspirations is to keep players playing football, and if it’s not with us, hopefully they can make inroads within the game at other clubs.

“We take as much pride in a Carl or a Ross as we do in a player like Jay Benn.”

The programme has also helped the development of young coaches, with some moving on to other jobs in recent years, while Nichol says the youth set-up is benefiting from a close working relationship with Town boss Pete Wild and his assistant Chris Millington.

“We’ve had quite a big turnaround of staff,” he said. “Mike Jefferies, who was our lead coach, moved to Stockport County and Gavin Atherton, stepped up to replace him.

“We’re in the process of recruiting to appoint a second full time coach to fill the role Gav has vacated.

“Many of our part time staff have been required to change their employment during the first lockdown.

“As a result we’ve also added Adam Simpson, who oversees the players strength and conditioning programme and Aaron Scholes who oversees the players medical needs.

“Both Adam and Aaron work with our first team, which helps to strengthen the link between the youth and first team.

“We feel doubling up the roles of our staff in the club helps to share expertise and best practice between all departments, it creates a clearer pathway and programme where players and staff are developing an increasing understanding of what the end point looks like and how we can best achieve it.

“With Pete and Chris, they have a background in youth development, they’re really supportive and open with wider staff at the club in what they’re trying to do, how they’re trying to develop the team with some of the principles and processes they’ve put into place.

“They’re things we’ve been able to look at and bed into our programme as well, which again helps to improve the synergy within the club, so if our players go up into the first team environment, they’ve got an understanding of how the team plays or the terminology that could be used.

“It just helps our players get up to speed quicker in those sessions.

“It also helps develop a specific identity, the FC Halifax Town Way if you like.

“They are keen to integrate young players where possible in the first team environment and also supportive with recruitment.

“They know how hard it is to recruit at this level of football.

“We delivered an online presentation to under 16 players and parents recently, all who have a previous experience with professional clubs and Pete was eager to be part of the presentation giving an overview of how he sees the programme progressing.

“There’s not many clubs where the manager would support at that level.”

When Nichol first joined the club, there was just one part-time youth coach.

Now, in addition to Nichol, there are two full time coaches, one full time tutor, one part time goalkeeping coach, one part time strength and conditioning coach and one part time physio.

A shadow youth team programme has also been established as part of the club’s partnership with Calderdale College.

“This programme is for players aged 16 to 18 who wish to continue their football development with a pathway into the youth team programme,” said Nichol.

“For example, Nick Crane who has featured for the first team began in the Shadow programme.

“The players train four times per week - training plus strength and conditioning - and can follow a variety of education programmes.

“First team player Danny Williams also delivers on this programme, it’s great for the players and is helping to facilitate Danny’s development as a coach, whilst undergoing his coaching badges and continuing his playing career.”

Nichol believes the club’s youth development programme is in a stronger position than ever.
“When I first came into the club the youth team operated without any real integration in the wider club so our first objective to create a new programme that was effectively embedded within the club,” he said.

“We wanted to create something that was unique, attractive to talented young players but also self-funding.

“The foundations of a strong programme are in place, to progress it’s a matter of building on what we have and getting into the detail of how we recruit, train, play and generally how we can develop our sessions or programme to further facilitate player development.

“The programme we now have in place is comparable with clubs at this level and above, we believe our programme is on par with many in the EFL.

“To be recognised as a National League Academy we are required to meet certain criteria over five areas.

“The newly formed National League Academy programme has shown that a lot of good things are happening at this level of football, it’s just maybe not as well recognised as the leagues above and it’s certainly not as well supported.

“We’re trying to add a lot of detail around the programme, and using the four corner approach we are refining our development model such as how we deliver the strength and conditioning aspect and combining that into our wider development model breaking down the four key aspects of football - technical, tactical, physical and psychological - into stages of development.

“This will help to create a clear picture of how our players development.

“A big part of the programme is how we go about developing the individual player within our team environment.

“We run weekly sessions that focus on individual development, this maybe technical skills or aspects specifically related to their position.

“These are in addition to team training sessions and work on a small number basis.

“Our aim must be to develop players for the future not today.

“Football constantly evolves and we must help our players develop a skill set that will be relevant in years to come.

“In short, it is vital to produce technical players who can receive in tight spaces under pressure, can play quick combinations, dominate one v one situations and be tactically flexible in order to find space.

“From a physical point of view players will not play at an elite level unless they possess an excellent change of direction, speed over short distance and explosive power.

“Psychologically attributes like being competitive, resilient and the ability to handle pressure are essential attributes needed to cope with the demands of the game.

“Ultimately, we hope our programme takes players on a journey where players learn through the game, develop a deeper understanding of their game and their strengths.

“We look at how players identify and impose their strengths and educate them of the benefit of purposeful practice to their long-term development.

“I’d hope at the end of every month, players could look back and think ‘I’m a better player now than I was last month’. That is our challenge.

“We are more focused on the longer-term development of our players than winning our next fixture.

“It is important to be patient and trust the programme and process. Hopefully, in time this approach will bring results for us on the pitch.

“At face value, our league form might not look as good, but we have changed our approach this year.

“We believe we have two good, strong groups of players, and we’ve tried to stretch them differently.

“For the first time, we have placed the under 17s in the under 19s league, and we’ve put our under 18s in the under 23s league.

“While we might not see immediate gains in terms of results or league position, we’re hoping in 12 to 18 months’ time that our players will be in a better position and it will accelerate bridging that gap to the first-team.”

A message from the editor

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.
In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.
Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the highest standards in the world. The dramatic events of 2020 are having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers and consequently the advertising that we receive. We are now more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news by buying a copy of our newspaper.
Thank you
Jean MacQuarrie
Editor-in-Chief