Get the latest Swans news sent straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

It was not so long ago that Swansea City academy coaches would find themselves having to ring around to try and find a suitable pitch for their charges to train and play on.

The first team did not have training facilities to call their own, so it was inevitable the age-grade set-up would be without a base. Sometimes sessions would take place on the beach.

Once the club reached the Premier League in 2011, after a rapid rise, this could not continue. If Swansea was to be a top-flight club, its academy structure had to fall in line with the standards being demanded of the first team.

If the first team were to have a permanent base, the academy also needed one.

Six or seven years on, and one of the most encouraging elements of this season has been the manner in which Swansea City's youngsters have stepped up to the plate.

Connor Roberts, Joe Rodon, Oli McBurnie, George Byers, Dan James and several others have moved up from age-grade football to become Premier League and Championship players.

The likes of Brandon Cooper, Cian Harries, Tyler Reid and Liam Cullen also got their chance in the Carabao Cup.

Roberts, Rodon and Cullen all first joined Swansea while still in primary school. The first two are now also part of the Wales senior squad.

Their rise represents a major success for an academy system that was overhauled earlier this decade with the development of top-class facilities at Landore and Fairwood.

(Image: Swansea City AFC)

Swansea's rise to the top level coincided with the Premier League’s Elite Player Performance Plan, set up in 2012 with the aim of raising standards of youth development and creating a pathway for academy players into first-team squads.

It was not universally popular and a number of clubs opted out. But it came at an ideal time for Swansea and offered a clear structure within which to make and measure those improvements.

Swansea were in Category Three at the time the plan was launched. Within four years they had progressed to Category One (the highest status, out of four) and the under-23s would be on the way to a league and cup double.

In June of 2012 Swansea announced plans to build a facility incorporating the junior and academy teams. The link-up with Swansea University for the first-team base at Fairwood was revealed a few months later.

When getting to Category One level required further improvements at Landore, an additional tier was added to the main building and the indoor training barn put in place, taking the total cost to £8.5million.

Staffing levels increased to unprecedented levels with over 50 full-time academy staff. There had been just 17 on hand in 2013.

“The passion then was to create a top-class academy set-up at Swansea. We had a year at Category Two level which was a big step-up for our players and us as a staff in terms of a learning curve," says academy manager Nigel Rees.

“But the momentum of the first team being in the Premier League, and the desire of the club’s hierarchy to put an elite level youth programme in place, meant we pushed 100 per cent for Category One status which required further investment of capital.

“There are only 24 Category One set-ups in the entire league system, and Swansea City is now one of them. It brings a financial commitment and is not just in terms of coming in and seeing the pristine buildings. It is everything that goes beyond that.

“It’s the number of sports scientists, the number of physios, nutritionists, psychologists. The whole environment grows by nature and necessity and I have to say that none of this would have been possible without the support of the chairman and the board, who have done so much to put this in place.

“It gives us the opportunity to expose players and coaches to the highest possible level of fixtures. That is key because it raises standards.

“It was very difficult when we started. For example, our under-18 players had to get used to facing Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham on a regular basis. That was something they had not experienced.

“It took them time to adjust but they performed really well last season, and the under-23s with additional investment of players from outside - which has helped push development of players inside - has again seen success and silverware and they are being exposed to the best of the best.

“Players can only get better and the building blocks are there for them to push towards the first team.”

Cutting-edge classrooms and life skills

(Image: Peter Bolter/WalesOnline)

On-field developments have been pushed by an off-field set-up that is almost unrecognisable from what went before.

The top tier of the Landore training facility includes classrooms, rooms for parents and a lecture theatre with full match-analysis capabilities.

The classrooms include Macs and they are used by all groups from the age of nine upwards with a syllabus made-up of technical and tactical elements.

Even at the most junior level players are encouraged to delve into self-analysis.

Match footage is recorded from every game and then coded for players to use. They can either watch the game in full or a breakdown of their own performance highlighting both positive elements and areas that need to be worked on.

The children are also encouraged to give presentations on their view of the game and their own performances, skills which Rees feels are a benefit well beyond the world of football.

“People might think that is a bit excessive, but we find that visualisation is a big help to young players,” he said.

“They will do a review or report on how they feel they have performed and that is an important life skill.

“We have nine and 10-year-olds who can give mini presentations in front of an audience and are accomplished doing so. It is not just football, it is about other skills and that is a great ability to have in any walk of life.

“They make considerable sacrifices, as do their families. But I would guarantee that one day these boys will be playing football somewhere, and they will have had an incredible life experience even if they do not make the first team here.

“They will be training three or four times a week, but they benefit as people, not just as footballers. They are mature and work in a very safe, healthy and enjoyable environment. Anything worth having is worth working for but they have to enjoy it and that is what we tell the parents and children. There is an open door policy if that is not the case.

“But standards have to be elite... and I think we have seen the benefits in that with some of the invitations we have received. For example, we had an under-14 side out in Los Angeles at an international tournament in March. Our reputation is growing all the time.”

Additionally, as they climb the ranks, age-group sides adhere to a similar style of play to allow the smoothest pathway for players where they can step up a level while playing in a familiar way.

Finding the talent across Wales

The number of players involved continues to rise. From the under-9s through to the under-23s there were around 180 players on the academy books ahead of this season, although that figure will fluctuate over the course of the campaign, particularly in the higher age brackets where players will go out on loan.

There are around 60 more in the recently-launched pre-academy, which goes from under-6s to under-8s.

The commitment to improving the youth set-up has also extended beyond the boundaries of the city itself, although the club continue to have a big focus locally by heading into local schools and allowing them to use the facilities at Landore, while the university utilise the Fairwood training ground.

(Image: Swansea City AFC)

Within four years Swansea went from having just three development centres to 17, including one in Cardiff.

Across those centres there are some 80 part-time staff and nearly 1,000 young players. Spreading the net wider allows Swansea a greater chance of identifying and attracting top young talents within Wales, where the Swans are the only Category One club.

Sessions will be held where players from as young as five are given the chance to be coached by Swansea City staff in basic skills and techniques.

From there they are invited to join the development centres in their local area with the aim of progressing them into the academy set-up.

(Image: Swansea City AFC)

Last year, Swansea launched an advanced development centre to help boost that process as a stepping stone towards their elite development centres and the academy itself, creating a four-tier process.

Additionally, there are a network of staff and scouts working throughout Wales and further afield mainly looking at players aged between six and 16.

From there players are filtered into the development centres, with academy head of recruitment Steve Hetzke having five full-time staff and 10-15 part-time staff at his disposal.

“We have national recruitment so we are working hard in terms of getting a presence in north and mid Wales, developing our fanbase and identifying players,” says Rees.

“We have 13 development centres in total in Wales like Cardiff, Torfaen, Merthyr, Haverfordwest, Carmarthen, Cambrian and Cardigan.

“We also have a thriving pre-academy from under-six to under-eight. We have had good response from parents and the staff have done a tremendous job.

“But part of the job is to make sure things are grounded in reality, and that can be hard. From the age of nine our players might see the first team here and see the rows of expensive cars and think that will be them.

“It’s important that they realise that they have to have to ambition to play for the first team.”

(Image: Swansea City AFC)

That ambition was particularly clear in someone like Connor Roberts, who has been with Swansea from the age of nine and has gone on to make the step up to first-team and international level.

Rees holds the right-back up as the perfect example for those further down the set-up to follow, revealing that he has regularly had to tell the player to go home during the summer after finding him continuing to come in and work alone in the gym.

“Connor is a great example for others to follow and look up to,” he says. “I would come here during the summer holidays when the players would be off and find Connor working alone in the gym, he had snuck in and I would send him home to make sure he had some rest during the off-season.

“But his drive and ambition is outstanding and he sets the bar for me in terms of how he works. People like Joe Rodon, Jack Evans and Liam Cullen are the same.”

Staff improvement and development

It may have been controversial in some quarters but the decision to bring in the likes of McBurnie and James was deemed the right move in terms of raising standards in the short term; a higher calibre of player helping to bring up the levels of others, leading the way in showing what would be required with the step up in status.

But it was not just about players. Coaches and staff also needed to be improved and developed.

The Premier League runs courses such as the elite coach apprenticeship scheme, with Cameron Toshack, Kane Amos and Nia Davies among those complete it, while the club have supported those wanting to work through the UEFA coaching system run by the FAW.

“We have been mindful that there also has to be a pathway to build up our coaches and staff too,” adds Rees.

“Number one is finding the right staff, who can offer different skills and experiences. You deal with parents and expectations. Every one of them has a development plan where they outline their goals and we look at how we can help them.

“We also try to support the grassroots game. When we can, and we have time, we try to go to the local schools and clubs, we have a burgeoning girls' section which is fantastic to see.”

Finding the next Joe Allen and Ben Davies

Put the whole package together - facilities, players, coaches and staff - and you have an environment which is the envy of many in the British game. Rees has lost count of the number of times a visiting player or coach has commented on what they see at Swansea.

But this increases the pressure of bringing through the next Joe Allen, Ben Davies or Connor Roberts.

This season’s success in terms of academy players getting first-team chances cannot be a one-off, it will need to become the norm.

“Our core objective is always to get players in the first team, that is the key driver. We have great support from the chairman and the board, we have a clear culture, we are a close-knit family club,” says Rees.

(Image: Swansea City AFC)

“I think if we get players into the first team then there is a greater affinity for the fans with the lad who has come in from the age of nine. You could see that in how they sang Connor’s name last season.

“If you have those Swansea lads as part of the core it would be great, and that is what we are here for.”