

‘Third place is a good finish to back up winning the league last season. Finishing in the top three or four every year is something all the good teams do. Hopefully we’re up there again next season but it’s going to be tough again because the league will get stronger and older, while we’re getting younger.’

A comparatively youthful Under-21 squad, the result of pushing promising youngsters on to achieve by moving them up the age groups ahead of their natural one by birthdate, is emphasised when looking at the season’s stats lower down this page. The top six goalscorers in the league season and five of the top eight appearance makers were also young enough for the Under-18s.

In his first year as Under-21s coach having himself moved up from the U18s, Viveash anticipated the extra challenges off the field and the time it would take for the players to adapt to his way of working.

‘It’s been an interesting year for me personally. You have to adapt to the dynamics of working closely with the first team and liaising with Jose Mourinho and Steve Holland. That’s a different side of things to the youth team, as is managing double the amount of staff, so I can definitely see the development in myself from three years ago when I started the Under-18s job.

‘The way in which you handle things off the pitch is 50 per cent of the job with the Under-21s and it does take a bit of time getting used to playing on a different day every week. I’ve certainly enjoyed the season though and as a group of staff we’ve been very fortunate to work with probably the best group of players we’ve had in the Academy for many years.

‘As a coach, that has been a great challenge and it makes you go to a higher level yourself. It’s always a challenge to make young players understand that when they haven’t got the ball is more important than when they have got it but the development has been really noticeable for me.’

Trophies are rewarding but developing players for the first team remains the ultimate aim. With senior debuts for Andreas Christensen, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Dominic Solanke and Izzy Brown across the course of the campaign, Viveash can reflect proudly on helping that transition this season.