Cottage POV

On the heels of Hayden Mullins’ superb U21 side dispatching neighbours Chelsea 4-0 in the semi finals of the Premier League Cup, the discussion of pathways always feel apt to bring up. Probably the best thing Alistair Mackintosh has done since arriving as Chief Executive at Fulham was appointing Huw Jennings to overhaul the clubs academy set up – a move that also brought Steve Wigley and Malcolm Elias from the old Southampton system which sourced and developed the likes of Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott.

In a hyper competitive London catchment area (let alone SW/Surrey specifically), Fulham’s quality of work in youth development has been nothing short of outstanding over the years, from those who contributed to the first team to those who have gone on to have long footballing careers – it’s a far cry from the days prior where the club would be lucky to find one player have a year or so in the Football League before dwindling around non league.

Amongst the goal scorers in Friday’s night thumping of Chelsea were two players who’ve made their first team debuts and another who is a senior international but along comes the question mark of who will be the next to be a regular contributor to the first team and how much harder it is with pressures and demands of Premier League football. Not just the competition, but the fans (myself included) want a competitive team with some money thrown around but it’s hard to build that squad with pathways for the kids.

This summer will see more than the circa 14 available first team players in the pre-season, a dire situation but one that allowed Luc De Fougerolles to get meaningful first team minutes which was then extended into the EFL Cup with 90 minutes in the 3-1 win at Ipswich but with Tosin and Diop ahead, where will the opportunity be to play? Even if Tosin is to leave this season, Fulham will likely splash out on a replacement which if anything makes that pathway even more blocked.

Devan Tanton, one of the scorers for the U21s on Friday night has the job of trying to displace Timothy Castagne at right back, a job that even Kenny Tete isn’t getting close to currently. And it hopefully paints the picture that whilst we all want this strong squad of players, it becomes the blocker to so many and whilst Fabio Carvalho was given the 10 spot the moment Silva arrived, there was no competition whilst a Tyrese Francois – who started Silva’s first game against Middlesbrough – found it near impossible to get minutes once Harrison Reed and Jean Michel Seri came back from injury, then Tom Cairney later in that season.

The hope is we see Jay Stansfield make the step after a testing loan at Birmingham City, and his flexibility to be able to play wide right, leading striker and that supporting 10 does provide more options to Silva but then I point towards Raul Jimenez’s 5 minutes across the past 3 matches or Harry Wilson’s 60 minutes across the same fixtures, or Adama Traore’s 35 minutes. There are well paid seniors struggling for minutes which highlights the competitive nature for true game time and puts added pressure on the importance of making impacts in limited exposure to extend your opportunities.

Though not to be naïve to the importance of game plans and training performances, there’s only so far we can with that rhetoric – there’s only so far being a good tool for a tactical battle and strong training days can do for you if you’re absolutely toss in games but it’s important to mention nonetheless.

Though not many clubs are rolling out to Premier League games weekly with a squad packed of academy talent, it’s a credit to the system Jurgen Klopp has created at Liverpool where a Conor Bradley can come in for Trent Alexander-Arnold, thrown in at the deep end and look like barely a drop in quality. The same goes for the excellent Jarell Quansah who this past weekend was a rock alongside Virgil van Dijk in the centre of the Liverpool back four at Craven Cottage. Both had loan spells in League One last season have jumped to semi-regular Premier League and European football with minor complications – aiding Liverpool’s title chase amidst an injury crisis.

I don’t want this to read as a criticism of Marco Silva but the reality is the arms race of the Premier League has led to this struggle for homegrown players to break into teams everywhere. Aston Villa in their chase for Champions League football have cast Jacob Ramsey aside whilst selling his brother Aaron, Cameron Archer and Jaden Philogene to help fund their summer business and keep in line with FFP whilst the previous year Aston Villa were beneficiaries of Chelsea’s youthful splurge receiving £20m for 16 appearance Carney Chukwuemeka. West Ham’s “Academy of Football” have had barely any academy involvement this season despite fighting on four fronts; 24 year old Ben Johnson contributing about 820 minutes to the first team as a depth full back.

It’s a wider Premier League problem, as every coach and fan wants money to be spent on the team but it’s also that balancing act of running an excellent academy to produce talent and giving them the opportunities to play. Fulham academy products have played a total of 74 Premier League minutes this season – Tom Cairney’s early injury at the Etihad saw Luke Harris play 74 in our 5-1 loss at Manchester City in September with Joao Palhinha reeling from his collapsed move to Bayern and our only other midfield option being the aforementioned Tyrese Francois. Harris added another 44 in the League Cup against Tottenham, coming on in the 77th minute and the game going to Extra Time. Francois got 38 minutes in the same game with then an added 8 in the FA Cup against Rotherham. Devan Tanton was a late substitute at Ipswich, the same game Luc De Fougerolles made his first start playing 90 minutes. Marek Rodak played 3 League Cup games and two in the FA Cup. About 705 minutes from academy players this season with Marek Rodak’s 5 sets of 90 being 450 of that total. For reference, Kenny Tete has played 778 this season and Carlos Vinicius 307 before his loan out to Galatasaray.

Just after (likely coincidentally) Marco Silva’s appointment at Fulham Football Club, the academy went under a restructure which saw Colin Omogbehin leave his role with the U21s to become the clubs’ First Team Development Coach designed to support the transition from academy to first team football. Huw Jennings left the day to day running of the Academy to Mike Cave (who has since left for Brighton to become their Technical Director – Sean Cullen took over Academy Director responsibilities), Jennings’ new role with the club was to be “Head of Football Development” which has seen us create official collaboration with Dundee United amongst others, further supporting the academy transition to first team football and beyond that – the development of the Fulham Women’s programme.

All that is to say – since the summer of 2021, the appointment of Marco Silva and the Academy restructure has seen an increase of loans for our young players. Since 2021 we’ve seen in excess of 30 loans for academy players – including Martial Godo at Wigan, Jay Stansfield at Birmingham City, whilst Luke Harris spent the second half of this season at Exeter where Stansfield spent 22/23 and Kieron Bowie has been at Northampton Town for two years, helping them get promoted from League Two in his first year and stabilise in League One improving his volume of goal involvements year on year despite going up a level. It seems to be a conscious club change to extend contracts and give opportunities to go out and play which will help preparation for coming back and being involved in the first team.

I don’t want to underestimate the importance of these deep integral structures to making this all work – that’s what Liverpool have “mastered.” Their kids beating Chelsea in the League Cup final with Conor Bradley starting the game, and required substitute appearances from Bobby Clark (son of Lee), Jayden Danns (son of Neil), James McConnell and Jarrell Quansah finishing the fixture against the “blue billion pound bottle jobs.” Each player steps in and knows exactly what’s required of them with the depth of tactical integration. When you have longevity in a coach and coaching system, U14s can look to the first team and know generally what is required from them in their role and position. The longer we keep hold of Marco Silva, the more likely that set up will be to create.

It’s a dilemma for managers up and down the Premier League, some have the balls to throw kids in at the deep end, others use them as Financial Fair Play pawns and others don’t even look at the academy structure. Marco Silva made Fabio Carvalho the star boy of a title winning promotion squad and has given Premier League minutes to Jay Stansfield and Luke Harris in moments of need, the next step is for them be utilised as genuine options – a dance for both player to show they can play and can be trusted and for coach to instil that faith in them.

One to watch for the next year of Fulham’s Premier League journey.