City youth team buzzing ahead of big night out (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

City youth team buzzing ahead of big night out

7:00pm Monday 2nd November 2009 in

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David Wetherall vividly recalls his first game in a “real” football stadium.

So he understands the anticipation that his youth team will be feeling ahead of their big night at Valley Parade on Wednesday.

The youngsters make their bow in the FA Youth Cup against Southport – and the date under floodlights promises to be the biggest occasion of their fledgling City careers.

Wetherall, enjoying his first season as the club’s youth coach, will tell the team to treat it as any other game. But he can appreciate the tingles in the stomach.

You could pick your most experienced team every week but you’ve got to give everyone a chance. That’s how you bring people on

David Wetherall

He said: “It is a big thing and everyone should be excited. Playing on a first-team pitch under floodlights is another experience for them.

“I remember my first game at Hillsborough when I was a young lad with Sheffield Wednesday. It wasn’t in the Youth Cup but a friendly against an Arab team and I scored – I can recall the goal as clear as anything!”

There should not be too many first-night nerves. Out of his 19 squad members, all bar three or four have already had an involvement with the reserves.

“Even if it’s only for ten minutes, it’s good for them to get a little taste, and Grimsby and Darlington both played their games against us on their first-team pitch, so that was a valuable learning curve.”

Wetherall’s blueprint is to produce potential first-team players for the future. Results are not the be-all and end-all – a philosophy that is at odds with his 580-game career on the pitch.

He said: “Of course we want to instil a winning attitude but it’s about developing players. You’ve got to take the longer view because that’s the right way to go.

“If that means we finish two or three places lower than we would have done, it’s not a problem with me.

“These lads are on a two-year programme and they need to be playing matches from the start. That’s why we get first years involved early.

“You can’t have them going into Christmas of the second year still adjusting to the league on a Saturday morning. They need to know that in the first six months.

“We’ve got eight second years and 11 in their first year so the team is young for its age group. That will be the case again tomorrow.

“You could pick your most experienced team every week but you’ve got to give everyone a chance. That’s how you bring people on.”

The youth-team post was thrust upon Wetherall as part of the summer’s cost-cutting measures.

Chris Casper was released and he stepped down from first-team coach to work with the youngsters.

But any initial misgivings he may have felt have been replaced by the sense of satisfaction at seeing the young hope-fuls start to blossom under his command.

Wetherall added: “I’ve been in football for so many years and all that time has been about results. I’m enjoying the different outlook. You try to give these players any knowledge you’ve picked up along the way and there is a great satisfaction from seeing people improve.

“But they say that’s nothing to when you see someone you’ve helped along the way make it into the first team. That’s the real reward in this job.

“Everybody is on the look-out for that special player and that’s where we rely on Peter Horne and the school of excellence.

“But we also know about the position we’re in with offers from other clubs. It’s not ideal but that’s where we are.

“You can’t help thinking what if we’d kept Fabian Delph, Tom Cleverley or Andre Wisdom. But for now it’s success for us if we can attract interest for our players because we are balancing the books for the whole club.

“If players are progressing, they may well get interest from elsewhere. But hopefully we’re not that many years away from saying no to other clubs and telling them to keep their hands off.”

* City’s youth team have been warned that Southport will be no push-overs.

The Lancashire club may be non-league but David Wetherall knows the quality of their youngsters.

He said: “They take their youth set-up very seriously and are placed geographically in an area where they’ve got a good pick.

“I know they’ve picked up four lads from Preston and another from Everton. They can also get lads from Liverpool and Tranmere.

“We went across to the previous round when they beat Hallam 8-0 and Southport looked a very decent side. They also put five past Farsley.

“It’s going to be a challenge for us. They are certainly not easy opposition and coming here is going to excite them.”

* City’s youth team played out a six-goal thriller with Rotherham. Darren Stephenson scored twice in a 3-3 draw, with midfielder Alex Flett also on target.