OVER 400 young football players from across Cyprus turned out for professional coaching with British giants Celtic and Everton last week, with an eye on the prize of a coveted place at the clubs’ elite home academies.
Youth coaches from both teams spent a week on the island training hopefuls at soccer skills camps organised by local academies Pansolios and MegaSport. Competition between the players was as hot as the week’s heat wave, and players have their fingers crossed over the coming weeks to find out if they have been picked to take a step toward their dreams of football stardom.
Everton’s International Development Coach, Tony ‘Tosh’ Farrell travelled to the major towns in Cyprus with MegaSport, coaching 350 young footballers and selecting those showing the most promise for a final showcase of talent at Limassol’s Episkopiana facility last Friday.
Tosh offered no guarantees for a place at the legendary Everton academy, which has nurtured the talents of premiership talents like Wayne Rooney and James Vaughn, earning the club over £54 million in transfer fees. Setting tough selection standards, seasoned coach Farrell pulled no punches when it came to the final feedback session, making it clear in his broad Scouse accent what he expected if they wanted to make it to the professional leagues, “We will be comparing your times against those of Everton Academy players of the same age.”
Though the criteria was deemed unfair by some of the players’ parents, Farrell said developing football skills was his main objective.
“We’re working closely with MegaSport to help to develop football here; we’re not here to take players from Cyprus to Everton. That’s a bonus, but my job is to develop football internationally and if what we do here takes a Cyprus player to a higher level of the game, that’s job done for me.”
Asked if he would be taking any players back to Everton, Farrell would not yet comment, but did defend the selection system, “A player here has got to be better than those in the UK for us to say it is worth investing in him, he’s got to be that good.”
He may be tough, but the UEFA ‘A’ class coaching licence holder has ten years of know-how gained at the Everton academy and is a former FA Centre of Excellence coach; his wisdom, experience and passion had a huge impact on both the players and MegaSport’s own coaches.
Fifteen-year-old, Olympiakos Academy player, Alexander Themis from Nicosia, described the ‘Everton Way’ coaching: “It was amazing. I never knew these kind of exercises existed, but now I know how to improve myself.”
MegaSport coach Nicos Nikoliades thinks youth coaches in Cyprus can benefit from the experience and skills of overseas Academies, explaining, “We can learn from these coaches; the training session and Mr Farrell’s way of working made a big difference. When I saw the players today, I realised that with practice and use of the programme, in time the level of the players could be much higher.”
The Everton Academy was in Cyprus on the invitation of MegaSport’s Director, Christos Acaros, who plans to extend the relationship with the English club. He believes the trials were a great success and despite struggling in temperatures of over 40°C, saw real enthusiasm from the players taking part.
Outlining his plans for the future, Acaros said, “Our co-operation with Everton will extend to many other areas, for example sending our coaches to Everton, providing more coaching sessions for the kids here and maybe an international tournament with the Everton Academy teams playing local sides here.”
At the same time, 72 footballers, aged from 10 to 17, spent the week in Kakopetria at the Celtic Summer School of Football, organised by Iros Herodolou of Pansolios Academy. Divided into four different age groups, the players received professional guidance from Celtic Academy experts to develop their skills and compete for one of the two places on a week’s trial at the academy’s home ground in Glasgow. Atromitos Yeroskipou coach Dimos Psaras delivered specialist instruction to young goalkeepers, although one star pupil, 16-year-old Pambos Pallas, has already generated interest from the Celtic Academy.
Chris Monaghan, responsible for the youngest group of footballers, began the week by assessing their current ability, “I looked at them play to highlight any weaknesses, and then worked out drills and practices that we could use to improve their skills.
“By working on all the core skills, I’ve seen a big difference since Monday and there are definitely one or two kids that are very good,” he explained. Thirteen to fifteen group coach Ryan MacCafferty agreed, “You can see them improving; their speed, their passing and dribbling. They’ve come a long way in four days.”
Football school participant Charalambos Foti has played youth football for Anorthosis Famagusta since the age of eight. A big Celtic fan, he hopes to follow in the footsteps of his father, Costas Foti, a former Cyprus international, into the professional leagues. “These coaches are very good,” he said, sweating from his exertions on the pitch, “I have learnt a lot.”
Head Coach Greg Robertson was delighted with the progress of the players, confirming that some would be travelling to Scotland in the future, “We always knew there would be talent, it could be that we invite more than two players back for trial with Celtic.” At the school’s closing ceremony, Greg announced that four players were being considered and that a decision would be made following discussions with Celtic’s Academy managers in Scotland.
Pansolios Academy plan to build on the success of the school, its second with Celtic FC. “We have a close relationship with Celtic and expect that to continue,” said Club Secretary, George Iacavou. “We will be making some suggestions to them, including the possibility of a tour to Glasgow for a group of our Academy players.”
Both the Everton and Celtic coaches were impressed by the island’s players, though all agreed that the pace of the game in Cyprus needs to move up a notch to meet the standards of Northern European clubs. It’s something Greg Robertson believes can be worked on, “Technically they are very good; we can teach them to play at a higher tempo and they have the raw talent that we can work with.”
Neither team is giving anything away just yet; however, both plan to release the names of those selected for trial over the next two weeks. But those youngsters who missed the opportunity won’t have to wait too long for another chance to shine; the clubs, and many of their premiership rivals, will be back in Cyprus next year.
Tony Farrell believes that professional youth coaching is essential to enable the country to produce more professionals in the future, and has one piece of advice for the young footballers he hopes to see on his next visit: “Practice, practice, practice,” he advises. “I can’t emphasise that enough.”
2
©Melissa Reynolds, June 2007
