An Insight into Academy Football

I started playing club football at six, joining my local grassroots team, Thatcham Tornadoes. I

don’t remember tactics or formations. I remember oversized kits, shin pads bigger than your

legs, mud everywhere, and parents shouting at six-year-olds like they were Premier League

superstars. Back then football was just fun. Running after the ball with your friends and not

caring about the result. I had no idea those simple times were laying the foundations for

everything that came later.

At seven I was scouted by Southampton Academy. Suddenly football was no longer just a

hobby. The academy environment demanded higher standards, sharper training and real

expectations. You weren’t just playing for fun anymore, you were playing for a purpose.

People imagine academy football as a straight road to becoming a professional. It isn’t.

I was at Swindon Town’s academy from age 8 to 16. You move from laughing with your

mates to full-time coaches analysing your performances and national recruitment constantly

threatening your place. You feel like a chart-topping song, popular until the next big hit

comes along ready to replace you.

Around 12 years old, the leniency stops. If you don’t perform in training, you don’t play.

Simple as that. Match days aren’t just games anymore; they are assessments. Every touch

matters. The week after being subbed off early, you find yourself checking the team sheet,

hoping your name is there. I realised quickly academy football is not just about how good

you are, it’s about how consistent you are. One good game guarantees nothing. One bad

game stays with you for weeks.

At 15 players start disappearing. No goodbye, no warning. They’re just gone. The empty peg

in the changing room becomes a reminder of how fragile your place really is.

At the same time school becomes serious. GCSEs arrive, but academy expectations don’t

change. Training three evenings a week plus weekend matches. You start asking yourself

questions no 15-year-old really wants to answer. Do I risk my education for football?

An injury could end everything overnight. But what if you are the one who makes it?

This is the dilemma every academy player lives with.

For me, this dilemma answered itself. I didn’t leave because I failed, I left because I fell out

of love with the game. Football for me started to feel like an obligation instead of an escape.

I realised I was gambling my education for something I no longer woke up excited for.

Leaving was strange - part relief, part grief. But I chose certainties over maybes. I chose

school, routine and a future that I was totally in control of, even if it meant letting go of the

dream I had chased since I was a kid.

Even though I left Swindon before life dramatically changed for academy players, I know the

process and experience 16 year old scholars undergo when A Levels start.

After GCSEs the decision becomes real. Many players move away from home at 16 or 17 to

live with a host family near the club. You go home every couple of weeks, but your normal

teenage life disappears. Education choices shrink to a small number of A-levels or BTECs

built around training schedules. Football comes first.

To put the reality into perspective: between my age group and the one above - roughly 32

players - only one now plays regularly off the bench for the first team.

That is academy football.