The Success of the Crystal Palace Academy

I would just love to be reading this about QPR

South London Press/Richard Cawley

David Moss proud of Crystal Palace academy

Monday, 12 October 2009

THE walls of David Moss’s office are a constant reminder of the success of the Crystal Palace academy.

There is a theme to the photos which are framed around the room - they are of youngsters who have emerged through the ranks to represent the Eagles first team. Victor Moses and Sean Scannell - the two teenagers who have played most in the past couple of seasons - occupy one wall.

And on another is Nathaniel Clyne, James Comley, Keiran Djilali, Nathanial Pinney, Kieron Cadogan and Lee Hills.

Academy boss Moss has every right to be proud. Of the club’s last batch of nine second-year scholars, seven were offered professional contracts and five have been handed debuts by boss Neil Warnock. It’s a far cry from the 40-year-old’s previous club Swansea, where he was in the same role before joining the Eagles in May 2008.

“Swansea were in a great position to produce their own players but they didn’t really care,” said Moss. “They lacked the foresight to develop youngsters and that means you are forever paying out money and bringing in foreigner after foreigner after foreigner. That’s sad for the young players of Swansea and Wales.

“For an academy to be a success you’ve got to have people at the top like Simon and Dominic Jordan who believe in it and a manager who is prepared to play the youngsters. One without the other is not going to work.”

Despite the tough financial situation at Palace, chairman Jordan has refused to save money by downgrading to a centre of excellence, like neighbours Millwall did 19 months ago.

And Moss believes such a move would dramatically affect the quality of lads they would be able to attract.

He said: “We play Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham, West Ham and Fulham - they are top Premier League clubs. If you became a centre of excellence you would be up against QPR, Millwall, Brentford and Gillingham. No disrespect but we would find it so much tougher to attract players because they want to play against the best teams and kids.”

Football League rules mean that clubs can sign players under the age of 12 that are within an hour’s travelling radius - going up to 90 minutes between 12 and 16.

But Palace’s policy is to try and identify talent that is as close to home as possible.

Moss said: “We’ve got the philosphy that we’re happy to recruit all the best players within a five-mile radius of Selhurst Park, concentrating on local talent. We do have players that are 10, 15 or 20 miles away but we want as many as possible from this vicinity.

“I can’t remember the population of Swansea but it’s something like 200,000 - here we’re talking millions. We’ve got talent on our doorstep, so why do we need to look elsewhere?”

The toughest challenge facing Moss and his staff is to continue the production line of talent which has come into the side since Warnock took charge.

But he is confident that the academy’s impressive track record will carry on.

He said: “We’re making things even more professional with fitness coaches, video analysis, sports science reports and we’re improving our scouting all the time.

“I think it’ll get better. I know the players we’ve got at other age groups and there are some fantastic boys.”

Palace did lose one of their prize assets shortly before Moss arrived at the club as John Bostock turned down a professional deal, instead penning a contract with Tottenham.

Jordan cites it as one of the key reasons he has fallen out of love with the game, and announced shortly afterwards that he was looking to sell the Eagles. But new FIFA and UEFA rules mean that prize assets can now be offered a six-year deal from the age of 12.

Moss said: “They have changed it to protect smaller clubs like us from the bigger teams.

“If another side comes in it means they have to pay compensation. We’re delighted because we can tie our better players to longer contracts.

“You’ve got to have the ability as an academy manager and staff to identify your best players and reward them with longer deals. No-one knows whether they will make it, but it does mean you are covered if another club comes in and tries to cherrypick them.

“The ultimate is to get youngsters in at whatever age and develop them for the first team - that’s the objective of the academy.

“Some of those who have done it might have been here since the age of nine and worked with coaches that may no longer be at the club that have got to take credit for it - it’s not one person’s hard work. These players have maybe touched 10 coaches on their way through.”

****

DAVID Moss has got a place in the record books - he was the first footballer in England to play professionally while having a full-time job.

Moss worked as a Lloyd’s broker and fitted that around playing for hometown club Doncaster, Chesterfield and Sc**thorpe for five years - only training with those teams for set-piece routines.

But he eventually left his day job to go full-time with Falkirk at the age of 28 - and also played in the SPL with Dunfermline.

“I’ve played professionally, done my coaching, studied sports science and got my business background - it’s given me a great background to do what I’m doing now,” said Moss, who retired at 32 after three operations on his right knee.

“I had no intention of going into youth football but a position came up at my last club Swansea and Kenny Jackett, in charge at the time, asked me to come for an interview and I was appointed.

“I’m really ambitious but in football you can’t plan too far ahead - you’ve just got to give your best in your current position.

“I feel as though I’m privileged to work for a club that understand and believe in their academy system.

“Before I came to Crystal Palace I knew the job was available and I spoke to a lot of people about it - and if I’m honest most said don’t take it for whatever reason.

“But if people ask me what it’s like being academy manager now I say it’s great.

“Every Friday morning I have a meeting with vice chairman Dominic Jordan about everything to do with the academy and I speak to Neil Warnock every day.

“There’s a lot more I want to do with the academy but we can’t do everything at once. Dominic knows what I want to achieve but these are tough times for everybody financially and we’re doing things as quick as we can do.”

www.southlondon-today.co.uk/tn/Sport.cfm?id=40339&headline=David%20Moss%20proud%20of%20Crystal%20Palace%20academy