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Saturday, 04 October 2008 |
Source: Newcastle Evening Chronicle
Newcastle United should be able to fill a team full of Geordies in the future.
That is the vision of Simon Clifford, the man being lined up to become the club's technical director.
Clifford brought Brazilian coaching methods to the UK and his soccer schools see youngsters handling footballs as young as six months old.
He has worked with stars including Michael Owen, Wayne Rooney, Micah Richards and Theo Walcott. He told the chronicle he is desperate to overhaul the Magpies' academy structure.
The Middlesbrough-born former teacher said: "Sir John Hall had a vision that Newcastle United would be full of Newcastle-based players - people not just playing for a wage but for the shirt, the fans and the club.
"It would be home-grown people and that is my belief too. I believe that with time and effort, we could not just build a Newcastle team but an England team developed on our methods."
He added: "I grew up as a Middlesbrough fan in 1970s and back then, the whole team came from the area. I would love to go back to those days.
"People point to people like Alan Shearer who is a local lad but is not a product of the club's youth system. One of the last successes has been Lee Clark, but there haven't been too many others to point to and that is not good enough."
Clifford had a short period at Southampton, where he worked as Sir Clive Woodward's assistant. He is currently manager of Garforth Town and his Brazilian Soccer Schools have more than two million members.
When Juninho was at Middlebrough, he gave him extra coaching sessions outside of the team's main training programme. |
