Hednesford Town Football Club are delighted to announce the launch of a brand new football academy.
From September 2017 a new ‘in-house’ academy, which will be located at Keys Park, will see the Pitmen working in partnership with Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers in order to produce and develop local footballing talent.
Following the announcement, Hednesford Town General Manager Carl Cooper said:
“I am really excited about the academy coming to Keys Park and also with the strong link we will gain with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
“We already host Wolves Women matches here at the club and this will see more of a partnership developing between the two clubs.
“Also, this will give us a chance to grow our own youth development locally with coaches and managers becoming more involved with the whole set-up.”
This new academy will also give the club the chance for students from the Hednesford and Cannock area to attend an academy set-up at Keys Park.
First Team Manager Gary Birch added:
“I’m very excited at the prospect of having our very own academy based here at Keys Park. The academy will give students and budding young footballers the opportunity to gain valuable football experience and develop their football expertise over a period of two years. The course also offers the students to further their education with BTEC Sports Studies.
“The students will have the opportunity to develop under FA qualified coaches and I’m really pleased to say that a partnership agreement between ourselves and Wolverhampton Wanderers has been agreed where they will provide support and qualified football coaches to lead this academy.
“Here at Hednesford we pride ourselves on producing young talent through the ranks with the club having helped develop players like Ashley Williams, Elliott Durrell, Chris Clements, Jamey Osborne and most recently Cohen Bramall who moved to Arsenal in the January transfer window.”
This new academy will build on the success of the U19 academy, which has been run in conjunction with the BMET College, over the last 12 months – helping to provide the club with a number of players during the course of the current season.
Changes are also due to be implemented in the Pitmen’s youth development set-up with more sides being added along with extra coaches – details of which will be announced shortly.
For more details about the new Hednesford Town academy please contact carlcooper@hednesfordtownfc.com or visit www.wearescl.co.uk/hednesford-town.
