Inside this month -Keele International Cup 2012Torquay United taking over CornwallNathan Summers InterviewMy Favourite XI.....and more features!

Elite DC Magazine 2 September 2012

Elite DC Trips and Tours

WebsiteComing Soon

Editors SayIt has been a bit slow in coming, but we now have our second Elite

DC magazine ready for your viewing pleasure. Hopefully it proves

to be worth the wait.

A lot has happened since our first edition, so you can read a bit

about the star performers from Euro 2012 and we have a great

selection of photographs from the Keele International Cup this

year. There were some excellent performances at Keele, with the

Under 13’s going so close to making the final, losing out on penal-

ties and the Under 12’s from our Rotherham United ADC’s taking

home some silverware after a great weeks work.

We have had a few lads in the Elite DC office on work experience

so they have helped to contribute to the make up of this new edi-

tion. Going forward, it would be great to have more and more input

from our players into the magazine contents. Any budding jour-

nalists or video makers that we have amongst our players, please

get in contact.

We are looking to get more and more interactive, we want your

feedback, suggestions, contributions and general attention so you

know what is going on at your Centre and with Elite DC as a

whole.

To help we have a couple of twitter accounts that you should look

to follow:

@eliteadc

@EDCTripsNTours

Use these to keep up to date, or keep in touch with the main office

and see what is going on with trips and tours.

Severiano Catindig-Stagg Editor Elite DC Magazine

Elite DCUnit 1 Chantry Mill

PlymptonPlymouthPL7 1YB

0845 003 7339admin@elitedc.org

@eliteadc@EDCTripsNTours

Editor - SeverianoCatindig-Stagg

seve@elitedc.org

With thanks to:Craig WilcoxDaniel PetersLee Nicholls

James Barrow

Conquering Cornwall

Nine years ago,Torquay United hadno Youth Develop-ment programme.

The entire programme was dis-banded by then manager LeroyRosenoir.This gave local rivals Ply-

mouth Argyle and Exeter Citythe pick of the best youngstersthroughout Devon and Corn-wall.It was four years until the pro-

gramme re-commenced. Current Head of Coaching

Matt Williams was chargedwith setting up a Centre of Ex-cellence for the Gulls and drag-

ging the club from the EnglishRiviera back on par with theirfellow South West sides.‘We’ve now been up and run-

ning for five years,’ saysWilliams, who now worksalongside the clubs Head ofYouth, Geoff Harrop, andTechnical Development OfficerRobbie Herrera to keep im-proving the clubs youth depart-ment.‘We have made steady

progress in that time and we aremuch more competitive inevery age group, and a lot ofthat is down to the recruitmentthat we have made big stridesforward in.’The biggest addition to the

clubs recruitment has been the

advent of a development centrestructure feeding the Academyof the club.The club has 7 sites now, led

by Head of Youth RecruitmentStuart Henderson and CentreManagers Shaun Keeble andEd Timmons.Within that system, the club

has been able to establishTorquay United as a realrecruitment presence in Corn-wall for the first time, and thisis proving to be key.

PicturesAbove - Torquay United are flying theflag in Cornwal. the first batch of Trurosite players to trial at Torquay, whilstbelow them Rob Green nips in to se-cure the 2012 Westcountry Cup for theTruro Under 13’s.

Predominantly an area thatPlymouth Argyle recruitedfrom, Torquay opened theirfirst development centre, whichis based at Truro College, in theDuchy in September 2010, andthe project has gone fromstrength to strength.More than 15 players have

gone on from that centre aloneto sign a schoolboy contractwith the club, whilst more thandouble that have gone in for atrial period with the Centre ofExcellence, which is now re-ferred to as an Academy.Such has been the strength of

the success at Truro, furthercentres at Penzance andCamelford have been set up tospread the recruitment acrossCornwall even further.‘The next stage is to produce a

scholar and then a professionalfrom the area,that would befantastic’ says the clubs Head

of Youth Recruitment, StuartHenderson.There are signs that this could

happen in the very near future. Although from the Plymouth

Centre, Kevin McCallion(above) is now the third scholarfrom the ADC system in twoyears, whilst the current Under15/16 squad contains somevery promising Cornishprospects. Striker Liam Prynn is a player

who went into the club merelyweeks after the Truro centreopened, and he has developedexcellently with the club.At Under 14 level goalkeeper

Harry Searle shows greatpromise and is a towering pres-ence in his penalty area.Then at Under 13 level Ed

Harrison and Charlie Hamblyform the midfield axis of a sidethat has produced excellent per-formances and results over thepast 6 months. Keep rooting through the

Academy squad lists and youcan find quality from theDuchy at every age group andin numerous positions.In a county of over half a mil-

lion people, if a young profes-sional footballer is to be found,Torquay United are determinedto find him.

Pictures Above - Kevin McCallion has become the third scholar to emerge fromthe ADC system in two years. Below some youngsters from Torquay’sTruro site celebrate scoring.

For ManchesterUnited, and in particularmanager Sir Matt Busby,the European Cup had be-come the ‘Holy Grail’ oftrophies.In 1967 he watched on

as Celtic became the firstBritish team to claim thetitle after defeating InterMilan 2-1 in a thrilling final.Their triumph only re-

solved to strenghtenBusby’s desire.Strangely enough the

‘Lisbon Lions’ from Northof the border failed to getpast the opening stages ofthe following seasonscompetition.Dynamo Kiev put an end

to their attempts to retaintheir title, knocking themout in the first round.The Johan Cryuff led

youngsters at Ajax Amster-dam fell to Real Madrid in

a 2-1 aggrefate loss in thequarter finals, whilst Man-chester United, Juventusand Benfica all camethrough their ties to leavethose four big sides tocontest the semi-finals.Benfica paired up with

touch of magic aboutthem,’ were Busby’s wordsin the build up and hewasnt wrong. It took a heroic effort from

Bill Foulkes, a survivor ofthe Munich Air Disaster, toconvert a George Bestpass to secure United’spassage to a Wembleyfinal against Eusebio andhis Benfica side.The final was one of the

all time great nights ofEnglish football. Bobby Charlton, so talis-

manic in Englands clinch-ing of the World Cup atWembley in 1966, againproduced a mesmeric per-formance at the home offootball. His goal in normal time

may have been equalised,but in extra time he addeda second after Best andKidd, on his 19th birthday,scored to secure victory.

History Lesson

“If the tension doesnot become to great,this could be a classicmatch. The old RealMadrid had a touch ofmagic about them.”Sir Matt Busby, 1968

the “Old Lady’ of Italy, Ju-ventus, whilst Busby’sUnited side clashed withReal Madrid. ‘If the tension does not

become to great, thiscould be a classic match.The old Real Madrid had a

Sir Bobby Charlton lifting the European Cupfor Manchester United after inspiring themwith 2 goals in their defeat of Benfica atWembley in 1968

With Euro 2012 having been and gone in aflash of Spanish tiki-taka passing, a swathe of Por-tuguese counter attacks and a damp squib of English technical inadequacy (Steven Ger-rard aside) Elite DC magazine has picked out its top performers from the competition.

Andrea Pirlo - 33Just a year after being re-leased by AC Milan overdoubts about his physical fit-ness, with his knees beinghighlighted as a major causefor concern, the Azzuri’s mid-field maestro conducted asymphony of laser guidedpasses, arrowing free kicksand breath taking penalty con-verting that proved his formeremployers to be some way offthe mark in their assessmentof his ability to play at thehighest level. Rather than justcompete at the age of 33, An-drea Pirlo raised the bar.

Steven Gerrard - 32Showed in an England shritthe form he has displayedover the last fifteen years atAnfield. Steven Gerrardstepped into the captaincyrole with a calm assuranceand played every game with asteely desire to haul his teambeyond the group stages.Whilst the days of coveringeach and every blade of grassmay have come and gone, inits place has developed anability to dictate play frommidfield and the maturity tochose when to gallop into thefinal third with the gusto hedisplayed during his formativeyears in the red of Liverpool.

Andreas Iniesta - 28Andreas Iniesta is a breathe offresh air in the pantheon ofthe worlds elite players. Heisn’t squat and dynamic likeMessi, or tall, lean and fastlike Ronaldo. He doesn’t fly

into challenges like DanielleDe Rossi or possess a rocketshot like Steven Gerrard, yethe is arguably the worlds bestfootballer and is at the crux ofeverything Spain do well. Ca-ressing the ball under hisspell, his vision and move-ment are unparalleled and heis always liable to pop up witha vital goal.

My FavouritePlayer

During his weekof work experi-ence with Elite DC, LeeNicholls took the time to tell EliteDC Magazine about his favouriteplayer, Manchester United andEngland winger Ashley Young.

Ashley Youngdidn’t have thestart to his ca-reer that you might expect ofa future England international.A youngster at Watford, he was

turned down for a scholarshipdue to his size. But Young, to hiscredit, swallowed his pride andoffered to train and play for freewhilst studying a Sports Technol-ogy course on three days of theweek.Youngs rise was sensa-

tional.Within a month of being told he

was not good enough for a schol-

arship, he had progressed fromthe Under 18 squad to the re-serves. 12 months later he putpen to paper on his first profes-sional contract.Ray Lewington gave Young his

first team debut, with the now fulltime member of the Englandcoaching staff unleashing Youngagainst Millwall as a subsitute inSeptember 2003. He scored, ofcourse.In 2007 Martin O’Neil took

Young to Aston Villa, breaking theclubs transfer record in theprocess. In his 4 years at Villa Park,

Young rose to prominence. Hishigh ration of assists and goalshas seen him go on to earn a bigmoney move to ManchesterUnited and 25 England caps todate.

I think that Ashley Young has thepotential to be one of the bestwingers in the whole world. Hisability to fly down the wing andcut in with his right foot to curl theball into the back of the new isbriliant. He demonstrated this inthe 8-2 demolishing of Arsenal,where he did this twice.Another thing is his speed. He

has got unquestionable speed,and behind the likes of Theo Wal-cott he is one of the fastest in thePremier League.He also has good strength on

the ball and and knows how toplay a simple pass.His work rate is good and if he

loses the ball then 9 times out of10 he will work back and retrieveit and be read to go on the attackagain.

England Record25 Caps6 goals

15 wins / 3 losses2 yellow cards

Debut - v Austria, 16/11/2007

Pictures - Young made his move to Man-chester United(top) following a bright startto his career at Watford (bottorm right) andAston Villa. He has gone on to earn 25 capsfor England (below)

Nathan SummersInterview

For millions ofyoungstersacross the coun-try, entering into full time foot-ball is their dream. It’s the reason they turn up to

train every evening come rain orsnow, the reason mum is forevercleaning dirty kit and why dad’scar becomes a taxi at the week-end to get everyone to the ‘biggame’ on Saturday.Unfortunately, for many players

the reality is that they don’t quitemake that step up. Nathan Summers is one of the

lucky ones.An Elite DC player for 3 years,

‘Summers’ progressed fromTorquay United’s Plymouth Cen-tre on to a trial with the clubsCentre of Excellence. Things did-n’t quite go to plan there, how-ever a four week trial atPlymouth Argyle culminated inthe offer of a 2 year scholarship,whichl kicked in to effect at theend of June.‘It was out of this world, it just

feels like all the work you haveput in has paid off,’ is how he de-scribed his feelings when he re-ceived the news. ‘You just can’twait for the next challenge tostart, and to start trying to im-press more and more people.’Nathan was able to earn hisscholarship on the back of just 4games for Argyle, one of whichhe scored in, but it was just re-wards for the effort that had beenput in by the youngster fromLooe long before that.After joining the Development

Centre programme, Nathan im-mersed himself in his football,committing himself to every op-

portunity that came his way, ashe explains:‘I was at Elite and going on a lot

of tours and learning lots of newthings. I went to Keele andplayed different sides up there.Accrington Stanley were one ofthe sides and they were strug-gling with injury so they askedme to play in one of theirgames.’Such was his impact he was in-

vited to play the next day for the

side. As well as Keele, Nathancounts Sweden and the NorthEast as other Elite trips he tookpart in.‘The opportunities you get

through Elite are massive, play-ing against the likes of Newcas-tle United, Accrington Stanley,Sunderland, Wolves, WestBrom. You don’t get thesegames at club level, so it is defi-nitely something you want to getinvolved in.’For Nathan, the real hard work

starts now.He is entering a system that al-

ready has fellow Elite old boysAndrew Elcock and Aaron Bent-ley in it, and competition isstrong at any club when it comesto scholarship level. What is for sure is that after his

grounding at Elite, and the vastamount of hard work he has putinto bettering himself, ‘Sum-mers’ has an excellent founda-tion on which to try and build acareer in the game.

MyFavourite XI

During hisweeks work experi-ence with Elite DC, devel-opment centre player CraigWilcox took the time to giveus his favourite eleven play-ers of all time.Edwin Van Der Sar was

Craigs choice of goal-keeper, with the formerAjax, Juventus and Man-chester United man en-trusted with guarding thenet for his team.His back four continued

the theme of ex-ManchesterUnited players, with attack-ing full bakcs Gary Nevilleand Roberto Carlos flankinga solid centre back pairingof Gerard Piqué and Ne-manja Vidic.In midfield, there is an ex-

cellent mix of qualities togive the team plenty of op-tions.He starts with Spain and

Barcelona legend Xavi Her-nandes. In a career that hasseen him win basicallyeverything that is on offer atboth domestic and interna-tional level, he brings greatquality.Alongside him, Craig has

plumped for global super-star David Beckham. Theformer England captain whohas played for world greats

Manchester United, RealMadrid and AC Milan, hisexcellent delivery and lead-ership skills add a greatdeal to the side.In front of these two you

will find Argentinian geniusDiego Maradona. Whilst hiscareer courted controversy,his ability puts him on parwith the best to ever gracea football pitch.That leaves a front three,

which compromises ar-guably the three best foot-ballers to ever play thegame.Through the middle, the

great Pele. The Brazilian

won 3 World Cups,amassed 92 caps andstarred in 1981 classic filmEscape to Victory!His ammunition is to be

supplied by the two mosttalented players in modernfootball.On the right, the record

breaking, free-scoring phe-nomenon that is LionelMessi. Already classed asone of the greatest ever, heplays down one wing as hismain rival for the crown ofbest player in the world,Cristiano Ronaldo, of RealMadrid and Portugal,causeshavoc on the other wing.

All Out Attack - Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Diego Maradona andPele all make Craigs Favourite XI

Keele International Cup

2012Elite DC travelledto the Keele InternationalCup for the second con-secutive year, with the Julytournament offering someof our youngsters thechance to face the likes ofStoke City, Dagenham andRedbridge, Port Vale,Wolverhampton Wander-ers and Crewe Alexandra.

There was also teamsfrom Trinidad and Tobago,Canada and the USA in at-tendance to give the tour-nament a real internationalflavour and challenge ourplayers.

Here we have someexcellent photos taken byJames Barrow, father ofConnor from the BacupDevelopment Centre, cap-turing some of the action.

www.elitedc.org0845 003 7339

Magazine produced by:

Severiano Catindig-StaggMedia and Communications Officer, Elite DCseve@elitedc.orgLee NichollsAssistant Editor