Jamie Fullarton’s arrival at Walsall brought with it much excitement. It was well documented that he would be there to oversee changes throughout the club, and that he would be doing much more than player recruitment. One of these areas is the academy.
Academy could be doing better?
Fullarton has been tasked with strengthening the infrastructure to the club. One of the key assets in years gone by has been the academy, and players produced through it. Walsall have seen many academy graduates feature this season with the likes of Liam Kinsella, Tom Leak, Sam Perry and Alfie Bates all getting game time.
However promising this is, it has been a frustrating time seeing players on the brink of pushing into the first team not go on to do so. Much was made of Jayden Campbell, who is one of the players to simply leave the club without any mention. His departure, along with the likes of Danny Coogan, and a few more, have seen a generation of academy players not make the grade when promise was shown.
This season has been particularly tough for the academy on the pitch too. The young Saddlers drew at the weekend to put an end to a dreadful start to the season that had seen them lose every game so far. This run has concerned many fans who feel that the academy has started slipping below what it should be.
Fullarton’s plan to revamp the set-up
It is clear that Jamie Fullarton has a plan in place to rectify the issues in the academy. Walsall are currently looking for multiple members of staff to bulk up and increase the level of coaching for the young players. The roles being advertised on the clubs website or the EFL website, are as follows:
- Lead Foundation Phase Coach
- Academy Head of Recruitment
- Academy Head of Coaching
- Lead Academy Physio
- Academy Strength and Conditioning Coach
The large number of roles shows that the club want to make the academy much stronger than it currently is. A few of the roles have been advertised for a long time, which shows either the applications haven’t been to Fullarton’s standards, or that the club are waiting for the right person to fit the vision of Fullarton and Taylor.
Such an extensive list of roles is both a good and bad thing. It is good to see that Walsall are putting a focus on strengthening the level of coaching for the young players of all ages, but bad that things have sunk to a point where wholesale changes are needed. It will be interesting to see whether those brought in can indeed improve things, and push the club in the direction that Jamie Fullarton wants it to go.
Photo Credit – Walsall FC
