takes step closer to reality

 

 

Following the recruitment of additional scouts in the north east of Scotland, Aberdeen Football Club has revealed its plans going forward to ensure there is maximum focus on the area closest to its base.

Head of AFC’s Youth Academy Neil Simpson has outlined the club’s plans to his staff and believes the restructure is the sensible route for the Club to take. “As we said when we advertised for more scouts some weeks ago, the Club already enjoys a fantastic reputation as a frontrunner in developing young players and talent identification is absolutely pivotal to that.

“The new structure will result in a greater focus on the north east, including Moray and Angus, will see more AFC presence within the community, with more recognised club contact and will allow us to identify the best players at as young an age as possible.”

Head of AFC’s Junior Academy, Gavin Levey added, “What we look for in a player is awareness, football mastery, character and athleticism while all of our scouts have remote access to our scouting database with the ability to add or edit players details, player reports, trial information, etc. Everything that we do is linked to the Club’s philosophy and coaching programmes.

“Players are scored on a 1-5 rating system under appropriate headings with comments inserted to justify the score awarded.While we are adding to the scouting resource locally, we are certainly not ignoring other areas and youngsters from, for example, the central belt, where Peter Weir heads our Glasgow centre, will continue to be part of the AFC of the future. However, we must do all we possibly can to ensure no youngster from this area ever slips through the net due to lack of awareness on the club’s part.”

Colin Grant, who is Head of Youth Scouting, explained that the newly appointed part-time scouts, in addition to having an ambassadorial role, will also be responsible for building up their own network of colleagues.

“They will be responsible for recruiting their own network scouts in order that we are covering absolutely all football activity being undertaken including juveniles, schools and fun 4’s and will engage in regular two way feedback with them. While the network scouts will act in a voluntary capacity, they will be included in Academy events.”

RedTV | Dave Galloway spoke to Neil Simpson this afternoon. To listen please click here

Back row (left to right): Brian Paterson,  Brian Wright, Ricky Cheyne, Colin Grant, Jim Fraser, Scott McKenzie

Front row (left to right): Bob McEwan, Craig Sharp, Gavin Levey, Neil Simpson, Alan Cheyne, David Murray

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The new structure will see scouts deployed as follows :-

Aberdeen City North – Alan Cheyne

Aberdeen City South – Bob McEwan

North East Aberdeenshire – Scott McKenzie

North West Aberdeenshire – Graeme Mollison

South Aberdeenshire – Brian Paterson

North Aberdeenshire – Brian Wright

Angus – Craig Sharp

Moray – David Murray

Junior Programme – Jim Fraser

Late Developers – Ricky Cheyne