interview with Scott Anderson
Football is ever evolving and teams must change with it. Nowhere is that more true than at the younger age groups where the competition is even more intense than at first team level. After all, there’s a group of players at every age right through to the under 20s, all pushing for a starting place in Neil Cooper’s side, the final rung on the ladder towards earning some first team action.
If you take a look at the team line-ups for the U20s in the back of redmatchday programme or on RedWeb, you’ll see there’s been a substantial turnover in personnel in the last few months.
At the turn of the year, a number of the more experienced players such as Lawrence Shankland, Stephen O’Neill, Jamie Masson and Scott Rumsby were loaned out to league sides to continue their development.
That created a number of gaps in the U20s squad, a number of youngsters from the U17s required to step up and replace them. Whilst results have understandably suffered, it is a strategy which will hopefully not just benefit the U20s in the near future but also benefit the first team in the longer term.
This season, Scott Wright, Richie Petrie, Michael Kelly and Michael Jones have all played a big part in the U20s campaign after coming on board as full time professionals in last July. More recently, U16 players Frank Ross, Arron Norris and Daniel Harvey, along with U17 players Lewis Dunbar, Sam Robertson, Jamie Henry and Calvin Orsi have all been involved in the SPFL Youth League. Scott Anderson, coach of the U17s, told us about the high hopes everyone has at the club for this current crop of players.
“At U17 level, in terms of performance levels and results, it has been a very positive year. Although it’s a developmental league they play in meaning there’s no league table, the results have been very encouraging. From my own experience, and from speaking to Neil Simpson and Colin Walker, it is the best group of youngsters we’ve had at this age group for a good number of years. Celtic are the benchmark at youth level in my opinion and we have beaten them twice with good performances during the season.
“Within the group there have been three Scotland U16 internationals, four U17 internationals and we have had three on the brink of the Scotland school boys with one making the team, so that’s eight players involved at international level at different age groups. It has been a very positive season and there are a lot of encouraging signs but for all the young lads who do get offered a contract the hard work is only just beginning. I always tell the players that getting the chance to come on board full-time is the easy bit. The hard bit is when they actually come in here!
“It is a huge step up from U17 football to U20 football. Ideally, we hope all the players who are signed will kick on during pre-season and get involved with the 20s. The young lads we take in from U16 level have a slight safety net because they have the fall back of playing for the U17s on a Sunday. As for the 17s that we sign, they will be U18s next year so they really do have to hit the ground running and step up to the mark, just as Scott Wright in particular has done since coming in at the start of the season.
“The good thing is that over the past few months, some of the boys have had a taste of U20 football and seen what it is all about. They have seen the standards they have to reach so they know that they have to improve fast. At the end of the day it is up to them, it’s all about them being able to learn quickly.
“The players I have worked with this year have all shown they are able to take on board what they have been told. That is something they are going to have to keep doing. They have to be quick learners. They have to also fully appreciate the opportunity they have been given, especially at a club like this. We have given them a pathway in, they have to now go and grasp it.”
Scott has been involved with the AFC Youth Academy U17s for the past couple of years now, but this is the time of year he looks forward to least, having to let some players know they aren’t going to fulfil their dream and join the club as full time professionals.
“You have the best of it and you have the worst of it. You are telling certain players they are getting contracts which is the best part of the job without a shadow of a doubt, just seeing their faces and their parents’ faces. The worst part of the job is telling someone that, in our opinion they are not good enough for Aberdeen FC. It is all about opinions and you really hope that they go on and play at another level somewhere else. There is always a chance that a decision you make is a wrong one and it comes back to bite you, but in this job it is just something you have to accept. Neil Simpson, Neil Cooper and others will be heavily involved in the decision as well so it is not just one person who decides a player’s future. This year we are fortunate because there are quite a few spaces available in Neil’s squad”.
Scott, a former player at professional and Highland League level, also enjoyed success as a manager of Highland League outfit Deveronvale. How do the two jobs compare?
“There are a few similarities but generally it is very different. My job here is all about coaching and developing players. In the Highland League, I was looking to develop the side but my job now is about creating individuals and not teams. I really enjoy it. I do miss Saturdays a little bit and miss the cut and thrust of needing a win. The Youth Academy is developmental but at the same we still want to produce winners at the end of the day.
“I believe strongly that the structure in the AFC Youth Academy is working and we will keep producing players. The performance schools are really going to kick in in the next year or so too. We will know then whether they are going to work for clubs in Scotland, not just our own. I do think they were the right thing to do. I am a firm believer they will produce better players.
“Also this year we have an agreement with the local schools so the U17 players can come in maybe one or two afternoons a week. This has been hugely beneficial for the boys. When they come on board next season they will be able to settle in much quicker.”
“I think the structure at this club is one that should be envied. Looking at the number of first team squad players who have come through the system, I don’t think there can be an argument on that!”
“I think the structure at this club is one that should be envied. Looking at the number of first team squad players who have come through the system, I don’t think there can be an argument on that!”
“I think the structure at this club is one that should be envied. Looking at the number of first team squad players who have come through the system, I don’t think there can be an argument on that!”
