Over the past 12 months I have been delighted with the progress the Development Centre Programme has undertook and the progress we have made in possibly the most difficult of environments. As we start the upcoming season it is my responsibility to update all on our last twelve months.

The Oldham Athletic Development Centre was launched back in July last year. Whilst we had over 600 trialists attend our "non-contact" trials in July 2020 we were also met with a large amount of questions on the programme and what our aims were.

A lot of questions were around whether we needed a Development Centre with a full Academy at Oldham Athletic, could we genuinely provide a pathway into Academy standard Football, what was the actual pathway through to our Academy and what was the standard of coaching that would be delivered by the team. These in truth were all acceptable questions, many different football programmes exist with a lot of clubs taking different focusses on their Development Programmes under many different names all with varying levels of success. Our aim was to answer these questions by the success of the programme itself.

Over this 12 months we have been undoubtedly gifted with a large amount of talent that has come through the programme, some of which has now secured themselves agreements with our Academy and some elsewhere in the Football Pyramid. In short over 16 players have now moved from the Development Centre Programme into either a Women's RTC Centre or into our Academy with a number of players also securing agreements at other Premier League and EFL Academies.

A particular success of which was in our Under 8's programme whereby 4 DC players all secured an offer from our academy forming a backbone of the Academy side alongside players scouted by clubs recruitment department.

On speaking to colleagues in similar roles with Premier League and EFL clubs in the North West, 16 players is very much above average in comparison. Its exciting to see as well that this number is likely to continue to grow with the development of the current players within the Centre. There have also been opportunities for another 12 players who have all been on trial at the academy and who have returned to the programme to develop their talents following feedback from our Academy coaches. Creating more homegrown players is a key factor of success in Football and the DC has shown that some players do need additional nurturing, support or even just an opportunity to showcase their talent.

Following these players in their continued improvement as they have entered our Academy has also been as exciting, as all continue to excel in the Oldham Athletic Academy setup. I have also been excited to see the continued Development of our Athletes beyond this, with young Staitham securing an agreement to move to Liverpool Football Club from our Academy after moving through the Development Centre. I have also witnessed players continue their development beyond this further with Matty Jones only 16 years old playing in a pre-season friendly against the Oldham Athletic first team this summer.

Delighted to see Matty Jones (16) on the pitch for @StalyCelticFC at Tuesday's pre-season game vs @OfficialOAFC.

Matty was an excellent young player for our DC 16's side this season and we're excited to watch his development continue. pic.twitter.com/Rp3TZmDNbR

— Oldham Athletic DC (@Oldhamafcdc) July 15, 2021

A number of last season Under 16s have also been recruited by Oldham Athletic in their upcoming education programme, who this year will be managed and coached by Jim Gannon. It was exciting to hear the incredible feedback on the quality of the DC players attending the education programme and the unique opportunities they will have at Oldham Athletic in comparison to other Education Programmes. If you are after more information and to find out more t, please email [email protected] as the programme is delivered by Jim and his team directly.

Whilst Covid-19 undoubtedly created a unique and challenging set of circumstances in this year, the incredible quality of the staff at the Development Centre was very important. The fact we were able to continue delivering a full football and fitness programme during the recent lockdown entirely via Zoom was only possible due to the calibre and quality of the coaching team we have put together. Listening to feedback from parents on why this was important and the positive effect the lockdown programme had on their children's mental health was incredible.

The staff at the centre are excited to continue developing the players in the programme and look to add to the high number of players who have moved on from the Development Centre to our Academy. Thank you to everyone who has supported the programme over the last 12 months and we look forward to keeping you informed of our continued success.

James Caldwell

Development Centre Manager

Oldham Athletic Development Centre

T- 07511 283 088

E- [email protected]