Charlton Athletic's Academy : A Success Story
Charlton Athletic Football Club pride themselves on their ability to bring through young players from their academy that are ready for the first team.
Since the inception of the Premier League Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) in 2012/13, which is a development scheme focusing on improving the quality and quantity of home-grown players for English clubs; Charlton have produced some of the best talent. The likes of Premier League players, Jonjo Shelvey (Newcastle) and Ezri Konsa (Aston Villa). Also, Ademola Lookman, who now plays for title chasing RB Leipzig in Germany after moving from Everton in the summer of 2019 and Joe Gomez, the Liverpool and England international centre back.
The club’s academy was given a Category Two status and between 2010 – 2016, Charlton ranked 1st for productivity out of the 72 EFL clubs at that time.
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The Addicks still manage to produce a high number of players that go onto play for the first team despite having competition from five major other London clubs, Arsenal, Chelsea, Fulham, Tottenham and West Ham all have Category One academies and rivals Crystal Palace and Millwall are both in Category Two alongside Charlton.
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Over the last decade Charlton have had off the pitch problems with controversial owner Roland Duchatelet, who’s now sold the club and suffered a relegation. However, the club are now back in the Championship but are currently involved in a battle to stay in the Division. Despite all this, the academy has always remained a very important part of the club.
The main building at Charlton's Sparrows Lane training ground in New Eltham.
One of the reasons why Charlton have developed a reputation for being a great academy is the staff that work there. Steve Avory, Academy Manager, has worked for Charlton for nearly 20 years. The former PE teacher and England Schoolboys Manager’s experience has been integral to success. He uses the word “continuity” a lot. He has created a culture where the information that players receive is consistent throughout their development across all age groups. This helps players and families with the education of understanding what it takes to be a professional footballer.
Avory stresses that “ability is one thing but there are many other factors, talent alone is not enough”. This message is influenced to players throughout all age groups to ensure everyone is working hard and not taking anything for granted. He says, “physical qualities like pace are important, but also the person. Personality, mental qualities like character, resilience, determination, desire, humility and attitude to learning.” All these things are what Avory and the coaching team look for in players, not just their footballing abilities.
"Talent alone is not enough"
Steve Avory, Charlton Academy Manager
Another important member of Charlton’s staff is Joe Francis, Head of Education & Welfare. He, like Avory, has been working at the club for 20 years. His role is to educate players off the pitch and families. He teaches them how to avoid distraction, use social media appropriately and tries to develop the right type of person to be a Charlton player. He says his role nowadays “leans more towards personal characteristics”. Francis says he “gets to know player and the family so the message is consistent” even when they are away from the club.
Francis always tries to develop a personal relationship with all players and parents to ensure they are well looked after. He will build a bond over many years as the player works to becoming a professional and teaches them throughout. He believes, “to get more out of people and have the ability to guide them better you have to have that continuity from a young age”.
Ademola Lookman in action for the Charlton first team as a teenager.
The academy has maintained successful throughout partly down to the work of Valley Gold. This is a fan funded organisation that helps the club’s youth system. Running a good academy is expensive, Charlton use money from Valley Gold to invest in the academy facilities and scouting. In the future, this saves the club money as players won’t have to be brought from elsewhere and academy graduates can be sold on for big money to another club.
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Currently, Charlton have five youth team successes playing regular first team football. The club has struggled financially in recent times and income generated from player sales has kept the club going. Joe Gomez £3.5m, Karlan Grant £1.5m, Ezri Konsa £2.5m, Jonjo Shelvey £1.8m, Ademola Lookman £7.5m (with the deal potentially risen to £11m with add ons). It is clear to see how vital the youth team successes have been for the South London club.
Possibly the next young player to come out of the Charlton academy could be Aaron Henry. The technically gifted central midfielder recently made his debut for the first team in a FA Cup 3rd round tie vs West Brom (Charlton lost 1-0). Henry was signed by Charlton at the age of 10, having been released by Arsenal. He said it was “hard to take considering I support Arsenal”. But Henry didn’t give up and showed the character and resilience that Francis and Avory want from their players. He told me about the how first team manager Lee Bowyer said he would be starting after being originally being told he was on the bench, “I came in for training and was told I was starting, I was overwhelmed.” He described the moment he walked out onto the pitch as “something that no one could take away from me”.
"All I want to do is play football" and "live up to their names"
Aaron Henry, Under 18 player
“All I want to do is play football” he said. He is now looking forward to working towards getting more game times in the Under 23 team and is hoping to get some more first team chances too. He also said coaches use the success of players like Joe Gomez as motivation and Henry wants to "live up to their names."