It’s great to get back into the swing of things this week at the academy after what has been a good break for our young lads.
December saw a lot of changes in the academy so it was nice for the lads to have a bit of a break and see their families.
We ended 2016 with a win over Burton Albion in the FA Youth Cup and since then we have used the time over Christmas to allow the out of town players the chance to go back home and see their families.
Michael Woud is from New Zealand and Jacob Young is from Australia so they have all been back and the other boys have been home so that’s great for them.
The local lads however were still in and we kept them ticking over so we are now back in the full swing of things and we have been quite pleased with training in the last few days.
Looking back at our last match against Burton, we were pleased with the lads’ performance and hopefully we can build on what we have been doing.
It has taken a little bit longer to get to the stage we are at now, but the three lads who have been around the under-23s and first-team (Josh Maja, Joel Asoro and Elliot Embleton) over the festive period is great to see.
We want to have as many academy players around the first team and on the bench. That offers them with a great experience and it's great for them to be part of. Hopefully in 2017 we can continue that and as an under-18s group we hope to pick up where we left of.
