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Youth Team Page, 2004-05
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Youth Team Page, 2004-05
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ALTRINCHAM YOUTH 2004-05 - Picture courtesy of Gavin Rathbone of GR Photography. Click on photo to enlarge it.
L to R: Back - Tony Spilsbury (ass't coach), George Heslop (manager), Sam Cawthra, Lee Hendley, John Parker-Chambers, Chris Bowcott, Matt Garland, Lee Milner, Richard Gresty, Chris Bailey, Neil Thomason (coach).
Front - Hassan Zareh-Ourang, Adam Walker, Adam Ball, Chris Waugh, Arron Hevingham, Ryan Stewart, Paul Lewis, James Monaghan, Tom Horner.
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At last night's Altrincham FC Youth Team presentation Night, compered by Jo Ryan, Lee Hendley scooped both the STAR Youth Team Player of the Year and the Players' Player of the Year awards. Striker Lee now holds the all-time Altrincham youth-team scoring record - previously held by Steve Lunt. The runners-up for Player of the Year were centre-back Richard Gresty and defender Chris Waugh. Richard has also been made next season's Youth Team captain. STAR's Jackie Swindells Trophy for the youth player of the year was awarded to Lee (right) by the supporters' trust's chairman, Brian Flynn, whilst Alty assistant manager Dalton Steele handed over the runner-ups' awards.
Manager George Heslop also gave his own and a STAR award to his assistant Neil Thomason, who is retiring after six highly successful years, due to work commitments. George paid tribute to Neil's hard work, enthusiasm and dedication and particularly complimented Neil on making the Alty side one of the fittest in the league. Neil was a very popular coach with the lads and in today's Non-League Paper, "Youth team star Chris Bailey said, 'It's been great to work with Tommo. he has made a massive impact on the boys'".
George's review of the season underlined the strong finish to the campaign after an indifferent start to the season and he took particular delight in the 6-1 win over champions Morecambe "A".
Above: Chris Waugh receives his award from Dalton Steele.
Above: Richard Gresty receives his award from Dalton Steele.
Above: Lee Hendley receives the Players' Player award.
Above: Neil Thomason receives his STAR award from George Heslop.
"A big thank you to Tommo. It has been great to work with you and it has had a massive impact on all the boys. You will be a great loss and will be hard to replace. Wherever the game takes you, we are sure you will have many successes. We are glad that the team found a good way to see you off with a 10-0 win in the final game! Cheers, Tommo, from all the lads at the youth team".
Neil Thomason, coach to the Altrincham FC Youth team for the last few seasons, has had to resign due to work commitments. Neil's work is now based in Preston and he has found it increasingly difficult to get away for his football coaching duties. The club and, in particular, the Youth team manager George Heslop, would like to thank Neil for his commitment and hard work for the team. Neil is pictured (left) with George, displaying the trophies won in 2003-04. Neil's coaching duties will be assumed by Tony Spilsbury, who has been helping the youth team this season and was formerly a reserve-team manager at Moss Lane.
The youth team will be holding its annual presentation night in the Noel White Suite at Moss Lane on Saturday 28th May at 7.30pm. All supporters are welcome. Though they did not win any trophies this season there were many notable achievements by the lads, not least the 15-1 win over Kingsley United in which Lee Hendley scored seven times. In fact, Lee broke Steve Lunt's youth team goalscoring record this season. But, one of the best performances of the season was the narrow 2-3 defeat by Southport in the FA Youth Cup when one of the visitors' goals came after the referee had clearly whistled for offside and then allowed play to continue! It has also been pleasing to see a number of ex-Alty Youth players making regular appearances for the Altrincham first-team this season, notably Kieran Lugsden, Lewis Chalmers and Paul Tilley.
George Heslop will be supplying the website with the end of season league table and statistics as well as details of the last two matches of the season. However, the league has not yet advised George of all the results so the final table is not yet available. Neverthless, it is known that Altrincham finished fourth.
Above: Goalmouth action in Sunday's game.
Alty Youth, fielding an under-17 team rather than their usual under-18s, drew 1-1 yesterday afternoon at Priory County, a junior club who play on the outskirts of Wilmslow. Priory County will be working in cooperation with Alty Youth next season and will be directing likely talent to manager George Heslop who, in turn, will route under-age players to County. The game was marred by the loss of consciousness of a County player after he and a team-mate clashed heads. The game was completed after a delay of ten minutes but an ambulance had to be called to attend to the player. All at Altrincham wish him a speedy recovery. Match report here
Above: Chris Waugh, Alty Youth's right-back, tussles for the ball with Barrow's Kieron O'Connor in Sunday's game.
Priory County set up progression link with Altrincham
One of Macclesfield's prominent junior football clubs, Priory County have set up a link with a local non-league club, Altrincham, in order to provide a progression path for their junior players.
The progression path provides an immediate opportunity for players from the under 16 & under 17 squads whilst acting as a beacon for those from the younger age groups who are keen to aspire to the next level of football.
Dave Lea, Secretary of Priory County JFC, commenting on the link between the two clubs, points out the importance to Priory County. Dave says, "this just adds to our development as a club. For many years we have had players moving into academies whilst others are overlooked, now this gives those players who develop at a later age access to the next level of football. It also means that the Priory sides can develop together for a longer period of time up to under 16/17 level, knowing that there is an outlet into non-league if players have ability, belief in themselves and want to progress. It will also give the more junior players something further to look up to".
The first set of players from the under 16 & under 17 squads are now attending Altrincham's training sessions on a Tuesday evening, enjoying the experience and benefiting from working with other quality players around them. At the end of this current season a combined under 16/17 Priory side will play the Altrincham youth team in a friendly. This will benefit both clubs in terms of comparing standards and players.
George Heslop, manager of the Altrincham youth team is a man of immense local football knowledge. Over the years he has been very aware of the footballing reputation that Priory County have gained. In working on setting up this link with the management team at Priory he was at pains to state just what Altrincham's approach would be; "No players would be poached, they must be recommended by Priory officials". George has run the youth set up at Altrincham for the last 7 years and in that time has gained many honours for the club, picking up trophies in 6 out of 7 seasons. George states, "nothing would please me more than to see Priory lads emerging into the Altrincham first team in years to come". At the same time it offers Altrincham FC the opportunity to recommend players to Priory County who would maybe be on the fringes of the Altrincham set up in the short term, and allows us to closely monitor their progress within a good football environment with a view to possibly signing them in the future.
Priory County meanwhile continue to develop teams at all junior age groups where possible, with sides playing from under 9's up to under 17's. The picture here shows the Priory County under 16's team, parading one of the trophies gained at the beginning of the season. All teams play locally in the Stockport Metro League and run regular evening training sessions at Henbury High School. Priory are always looking to strengthen their squads so for anyone who wishes to join the club or know more about what is on offer for different age groups then please call Dave Lea on 01625 424746.
Report here.
This weeekend, I received an e-mail from Simon Wright, editor of a West Bromwich Albion fanzine called Grorty Dick (before you ask, it is named after a traditional West Midlands dish), enquiring about Ben Robson (right), son of Bryan Robson, the Baggies' manager and former Manchester United and England captain. Ben has recently been playing for Altrincham Youth as a left-back. In his fanzine interview, Simon asked Bryan:
Any chance of your son [Ben] following you into the [professional] game?
Bryan replied, "No, it’s not looking like it’s going to happen. I was hoping he would have a career but he was at Macclesfield for a couple of years on schoolboy forms but they’d made a decision last month that they wouldn’t be giving him a YTS. He understands the game and he’s got on with it. At the moment, he’s with Altrincham. But what I always say to kids is try your best and enjoy it. If you try your best and nothing happens for you, then there’s nothing you can do about it. If you’re not quite good enough to make it in the pro game, then you can still have loads of fun being with Non-League teams and that’s what I told my son".
Above: Ryan Stewart and Ben Deegan keep their eyes on the ball, with James Monaghan on the right and Graham Bryant in the distance.
Alty Youth came back from a two-goal deficit to draw today at home to First Touch Halewood, 2-2. The goals were from Lee Hendley and Adam Walker. Report here..
Watched by team-mate Clive Wallace, Alty left-back Ben Robson contests possession with a Cataraqui player.
Alty Youth beat Canadian side Cataraqui Clippers, from Ontario, in today's friendly match. The only goal of the game was a well-struck shot from outside the box by Ben Shanks-Pepper (78 mins). The game, at Wythenshawe Town, was watched by the WBA manager and former England and Man. Utd skipper, Bryan Robson, whose son Ben was making his debut for Altrincham. Report here.
The 2005-06 dates for the Cheshire FA Inter-District Cup have been issued. The games will be played on Sundays, September 4 and 25, October 9 and 23 and November 20.
2004-05 player statistics have been updated here
L. to R: Adam Walker, James Monaghan, Arron Hevingham and John Parker-Chambers in action today.
Despite a strong second-half performance Alty Youth lost 0-2 to Morecambe "A" Youth in the Premier Cup semi-final at Wythenshawe Town today. Match report here.
Below: l. to r. - Lee Milner takes a free-kick; Richard Gresty; James Monaghan and Arron Hevingham; and Lee Hendley.
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Ryan Stewart and Graham Bryant contest possession with two opponents in the game against Lancaster.
Match report here..
Marine are into the semi-final of the Open Cup after beating Barrow 5-4 on penalties after a 3-3 draw.
Match report here, courtesy of George Heslop.
Click here for earlier YOUTH TEAM NEWS
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