SHOTS FIRED

 Pre-Season Friendly: Frimley Green U18 1 Aldershot Town U18 7 (Seven)

23rd August 2023

When I was at school, there was a boy in my class who had trials with Southampton. He was, possibly, the best player in the school. Certainly, better than I ever was. I could hold my own, but even at my absolute best, I could hope to be labelled “bang average”. I was close to indispensable for the school team in the Sixth Form as I had one advantage over most of my peer group: I was left-footed, which guaranteed that I would pretty much always get picked at left-back. I had no attacking instinct back then, which is something that rings true even now, as any attempt at venturing beyond the half-way line in the Monday Night Frimley Power League usually ends in confusion, the five-a-side equivalent of a fish on a bicycle.

My Southampton-trialing classmate was the first player I had played alongside who could pass the ball with the outside of his foot around an opponent. The first time I seen him casually stroke the ball across the pitch using a part of the foot usually reserved for slicing a shot, I was the recipient of his intended pass. I say intended, as I was so in wonderment of this level of skill, that I stood stock still to marvel at the pass, and it bounced off my shin for a throw-in. He could tackle, won headers easily, and read the game well for someone his age. Every school team has one player who they think can go on to play professionally. He was that player.

It goes almost without saying that he never played professional football, not for Southampton, or anyone else in the ninety-two. As he has a common name, finding out what happened to him later in life is a challenge, but he certainly hasn’t made a living in football. He does share his name with a minor-league baseball player, but I will assume that’s not him.

Judging whether a talented young footballer will go on to play for England is a lottery. Some of the most talented players I’ve seen at academy games have gone on to not make any kind of grade. The non-league game is littered with players whose pen-pics in matchday programmes include biographical detail such as “was a graduate of the Chelsea academy” and “joined the club following his release by Sheffield Wednesday”. I am sure most of us have played Sunday football with a player who “could have made it” but for injury. My own father, who played GAA football at Minor level for Mayo had that story – travelling as a young man to London, obtaining a trial at a big amateur club of the time, but breaking his leg the day before the trial. What if…

There is no doubt that watching academy football at any level today must seem like a different sport back when I went to school. Before this starts to sound like a middle-aged person bemoaning how the game were better “in our day”, that is not the case. The skill level of any academy player now is light years ahead of what used to be classed simply as Youth Football. Even on pitches that wouldn’t look out of place in Tough Mudder race, each player is technically capable, and has been conditioned to control, look up, pass, make the right decision, tackle properly. This is where the growth of coaching has helped as well. Rather than just a well-meaning but woefully under-qualified “coach” who could shout encouragement from the touchline, put a few cones out and class that as “training”, a coach nowadays is a much more refined, well-equipped individual. Coaching badges are earned and put into practice, teaching players how to play football in an appropriate way.

It shows, even at levels below Premiership academy. I have watched this Aldershot team at youth level a few times over the last few seasons. One of my friends has a nephew who plays for them, and who is easily one of the most talented players I have seen at that age. He's not alone in that side either - the right back was energetic and skillful; the right-midfielder busy and skillful all evening, and the two central-midfielders played simple, intelligent football, retaining possession being their bare-minimum setting. For the last few seasons, the visitors have, played together as a group a year above their actual age grade. Last season, they were to all intents and purposes an Under 16 side, yet they still won their division in an Under 18 league. This pre-season friendly is in preparation for a move across to a different challenge, in the Isthmian Youth League.

The first thing to catch the eye is that every player looks comfortable on the ball. Both teams look to move the ball around, play out from the back. The game intelligence of all twenty-two players on the pitch is noticeable, every player conditioned to keep the ball, look after it. No longer would the biggest lad on the pitch run ragged over everyone else. No long balls launched forward for energetic teenagers to run after. Everything was done with purpose, with the best intentions. During the first half, one of the Frimley players worked his way past two Aldershot players, nutmegging one and playing the ball around the other. Had that been a game in the Wessex League Division One, where the Frimley Green's first team ply their trade, the chances are a third player would have appeared and sent the winger into the dug-outs, ball or not. Instead, the Aldershot right-back came in, and won the ball back entirely fairly, before starting another attack. Another noticeable trait – despite the fact that we were watching teenagers, there was very little foul play. Certainly nothing done with malicious intent, even when the game rapidly went away from Frimley in the second half. Without having counted, I reckon there were probably ten fouls given during the entire game.

It took four minutes for My Friend’s Nephew (why yes, when he does become famous, I will be describing him as such, as he slots home another goal at the Emirates) to open the scoring. It came with his first two touches of the game – one to bring the ball under control with his right foot, a second to volley the ball into the top corner from the edge of the penalty area. An assist to one of his teammates followed, before he curled home a 25-yard free kick to make it three. Aldershot had more than enough chances to have put the game to bed within the opening half. Frimley, for their part, continued to try and do things Properly, encouraged by a manager who provided calm, clear instructions from the sideline. They did hit the post from a long-range effort, but Aldershot’s keeper was largely untroubled. His evening ended at half-time, as both sides rang the changes, giving all the players a chance to showcase their ability prior to the start of the season.

Frimley started the second half with a flea in their ear and pulled one back soon after the restart. The visitor’s replacement keeper made a smart save, but he could do nothing about the rebound. This was as good as it got for Frimley though. My Friend’s Nephew completed his hat-trick with twenty minutes left, another smart finish. At this point, both sides shuffled their packs further, and Aldershot sent their previously under-employed centre-half up front, a tactical move most recently utilised by Sarina Weigman in the last throes of the World Cup final. Unlike Millie Bright’s repositioning on Sunday, this move worked, admittedly against lesser opposition. Despite only leading the line for the last twenty minutes, he scored three exceptional goals – one cool finish, one chip into the top corner, and one drive from the corner of the box with the outside of his foot, a goal he created himself by winning the ball near the corner of the area, and gliding between two defenders. We were stood directly behind him as he shot, and the bend beyond the keeper was sublime.

The final whistle blew not long after the seventh goal, though it was over as a contest within half an hour, everything after that was window dressing. Very impressive window dressing though. Aldershot will be rightly confident going into their new season, in new surroundings, with new teams to play against. A majority of the team will still have another season being eligible for the Under 18 age group. Ideally, some of them will progress through into the first team squad and have their first professional contract photographed with the first-team manager, their parents proudly stood behind them holding a club scarf, to be shared online by the club’s Social Media team.

That will be for a few of them. And that’s what you hope will happen. You would also hope that those that don’t make it at the higher levels of non-league end up staying in the game, and permeating the levels below the National League, bringing their technical ability into the Pyramid, and improving the clubs they end up with. An obvious trickle-down effect of technically proficient players not being kept on in the Academy system is that non-league clubs pick up well-coached, tactically savvy, players. There will, however, be those that are lost to the game, their dreams broken by the “Sorry, but…” conversation with their last age-grade manager. They will likely go the same way as my schoolmate, wherever he ended up, and may have the same lingering thought. What if…?