Southampton F.C. Academy

Southampton Football Club Academy or Saints Academy is the youth organisation run by Southampton Football Club to encourage and develop young footballers in the South of England. There are currently 8 squads at the Academy.

* Under 18
* Under 16
* Under 14
* Under 13
* Under 12
* Under 11
* Under 10
* Under 9

Amongst the players who passed through the Saints Academy and went on to represent their country are:

*flagicon|Northern Ireland Chris Baird
*flagicon|Wales Gareth Bale
*flagicon|England Wayne Bridge
*flagicon|England Theo Walcott
*flagicon|England Alan Shearer
*flagicon|England Matthew Le Tissier

Since the start of the 2004-2005 season the Academy has been sponsored by local housebuilders Orchard Homes.

The academy manager is Mark Wotte (who played for a short time at Feyenoord Rotterdam). Andew Wilesmith is one of the main coaches at the academy The aim of the Southampton academy is to "...produce premiership class players..." [ [http://www.saintsfc.co.uk/team/?page_id=1101 Introduction to the Southampton Academy] ] At current Southampton's academy set up is one of the best in the country and they have regularly reached the latter stages of the FA Youth Cup, as well as being successful in the FA Premier Academy League Championship.

In the past, prior to the establishment of the academy, the Southampton youth system has produced other international players, such as Matthew Le Tissier and Alan Shearer.

Four former Saints academy players featured in the England Under-21 match against Montenegro on 7 September 2007: Martin Cranie and Theo Walcott both started (with Walcott setting up the second goal) whilst Dexter Blackstock and Andrew Surman came on as second half substitutes, with Surman scoring the final goal in a 3-0 victory, tapping the ball home in stoppage time from a knock-down by Blackstock. [cite news |date=2007-09-07 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/internationals/6984539.stm| title= Montenegro U21 0-3 England U21|publisher=bbc.co.uk|accessdate=2007-09-08] [cite news |date=2007-09-07 |url=http://www.thefa.com/England/U21s/NewsAndFeatures/Postings/2007/02/EngU21s_MontenegroReport.htm| title= Full Monte for U21s|publisher=thefa.com|accessdate=2007-09-08]

References