Cardiff City F.C. Academy

The Cardiff City F.C. Academy is the youth academy currently set up at Cardiff City in order to discover and nurture young talent. The academy has a range of players from ages seven to eighteen.

Information

According to the official Cardiff City FC Website, [http://www.cardiffcityfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/Home/0,,10335,00.html] "the Cardiff City football academy, is not simply a scheme, or a group of young players and coaches. It is all of these things; but most importantly, it is a philosophy and a culture.The club has always been dependent upon, and focused around the local community. The great players and teams throughout the clubs' history have always been built on the foundations of local boys and local talent. Cardiff City has a fantastic and proud history of nurturing young talent and are committed to continuous development of youth teams in future years. Cardiff City Football Club is fully committed to their fantastic academy, and recognises the importance of youth development".

Cardiff's scouts currently concentrate on searching South Wales, Hereford, Worcester, Swindon and Oxford. Now looking towards other areas of the United Kingdom including Ireland and Scotland with the recent appointment of scouts in these areas by Neal Ardley [ [http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/footballnation/football-news/2007/06/25/prem-clubs-keep-tabs-on-rising-stars-91466-19352333/ "Prem clubs keep tabs on rising stars"] South Wales Echo Retrieved on 19 December, 2007]

The Under-18's team regularly merge with several out of favour first team players to form the reserve squad.

Former members

Personnel

* Academy Manager flagicon|ENG Neal Ardley
* Assistant Academy Managers flagicon|WAL Geraint Twose (12-16 year olds)flagicon|ENG Mark Neville (7-11 year olds)
*Youth Team Coachflagicon|WAL Geraint Twose
* Head of Recruitment
* Head of Education and Welfareflagicon|ENG Steve Ellis
* Senior Academy Physiotherapistflagicon|WAL Neil Lewis
* Academy Physiotherapistflagicon|WAL Jimmy Goodfellow
* Academy Secretaryflagicon|WAL Anthony Redwood
*Head of Local Schoolboy Recruitmentflagicon|WAL Graham Pulling
*Club "Doctor"flagicon|WAL Len Nokes
*Kit & Equipment Managerflagicon|ENG Ian Lanning
*Assistant Kit ManagerAlan Cross
*Fitness Coachflagicon|ENG Alex Armstrong

Academy Coaches and Official Scouts

Under 18's squad

The under-18's team currently plays in Group B of the FA Premier Academy League. Players with squad numbers have appeared or are part of the senior team but regularly return to play for the under-18 team.

Under 16's

The under 16 team also play in FA Premier Academy League in the under-16 category. All games in the category are played as friendlies and no league table is included. As there is no u15's team, the u16's is a mix of both u15's and 16's.

Under 16's squad:

* U16 - James Vyse
* U15 - Luke Jones
* U15 - Adam Davies
* U16 - Alex Evans
* U16 - Steffan Jones
* U16 - Kyle McCarthy
* U15 - Brandon Davies
* U16 - Ashley Park
* U15 - Clayton Green
* U16 - Christian Mahon
* U15 - Dane Griffiths
* U16 - Kurtis March
* U16 - Jordan Smith
* U16 - Connor WickumOther u15's players moving up TBC.

References