Derby County's impressive form in the Under-21 Premier League second division appears to have justified the club's commitment to gaining Category One status within academy football this summer. Darren Wassall, the Derby academy manager, insists this is only a continuation of the work that has been going on within the Championship club since 2009.
Lee Glover's side travel to St Mary’s Stadium for a Under-21 Premier League Cup semi-final tie with Southampton this Thursday after a run of one defeat in 15 matches in their inaugural season in the Premier League's elite set-up for Under-21s.
New academy status helping Derby attract best talent >>
But the club's ability to target trophies as well as achieve the satisfaction of establishing graduates in Derby's first-team squad does not surprise Wassall.
"I joined here in April 2009 and we've always been passionate about youth development, passionate to make a difference, and even before the Elite Player Performance Plan came in, we were always very conscientious about our treatment of young players," the former Nottingham Forest and Derby defender said.
"Our first thing was to create the right environment – to have a vision and a strategy to get players into our first team, yes – but to become the place of choice around the Midlands where people would want to come that satisfied their needs in terms of player development and coaching."
"What I always say is that, as an academy, we're the catalyst, we're here to facilitate the player's dreams."
Wassall says that the Premier League's introduction of the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) from 2012/13, with the aim to create more and better homegrown players, formalised processes that the club had in place.
The granting of Category One status that allowed Derby to compete in the Under-21 and Under-18 Premier Leagues is having its benefits.
"We've always had that ethos; the EPPP has formalised all of that really," he says. "It's formalised our ideas into an audit tool. I suppose the best practice now is measured. But it's an ongoing process.
“We were officially given our Category One status in July 2014. But we're already preparing for the next audit this winter for the following season as your licence only lasts for three years.
"You have to live the process every day. It has to be a live document. You can't not do anything for three years then come up and pass the audit for your next licence."
Wassall sees the benefits of the Category One Games Programme, and of upgrading the academy’s facilities – the floodlit outdoor 4G pitch has "revolutionised our winter programme" – and staffing, from 10 full-timers when he arrived to 26, with the extra support that brings.
"It's improved areas where we were probably less formalised before the EPPP," Wassall says. "But fundamentally we’re the same people we've always been in terms of our approach to youth development creating the right environment for young players to thrive in."
"Fundamentally, it’s still down to the player, gaining ownership of himself, to produce himself. What I always say is that, as an academy, we're the catalyst, we're here to facilitate the player's dreams.
“But we don't produce anyone per se. I, as a coach, our youth team coaches, our Under-21 coaches, we don't produce anybody; the player produces himself. We're here to help them along the way.
"Sometimes, when I hear people saying, 'We produced him', it really gets my goat, because we didn't. We gave them the right opportunity. Young players have to have an opportunity.
“You can have the best buildings, coaches and players in the world. But if the club you're at doesn't give you the opportunity to play in the first team, the whole thing breaks down."
This is where Derby's holistic approach comes into its own. Steve McClaren has built on his predecessor's Nigel Clough's commitment to giving youth its head.
Will Hughes is, in Wassall's opinion, "one of the standout players in the country at the moment, without wishing to put too much pressure on him" but he wouldn't have been an integral part of the side without the opportunity to play 130 first-team matches before he has reached 20.
"Obviously, there’s no way he's the finished article," Wassall says. "I heard somebody prominent say, 'Give me world-class young players and we'll play them in our first team.' As an academy, we can't supply that.
“Young players have to evolve: they're never ready to play for the first team for 38, or 46, games a season. But they have to be at a point where they're ready to go and be given a chance. Then it's up to them whether they sink or swim."
Should Derby gain promotion from the Championship, could they continue to integrate young talent at the higher level? This is the challenge in the Premier League generally for an age group where so many talented players hit the ceiling.
"When you're talking about the Premier League, it should be easier to blood young players," Wassall says. "
Look at Chelsea, who have got internationals flowing through their veins in every department. If you play a Ruben Loftus-Cheek, for instance, who came on in a Champions League game having come through the ranks, a talented young player with 10 international players, then he’s going to survive.
"That's the challenge. And that's where we as a nation need to start believing in our young players. We underestimate them. We've proven that here with the likes of Will Hughes.
“They're not the finished article when they go in; but the only way they're going to get the experience is by playing and making their mistakes.
“We'll have lost games as a club by blooding the young players but ultimately now they're in a team that's challenging to get into the Premier League – everyone's a winner.
"So as a nation we need to use the EPPP as a catalyst to accept we’ve got some good players and to play them. We have to have an ethos that we understand players aren't the finished article when they go into the first team."
And that is where the club's integrated approach comes into its own, that they play the long game, progressing the first team gradually, taking the young players with them.
Wassall is gratified to report that alongside Hughes and Jeff Hendrick, McClaren has been gradually introducing Kwame Thomas, Callum Guy, Jamie Hanson and Mason Bennett into the first-team squad. But then they have also been pivotal in the Under-21s' outstanding form.
"Callum Guy's just signed his first contract but we hope that's the first of many," said Wassall. We don't want any of them to rest on their laurels. Every time they walk through those gates, we want them striving to be the best they can, because that's the only way we're going to succeed.
“The professional contract is just the start. You don't want them thinking they've arrived, but I don't think they do. Because the ethos right through the club says it's all still to be done."
This succession planning has been aided by the club's commitment to continuity. Wassall was Derby's fourth academy manager in as many years when he was appointed.
Sam Rush, the chief executive, and Chris Evans, the head of football operations and a former academy manager at Wolverhampton Wanderers, are both major drivers in Derby's game plan.
"Youth development is a long-term plan," Wassall said. "When I first joined I was the fourth academy manager in four years. It was chaotic only for that: messages were mixed, philosophies clashed. And it wasn't only the headmaster changing but the entire staffroom. If that was happening to a school, you'd pull your lad out the school.
"So one of the benefits here is the continuity that Pat Lyons, Lee Glover and many of the staff offer. You can't underestimate that. It's proving that continuity works.”
Pete Lansley (@PeteLansley), a freelance football reporter for the Sunday Times and the Guardian, is a Level 2/Youth Module 3 coach working with Derby County Community Trust.
