Ashford United are hoping a partnership with Gillingham Football Club helps turn their football academy into an elite model.
Alan Walker and Barry Fuller – both former Priestfield captains – are running Ashford United’s post-16 academy and the club have signed a partnership with the Gillingham FC Foundation.
It will mean the Nuts & Bolts can lean on the Football League side to give their young academy players a real insight into life within the game.
For Walker – who captained the Gills and played over 150 games for the club between 1988 an 1992 – it’s a brilliant opportunity for those youngsters.
Walker, director of football at Ashford, said: “Because we’re partnering with a professional football club, it gives us a unique opportunity where we can take the kids up to Gillingham and see the people working in the game, the physios, the analysts, media, all the different careers within the game. They can see what they do.”
The Ashford academy will be based at their Homelands Stadium where kids can play football under the watchful eye of lead coach Barry Fuller – who also captained the Gills and led them to play-off promotion in 2009 – and get their education through a partnership with the Knights Training Academy.
A link-up with the Gills means they can also get an insight into a pro outfit, with occasional coaching from the Football League club’s staff, while also visiting Priestfield to get a taste of life in the full-time game.
Walker is a UEFA pro licenced coach who worked for 20 years as the Kent FA’s lead coach, putting many of the managers and coaches in the county through their own coaching badges. He’s also worked as a coach for UEFA.
When his football career ended he managed at Sittingbourne, Fisher, Tonbridge Angels and Maidstone United and is the director of football at Ashford.
He said: “They will improve their football ability but we’re not being silly, we’re not saying ‘come to us and we’ll make you a professional player’, the chances are ridiculously low, but what it will do is enhance the skills and make them enjoy the game, which is great.
“The Knights Training Academy have a very good reputation and we have a tutor in place already. The education is really important for us, and for Gillingham, and we have hit it off.
“Speaking to (GFC community director) Mark Abrahams and (community manager) Toby Waters, they are the same as us, we don’t want these kids to just waste two years of their life, coming out with nothing. They have to come out of it with some value and enhance their chances of being employed, or having a career.
“We’re making sure it’s going to be a tip-top academy, like an elite model, because we have seen so many academies and we are hoping this is going to be the showpiece academy for Knights Training Academy.
“Our classrooms are fantastic, the pitch is amazing, it’s free in the daytime which is perfect and we can have games in the week after doing their academic studies in the morning.
“It’s not about being fantastic footballers, it is about making them get a career in the industry. They could be an agent, a sports therapist, there are so many different jobs in the game.
“Speaking to Toby at Gillingham, he’s been in the game all his life but he was never any good at football!
“I was a pro for 20 years but since retiring as a pro at 36, I’m 66 nearly now, and in those 30 years I’ve never come out of the game.
“There are all these different jobs and I’ve done a few!
“I’ve been in coach education for the FA and UEFA and there are so many experiences that we can teach these kids and hopefully inspire them to go on and have some sort of career in the game.”
Walker’s glad to be forging a link with Ashford and Gillingham.
He had a great time at the Gills – moving to the club after spells at Lincoln City and Millwall – and he’s never left!
He said: “I was captain for four years and the longest I’ve been at a club, I absolutely loved it.
“I still live about half a mile from the ground, I moved here and married a Gillingham girl and all my pals are from Gillingham, my local is the Cricketers, and I go in the Sturdy Social Club and I’m always down Gillingham Golf club playing, or socialising.”
Ashford co-owner/manager Lloyd Hume was delighted that their club is now partnered with the Gills, saying: “We’re really excited about it, we have has the academy for a few years now and we’re hoping that this relationship can grow.
“We had a good relationship with them last season, loaning some of their players who did well and they all got contracts, which is great, this just furthers the relationship with them.
“We aren’t selling people the pipedream that they will be footballers, but they can get a good education along with the football so that when the come out of it aged 18-19 they are better footballers and people, that is the fundamental.
“We want to raise the bar in terms of the programme. Loads of clubs have these academies but working with Gillingham really gives us some credibility, it shows that we are doing it the right way. There are so many benefits to being linked with Gillingham.”
Abrahams said: “We are delighted to be working with Ashford United.
“The initial conversations with Alan Walker and Lloyd Hume highlighted a shared ambition that puts young people at the centre of everything we do, and the student’s personal development is our collective focus.
“Ashford United have a wealth of experience behind the scenes and with Alan Walker and Barry Fuller’s connection with Gillingham, we’re looking forward to working together and seeing the partnership grow and develop in the years to come.”
