Dundee have moved to “future-proof” their academy setup.
The Dens Park club have had considerable success in recent years with academy graduates making up a large chunk of their current first-team playing squad.
The latest matchday squad involved seven players who came through the club’s youth development in the 3-1 win over Dumbarton.
However, Dundee is a club that still retains the mental scars of two administrations since the turn of the century.
And the devastating impact of the Covid pandemic on the finances of football clubs again put the club’s youth development structure at risk.
Work continued, though, as the club’s youth coaches incredibly kept things going by giving up their time for free.
But the crisis also sparked an idea.
That has led to Thursday’s launch of The Dundee Academy Community Interest Company (CIC) with the aim of helping children in poverty in the city to realise potential through football.
The Dundee Academy CICDundee Academy CIC will stand apart from Dundee Football Club as a new social enterprise to break down barriers that stand in the way of kids entering the football pathway.
“It is huge for the academy, huge for the club and huge for the lives it will touch. It will help those who need help the most,” said Dundee managing director John Nelms at the start of the Regional Performance Centre launch.
The club’s technical director and former Scotland boss Gordon Strachan added: “Every kid has a sport in them, I believe that. And sport changes lives, no doubt about it.”
Dundee Lord Provost Bill Campbell also spoke – and confirmed there will be a “long overdue” civic dinner to celebrate the club’s 1962 league championship win – as did Kirsty Thompson of The Circle, a Dundee-based community interest company.
‘Future-proofing’
But the man tasked with guiding this venture is the club’s new academy director Jamie McBrearty.
McBrearty has been involved in the youth setup at Dundee for over two decades as well as working in sports development in his home city.
He will work alongside the club’s head of youth Stephen Wright to continue to help produce players who can step up to first-team football.
McBrearty explained to Courier Sport how the new setup will function.
“The players are still registered with Dundee Football Club but what we do is facilitate the training and development of the boys up to U/16,” he said.
“So the academy won’t be part of the club, it will be part of the social enterprise.
“That means we can govern ourselves so we are not reliant on the performance of the club to ensure the level of the academy.
“That lesson came from Covid when the club was short of £2 million and cuts had to be made.
“The academy is one of the biggest departments but myself, John, Gordon and Stephen spoke and went to the coaches to see if we could sustain the work that was going on.
“The coaches did it for free. This isn’t about money but they did that off their own backs.
“So for decades to come, if the club is ever in a predicament…
“I’ve been here over two administrations and through Covid so when I saw the signs then I thought we can’t allow this to happen.
“We sustained that but now we are future-proofing it.”
‘Change lives’
He added: “We have a real opportunity to really enhance what the academy does but it’s more than that.
“It is about identifying young people in our city who are really in need.
“It’s about how we can help with that. But also what hidden gems there may be out there.
“If we can identify them and then see what the barriers are to getting them on the pathway then who knows.
“Football is a tool to change lives so that’s what we are aiming to do.”
