Homegrown players are the beating heart of Dundee Football Club.
Last season saw the Dark Blues field one of the youngest in the Scottish top-flight.
A major part of that was the batch of academy graduates that included Lyall Cameron, Josh Mulligan and Fin Robertson.
Cameron has left for Rangers, Mulligan is expected to embark on a new adventure elsewhere.
Robertson has committed to a further two years at his boyhood club while there are younger players like Luke Graham pushing for a first-team place.
Last season saw two academy starlets sold for a combined fee of over £600,000 plus add-ons in Seb Lochhead and Ally Graham to Premier League outfits.
But are there more waiting to emerge from the Dark Blues youth setup?
And just what does it take to produce players who can thrive at Premiership level?
Courier Sport takes you inside the Dundee FC academy.
Finals and medals
This past season has seen various age groups hit the headlines.
The U/18 side reached Dundee’s first Youth Cup Final in 26 years, losing out at Hampden to Kilmarnock, while the U/16s and U/13s both won Club Academy Scotland Cups on the same day last month.
The 16s have since added the CAS U/16 Performance League.
There are just under 100 kids across all the age groups at Dundee, with around 25 staff members.
Keeping on top of all that and ensuring each player gets the attention they require is a big job.
It’s a task the club hasn’t always been on top of.
Academy coach Kevin Garrick has been in place for 12 years and admits the youth setup at Dens Park has “come a massive way” in his time.
“It feels like there is momentum here now,” he told Courier Sport.
“When I first came in there wasn’t a lot of organisation, it was a bit haphazard with coaches doing their own thing really.
“We had some people like Jimmy Boyle, who was great, but was pulled from pillar to post with too much stuff to do.
“John Nelms and Tim Keyes had taken over around that time and there was a lot of upheaval, turnover in staff and things like that.
“Stephen Wright coming in was a big change and we’ve come an awful long way.
“Things have gone much better since then, far more cohesive. The school was put in place which is massive for us.
“It’s made a massive, massive difference.
“We’ve got a group about to start S5. Great kids, great families, very supportive families and now we have a cohesive plan now from the very youngest age right through to the development team.”
‘You’re late!’
The school in question is St John’s RC High School in The Glens area of the city.
Dundee took over the SFA’s Performance School in 2021. There football training is combined with ensuring the youngsters get good grades.
Courier Sport arrived at St John’s to speak to coaches just as U/14 training was being set up by Stephen Wright, Kevin Garrick and James Morrison.
Youngsters coming out of the changing-room a little tardy were given a gee up by former Scotland international Wright.
“You’re late, you’ve missed half the session!” he chided.
The exaggeration highlighting the focus placed on things like time-keeping and social manners within the academy structure.
The wind was howling just after 3pm on a Thursday afternoon as the normal school day finished off with football training.
Wright, a full-back for Aberdeen and Rangers in his playing days, arrived at Dundee to head up the academy in February 2019.
“Initially it was just a case of bringing everybody together because it was a good structure in place,” Wright said.
“It was about getting close to the staff and making them feel closer to the club, which I don’t think was the case previously.
“That connection to the first team wasn’t there. That tends to happen at lots of academies.
“The staff help a huge amount. Kevin Garrick has been instrumental in the success we’ve had with boys coming through and getting to cup finals.
“Jim Long and George Givlin on recruitment have been vital.
“Kevin was key for me at the start.
“For me it was about trying to galvanise everybody, bring them all together.”
The school
A lot has changed since his arrival. Not least the impact of a global pandemic that saw all football activity shut down and severe financial strains put on the club.
Coaches, though, stuck by the club and the young players by working for free. Testament to the dedication of the coaches but also the working environment in the youth setup.
It survived and in 2021 the club moved into partnership with St John’s.
“That started from James McPake having a good relationship with the school,” Wright recalls.
“When he was U/18 manager he’d be having to ask permission for the likes of Lyall Cameron, Josh Mulligan and Fin Robertson to come and train with the U/18s.
“So he had a good relationship with Wendy Sinclair, who was the deputy head at the time.
“Then when the SFA programme was ending Wendy had asked if we would be keen on coming into the school and doing a programme.
“And I mentioned this to John Nelms about our young players who are signed and coming out of P7, so under 12s, and then getting them all housed in the one school and getting them football.
“John absolutely loved the idea.
“The school has been the biggest change in my time. It’s been great.
“The school’s been amazing. Staff are great. And the boys are playing football every day.
“We always say that school is the most important thing.
“If they don’t study, they don’t behave, they’re not good around school, they don’t play football.
“So it’s a great carrot.”
Parents
Gone are the days of a Dundee youth player betting it all on becoming a professional footballer and neglecting the school work.
Now it is a twin-track approach of studs and studies.
“From a kid’s perspective, I think the performance school is brilliant,” Chris Johnston, father of U/14 player Christopher, told the Courier.
“The boys know that they’re representing the academy at school.
“I think that gives them that extra motivation. The coaches, they’re there day in and day out at the school as well.
“The school’s been a godsend, to be quite honest.
“Kevin and Stephen do tell the boys that their education comes first. They’re part of the Dundee academy, but education always comes first. They do drill that into the boys, to be honest with you.
“I can’t speak highly enough of the coaching.”
Jemma Oosenbrugh, whose promising son Charley started for the U/18s in the Youth Cup Final, added: “The school’s had such an impact, not just on the football side.
“I feel like the coaches and staff have got to know the kids even more so than what they did before.
“The whole academy puts in a power of work. Since Stephen Wright came to the academy, I just feel like it’s went from strength to strength.
“The hours that he puts in, the hours that the coaches put in, the bus drivers, the physio, the scouts – they’re just amazing. It actually feels like it’s more like an extended family.
“I think maybe it’s because we’ve been there that long.
“Charley’s been there since he was seven. So that’s nearly 10 years that we’ve been involved with the academy.
“My oldest son had a spell there. My youngest son is also there just now. We’ve been through it all, good times and bad times.
“They’ve been nothing but supportive, encouraging. They really are. They’re just a great bunch of people.
“I honestly couldn’t thank them enough for everything they’ve done for all three of my boys.
“And they absolutely love it.”
Scouting
Parents will put in the hours to ensure their kids are at training, at games, at tournaments.
Coaches put in the hours, whether getting paid or not.
But there is more to it as well.
How do players actually get into the academy in the first place?
Jim Long is Dundee’s head of academy recruitment, aided by chief scout George Givlin as well as Paul Johnston and Paul Haggard.
On top of a full-time job in social work, Long has been on the lookout for talented players to join the Dundee academy for nine years.
“On a Saturday morning it’ll be watching the younger teams at places like the RPC or at Angus festivals,” Long explained.
“We’ll be up at Dunfermline sometimes. Up in Perth. We’ll be wherever we have to be.
“Our priority is we’ll look at what we’ve got as far as our databases go, because we have a vast amount of names on our database.
“Some of them will never even touch in the academy, but we’ll have the names and the numbers there because we’ve done our homework.
“Especially if they’re at a young age, and then as soon as these kids are deemed to be in a position where they can do themselves justice, then we’ll go back and have a look at them.
“But they might have been on the database for over a year before we’ve been there.
“By the same token, it might be the third time of asking that somebody’s come into the academy before they’ve finally been signed for Dundee Football Club.
“It’s a busy job, Saturdays will be a full morning watching the progress of players.
“Then we’re straight to Dens, or Parkhead, or Tynecastle, or whatever as well because we’re Dundee fans and go to all the games.
“That’s what makes the job special.”
Academy ambitions
The desire at Dundee is to move into the elite level of academy development. However, Wright insists they are comfortable in the second tier.
Trophies are being won but more important is producing players for the first team.
As long as they are doing that, they are happy.
“We’re pleased with how things are going at the moment. We’ve had a good season,” Wright added.
“It’s not about results, it’s not about leagues, it’s not about cups, because at the end of the day it’s about getting players into the first team.
“But we’ve been quite successful this year in terms of the younger ones winning a couple of trophies.
“The U/18s got to Hampden for the first time in 26 years. The U/16s and U/13s both won the CAS Cup.
“So on the face of it, it is looking good, but our job, and probably the biggest job and hardest job is that the next bit – getting players on the first team.”
To do that requires patience but there are signs of promise. Young Dees Ethan Crombie and Warren Lyall were recently training with Scotland U/17s.
And there are potential first-team talents in the making coming through.
“Obviously we’ve had guys move on down to England and whatnot,” added coach Garrick.
“Ideally we want them to stay and play for Dundee but it’s a positive outcome for those kids and we’ve got some exciting kids coming through at 15/16 ages now.
“And there are more below them.
“It feels like we are on the cusp of something.
“Finlay, Lyall and Josh were all in the same academy team so they’ve done well.
“But before them it was probably Cammy Kerr and there’s been a wee gap after them.
“But I think we’ve probably got guys now that we’re quite excited about who have a good chance.”
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