Learning how to win is an essential aspect of player development.
While all budding young talents have their own individual journeys to follow, any exposure to what it takes to achieve team success must be considered invaluable for those with aspirations to forge a career in professional football.
Under the expert guidance of Under 11 and 12 Player Development Lead Craig Angus, and his assistant coach Daryl White, Southampton Under-12s experienced a truly educational 2024/25 campaign.
Winning the Premier League's Christmas Truce tournament, as well as the Under 12 Premier League Cup, the young Saints savoured an unforgettable season.
Interestingly, those success stories were mapped out by the players themselves back in pre-season, according to their proud head coach.
Angus, 44, who has previously been a lead foundation phase coach at Swansea City, Vancouver Whitecaps and New York Red Bulls, explains.
"Winning is a transient thing in development football but we do like to sculpt the players' expectations at the start of each season, and they told us in no uncertain terms that they wanted to win the Truce tournament and the Premier League Cup.
"We were very happy to support their desire to do well in those competitions, not least because we work hard to develop the understanding that they’re all dependent on each other to get better. We all need sparring partners to improve and between the ages of 9 and 12 they lean on one another a lot, which is great."
Angus was assisted by 36-year-old White, who spent nine years working with the UK Armed Forces team, including a successful spell as head coach between 2023 and 2025.
Part-time at the academy, he set up a workshop during last year’s school summer holidays, opening the floor to the youngsters.
"We put the boys into groups and asked them what sort of team they wanted to be," reveals White. "I felt it was important to do that because during my life with the military we've always had to be accountable for our actions. That way you can reflect properly and reframe things if needed.
"The boys made it clear that they wanted to be winners, to be a team with great pitch awareness, to have a lot of possession, and they also wanted to be scary to play against in terms of their intensity. The group also wrote down what they wanted from us as coaches to help them with their own development.
"So, we threw it back at them, saying that for us to make them as excellent as they want to be, they have a responsibility to bring good energy to every session, which in fairness they did. Once you have their buy-in, it’s simply our job to help facilitate what they want to achieve."
The qualifying event for the Christmas Truce tournament took place in nearby Portsmouth, where they went up against Chelsea, Reading, Fulham, Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion.
The coaching staff stuck to their normal curriculum in the build-up but having discovered the 9v9 pitches were going to be on the small side, one key adjustment was made in the days leading up the competition.
"We decided to put on sessions that were much tighter than usual in terms of space. We wanted the players to get used to being put under instant pressure, working on keeping the ball under duress, before playing our way through or over the top of the press," explains White.
In their first match the Saints trailed 1-0 to an exceptionally strong Chelsea outfit, but an intuitive switch to their plan B tactics salvaged a point.
"We always go into situations having a 'what if' plan, and ours was to press with great aggression, go longer with our distribution, and to switch to two up front," outlines Angus as he remembers that contest.
"We essentially went 2v2 with their backline, encouraging supporting runs from deep to create 3v2 overloads in our favour. Thankfully it worked as we'd hoped, as we got ourselves a 1-1 draw that kept the day alive."
From that moment on Southampton's Under-12s grew in confidence, beating all four of their remaining opponents.
As table toppers, they earned a trip to Ypres in Belgium to participate in the Premier League’s annual Christmas Truce tournament.
They were one of eight English clubs involved, alongside Bayer Leverkusen, Genk, Anderlecht and Toulouse.
Building up to that trip, Angus and White had another unusual and quirky tweak up their sleeves.
Taking up the story, White says, "In my experience managing the Armed Forces team outside the UK I never expected to get anything from the officials, so we worked a lot on emotional discipline ahead of that tournament.
"Craig set up some practice matches against other age groups, asking a neutral coach to referee in a very biased way against our under-12s. At first, we had tears, and I am sure some of them wanted to fight us, but in the end the boys got to grips with their frustrations."
The coaching duo implored them to brush off decisions they felt were unfair, by using the code words, 'next action.'
And they couldn't have been happier at the way the players bought into that idea.
"Hearing so many of them shout 'next action' to their teammate in moments of irritation or disappointment filled us with pride,” admits White. "It got their heads immediately switched back into the game, and it held them in good stead during the Truce tournament.
"It was like switching on a lightbulb and that mentality helped us a lot."
Off the pitch, the young Saints visited historical sites from World War I, learning plenty about the enormous sacrifices that young soldiers on both sides made when fighting in that region in 1914.
Describing the social and educational aspect of the trip as 'amazing', and 'worth the trip alone', head coach Angus was delighted to be involved. Yet, as discussed in pre-season, the boys had crossed the English Channel on an unmistakable mission to win.
After receiving good luck video messages from their parents and grandparents on the eve of the first match, the side performed brilliantly throughout the competition.
Topping their group on 10 points, they went on to beat Brentford 1-0 in the last four, before triumphing 2-0 against Anderlecht in the final.
When reflecting on that trip, Angus is wholesome in his praise for the Premier League’s Games Programme.
"Travelling the world to coach, I've been fortunate to experience many things, but our games programme is up there as one of the very best environments to develop young footballers," he states with great conviction.
"Week in week out the level of competition is outstanding, and the Premier League gradually ramp up the pressure in an appropriate way throughout the season.
"It's an environment where players have to find solutions to problems when there is a consequence to their actions," he adds. "So to achieve their pre-season goal of winning the Truce Cup my boys had to find those answers under pressure, and that is so beneficial to their learning.
"I don't envisage our European opponents in Ypres have a set-up that creates so many problems for young players and teams to solve, so for me it was perfect preparation.
"It gave us great confidence that we could handle facing the likes of Bayer Leverkusen and Anderlecht."
In the New Year, still buoyant from their overseas triumph, the fledgling Saints embarked on a bid to add the Premier League Cup to their trophy cabinet.
A 4-2 group stage loss away to Chelsea was a setback on MD1, but they responded in style, beating Bournemouth 6-0 at their Staplewood training ground.
To reach the knockout stages, the Saints needed to win away to Reading, and score at least 10 goals in the process. It may have seemed like Mission Impossible to some, but on a day when 'everything we touched turned to goals', this exciting young team incredibly prevailed 12-1!
Southampton entertained Brighton under the floodlights in the knockout phase but struggled badly during a first half that saw them trail 1-0 at half-time.
"I made the mistake leading up the game of giving the players too much detail on how we felt Brighton would approach it. As coaches we need all that information at our disposal, but on reflection we decided that sharing a little less would have been better," confesses Angus modestly.
"The boys had too much to think about, and it had a negative impact on how they performed, so from that moment on we stripped things back, giving them a few pictures and ideas, but building those gradually into our training sessions instead. It was a valuable piece of learning that we refined," adds assistant coach White.
They turned that match around to win, and despite coming up against a tall, physically imposing West Ham United outfit in the next round, Southampton's resilient Under-12s came back from 3-1 down to beat the Hammers 4-3.
"We went to our 'what if' plan for that turnaround, playing two up front, making the game narrow and going over the top of them a bit more," recalls White. "That wasn't our style of play, but you've got to learn to win in different ways. The players took on board our change of message brilliantly.
"By now the group was feeling like they could win a match from any position, which is an important trait to hang onto."
Southampton's route to the final - a home clash against Manchester City - had been incident-packed and dramatic, but in a developmental sense it had shown the boys what competitive football looks and feels like.
Those experiences were taken into a season-defining encounter.
"Rather than overloading the players with all our analysis on City, we focused harder on creating a story around the game. We sold it to the group that it was a once in a lifetime opportunity to win a trophy in front of their family and friends at Staplewood," says Angus, who admits he felt personal vulnerability ahead of kick off.
"From a technical and tactical standpoint Daryl and I identified areas we thought we could hurt City. We knew they'd be aggressive in the press, over committing to such an extent that the far side of the pitch was often left free.
"So our plan was to regain the ball and switch it quickly to the other side where we had players to threaten their back line. We trained hard on that scenario."
The game itself saw the Saints lead 1-0 and 2-1 before being pegged back, but as the second half wore on it was the hosts who got stronger. Just as they had in previous rounds, their substitutes were the match winners with one of them delivering a wide free kick, for another late replacement to head home the winner.
"It was pandemonium," says Angus with a wide smile, "and a moment where I got quite emotional. Luckily, I had Daryl alongside me to calm things down with his ‘next action’ mentality!
"That victory was special, because everything we did as coaches was validated. All that we'd done together as a group contributed to that moment where the boys achieved something very special."
"Craig is the best youth coach I have seen," interjects White, who will shortly be leaving the military after 18 years of service to pursue his own coaching ambitions.
"My big takeaway from working with this amazing Under-12 group is that if you care about the boys and treat them with respect, they will care deeply about everything they do. Whether you work in development or senior football, getting the players' trust is essential."
And for Angus, who only joined Southampton’s incredibly productive academy in December 2023, it is a season he will forever treasure.
"A year ago, when we inherited this team all I knew about them was that we had a very energetic group, full of strong personalities. We learned quickly who they were, and what they needed, and the success that followed has made me feel extremely proud.
"I wish each and every one of them all the best as they continue their footballing journeys."