EY Report

Producing the next generation of coaching talent

20 Jan 2022

Saints Academy helping coaches on development journey

Premier League is investing more than ever to improve coaching and young players in English football

As part of the "significant investment" made by the Premier League into footballing talent, the EY report into the economic and social impact of the Premier League highlights the increase in number and quality of coaching in the English game.

"Each season, the Premier League and other football stakeholders collectively invest around £22million into coaching and coach development," the report says.

As part of the investment from the Premier League's Elite Player Performance Plan, "the number of full-time coaches working in Academies has significantly increased from 250 in 2012/13 to 800 in 2019/20", it adds.

In total, the number of coaches in the Professional Coaching Workforce has grown to about 2,500.

Coaching pathways

"In 2020/21, the Premier League launched its Elite Coaching Plan (ECP) with an aim to improve pathways for coaches and to create a world-leading coaching development system in Academies and at first-team level across the English professional game," the report continues.

"This contributes to the delivery of several strategic development programmes, including Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives and player-to-coach schemes. This includes a focus on enhancing pathways for coaches from a black, Asian and mixed-heritage background."

The League has partnered with the EFL, PFA and LMA across various positive-action schemes and development programmes to create better opportunities for coaches from currently underrepresented groups both in Premier League and EFL clubs.

Two examples of this are the Professional Player to Coach Scheme (PPCS) and the Coach Inclusion Diversity Scheme (CIDS).

The PPCS provides up to six coaches per season with a 23-month intensive work placement at EFL clubs and is jointly funded by the Premier League and the PFA, with bursaries provided to each participant via the placement club.

One of its first cohorts, Eric Odhiambo, has already earned a full-time contract at his EFL club, Coventry City, halfway through his placement.

The CIDS aims to increase the number of female coaches and male Black, Asian and mixed heritage coaches from a variety of backgrounds in full-time coaching positions in English professional football, providing them with a bursary and a 23-month work placement at a Premier League or Category One club.

The aim is that after their placements, CIDS coaches will achieve sustainable coaching positions, where they can be successful and visible role models and will inspire the next generation of coaches from a diverse background.

The EY report also mentions that the EPPP is not focused solely on developing better players, but on better people, with a holistic approach to Academy development.

"The Premier League has increasingly focused on and invested in the academic and social development of boys coming through the Academy system to ensure they are best equipped for careers inside or outside the game," the report says, citing a recent survey of parents of players at Premier League Academies, which found that 93 per cent of respondents believed the overall Academy experience was positive for their children.

See: PL Academies give positive experience, say parents

The fruit of the investment into academic development was demonstrated last summer when Academy players delivered a record-breaking year for academic achievements. Of players at Premier League Academies who took their A-levels last summer, 67 per cent of their results were A or A*, compared with a national average of about 45 per cent for those grades.

See: Premier League Academy stars shine in exams

Eighty-four per cent of the scholars' A-level results were graded between A* and B.

Education is at the heart of the Academies and was recently shown with the Premier League's annual Christmas Truce Tournament which combined learning about the First World War off the pitch with a competition on it.