BBC.co.uk
By Frank Keogh
When England travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, manager Fabio
Capello will owe huge gratitude to one man with whom he has exchanged only
one word. For more than 30 years, Tony Carr has headed up the West Ham
United youth academy. Now graduates of its acclaimed development programme
are likely to provide a quarter of the international squad. Seven current
England internationals, with a total of 345 caps between them, have passed
through the east London set-up. And while Capello has, so far, only said the
word 'hello' to him, Carr's service to the club he supported as a boy will
be rewarded on Wednesday night when many of those stars turn out for his
testimonial at Upton Park. Imagine Rio Ferdinand playing in a team alongside
his brother Anton for the first time since they were youngsters; then
picture Chelsea icons John Terry and Frank Lampard, usually guaranteed a
hostile reception, playing at the Boleyn Ground in West Ham shirts. It is
set to happen at the tribute for 59-year-old Carr, whose values of hard
work, discipline and fun, have oiled the conveyor belt of talent which has
netted the east London club a fortune in transfer sales.
THE BIG ACADEMY SALES
£18m Rio Ferdinand (Leeds)
£11m Frank Lampard (Chelsea)
£6.6m Joe Cole (Chelsea)
£6m Jermain Defoe (Spurs)
£6m* Glen Johnson (Chelsea)
£2.75m* Michael Carrick (Spurs)
*Plus sell-on/appearance clauses
"The ethos of the football club has always been to produce the best local
young talent that they can attract," said Cockney Carr, who was born a
penalty kick away from the famous Bow Bells. "Although it's getting tougher,
we are still trying to maintain that ethos. "It's a very working class area
with lots of kids that love the game. People are keen, there's lots of
leagues, there's enthusiasm for the game. We've just been lucky it's a
fertile area for young talent."
The talent developed by West Ham includes current England captain Ferdinand,
his predecessor Terry, plus international team-mates Lampard, Joe Cole,
Michael Carrick, Glen Johnson and Jermain Defoe. All left, for a variety of
reasons, including relegation from the Premier League in 2003 with a side
that contained four of those seven in Cole, Carrick, Johnson and Defoe. "Rio
was sold for £18m, Frank £11m. Someone added it up and said you're talking
about £80m," said Carr, who has been ably aided down the years by chief
scout Jimmy Hampson. "Other players, not so much the bigger names, have gone
for half a million here, or a million there, so you are talking about
possibly that amount for the club in the last 10 years or so."
The expected testimonial presence of Terry and Lampard shows the respect
which Carr commands and he hopes fans appreciate their appearance at the
match. I've spoken to the players individually and they are all happy. Even
though one or two have gone away and not enjoyed the best receptions, they
have all been fantastically willing to come back," he said. Carr could see
the Boleyn Ground floodlights from his childhood home and as a teenager
joined the academy, where he cleaned the boots of World Cup winners Bobby
Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters. Moore captained the 1966 England side
which won the sport's biggest prize, while hat-trick hero Hurst and Peters
provided the goals. "I joined in that summer as a 15-year-old apprentice and
was bumping into Moore, Hurst and Peters who had just won the World Cup so
it was surreal, but at the time you took it for granted," said Carr. "The
lack of success at England level since then has made it a very big deal.
"Bobby was a great role model and example to young players in terms of the
way he conducted himself, the way he trained and everything about him.
Everybody looked up to Bobby as the captain, and the man to aspire to. "I
was a very young player and he was the captain of England but he always had
time for young players and wasn't aloof in any shape or form."
The parallels between 1966 and 2010 are not lost on Carr, with another
academy graduate in Rio Ferdinand set to captain the side, and he said the
guiding principles remained the same. "What you try to do with all the young
players is try to give them good habits, on and off the pitch," he said.
"That means working hard, practising, trying to be the best player you can
be and when you're off the pitch, conducting yourself in the right way and
steering clear of trouble."
Carr did not make the grade as a West Ham player and moved to Barnet before
a broken leg ended his career, and he was recruited by future manager John
Lyall as a part-time junior coach in 1973. He has helped England
internationals such as Tony Cottee and Paul Ince, worked under eight
managers, witnessed two FA Cup wins, several relegations and promotions, and
radical changes to the world of football. "With the likes of Rio Ferdinand
and Frank Lampard, not so long ago, they didn't really come into clubs until
they were 13 or 14 years of age, that's when the recruitment started to hot
up. But now you are talking about seven and eight year olds and it's tough,"
said Carr. "To spot talent that's going to go all the way at that stage is
almost an impossibility, but we do try our best. Competition around London
now is immense."
Evidence of the academy's continuing success can be seen in the current
first-team squad, which boasts Welsh midfielder Jack Collison, England
under-21 internationals James Tomkins and Mark Noble, along with the
country's former under-19 players Junior Stanislas and Freddie Sears. They
are likely to feature in Wednesday's match, which could also see current
Hammers boss Gianfranco Zola donning his boots. "Tony has done a brilliant
job, not only for West Ham, but for the whole nation," said the 43-year-old
former Chelsea striker. "So many important and influential players with the
national team have started here and that tells you what he is all about."
Carr said there had been no suggestion West Ham's new joint owners David
Gold, a former Hammers youth player, and David Sullivan would change the
youth set-up despite cost cutting at the club to alleviate debts of about
£100m. "I've still got a year to run on my contract and hopefully the new
owners see fit to renew it at the right time. I've got no intentions of
retiring at this point," he said. With more youngsters set to progress into
the main squad, they may reap the benefits of staying loyal to the
successful system.
And if England thrive in South Africa, there might even be another word for
Carr from Capello.
* Tickets for Wednesday's match, between West Ham and Tony Carr's Academy
All-Stars, are available via the official West Ham website.
TONY CARR ON 'MAGNIFICENT SEVEN'
RIO FERDINAND
Age 31 Clubs West Ham 1993-2000,
Leeds 2000-02 Man Utd 2002- England Apps 76 Goals 4
"Rio came to us when he was 13 and was naturally talented. He could head it,
pass it, could score, he was a good defender, he could create goals. He
wasn't always a defender. He came as a forward, became a a midfield player
and ended up as a centre-back in my youth team and pushed on from there."
FRANK LAMPARD
Age 31 Clubs West Ham 1994-2001, Chelsea 2001- England Apps 77 Goals 20
"We always felt, in the youth department, that Frank was an immense talent
that could develop and get better and better and so that's proved.
Circumstances dictated he left West Ham and he went to Chelsea for £11m, so
the club have certainly had their money's worth."
JOE COLE
Age 28 Clubs West Ham 1994-2003, Chelsea 2003- England Apps 53 Goals 10
"When he first came to West Ham as a 12-year-old, he was just audacious the
way he played the game. He was tricky, he was cheeky, he was so unorthodox
in what he did and so skilful. We worked very, very hard to convince Joe
that West Ham was his club. We always felt he was destined to be a great
player."
MICHAEL CARRICK
Age 28 Clubs West Ham 1997-2004, Tottenham 2004-06, Manchester United 2006-
England Apps 21 Goals 0
"Michael was gifted technically, had a good eye for a pass, two good feet
and was always going to be a good player. "He came down from the north east
as he felt there was a little bit too much pressure signing for the local
team. We had a house to look after our boys and he enjoyed that."
JERMAIN DEFOE
Age 27 Clubs Charlton 1997-99 West Ham 1999-2004, Tottenham 2004-08,
Portsmouth 2008-09, Tottenham 2009- England Apps 39 Goals 11
"Jermain came from Charlton. His early years were developing there. Our
youth development officer Jimmy Hampson was the guy who took him to Charlton
in the first place, and knew him very well. He was a natural goalscorer.
He's a predator, he'll always score goals."
GLEN JOHNSON
Age 25 Clubs West Ham 2000-2003, Chelsea 2003-07, Portsmouth 2007-09,
Liverpool 2009- England Apps 20 Goals 11
"Glen was with the club from about the age of nine. His mother was a carer,
who fostered kids on a regular basis but she still had time to bring Glen to
training. He broke into the the team at a point when they were struggling.
He had power, pace and enthusiasm up and down the line. He was a breath of
fresh air."
JOHN TERRY
Age 29 Clubs West Ham 1991-1995, Chelsea 1995-
England Apps 59 Goals 6
"John decided to move on for whatever reason. To be fair to John he's gone
on from being a midfield player and now he's a centre-back for Chelsea and
England. There's no regrets in that respect, he's one that got away but you
can't win them all."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
http://www.justgiving.com/vyperz
I am running the BUPA 10k on May 31st and raising money for the Bobby Moore
Cancer Fund
Please donate generously! Thanks.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment