Wilcox details plan to restart academy 'conveyor belt' at Southampton

Wilcox, who was appointed to orchestrate Sport Republic's senior side after working as academy director at Manchester City for six years, is still keeping a close eye on youth.

The Premier League winner has appointed Swansea City’s Andy Goldie to work under him and lead the academy at Staplewood – a coincidence following manager Russell Martin’s same move.

Every summer, City will sell one or more of their academy prospects for millions – including the likes of Shea Charles, who became Southampton’s fifth signing from Etihad Campus. Carlos Borges, a West Ham United target, has just sealed a £15million move to Ajax. 

Wilcox has been assessing Southampton’s own academy to try and emulate elements of that success while providing Martin with fresh players for little added investment. It is not groundbreaking stuff - but, in the last 10 years, Saints have not done it enough. 

“When people talk about Southampton’s academy, I am not sure whether we are producing enough players for what people think,” Wilcox said.

“When you look back, the perception of us is there but the reality probably isn’t – the perception of us playing a certain way is probably not the reality I was seeing last year.

“I’m Southampton now but you can’t deny the fact I was on an incredible journey at Man City over 12 years, starting as a volunteer, coaching and then academy director.

“The reason I’m here is because of the investment Man City put into me. We all work together and we made lots of mistakes but what you’re seeing is years of evaluating.”

He added: “We went on this journey, getting the game model and the style but also being incredibly good at player development and focusing on individual development.

“At Man City, we started to create a conveyor belt of providing players for the first team and that experience was invaluable.

“In certain cases, we kept players too long. We made mistakes but we learned from them. At the end, we were allowing players to move on - you have to pay for them.

“The strategy at City is incredible but the reason they get those values is the development programme, the staff quality and understanding that you can sell players.

“There is no reason why Southampton can't do that. We've just appointed a new academy director, we're going to have alignment and when we're watching the academy teams we want to see this.

“This is a real strategic aim of mine, my job is to look after the first team but I'm now in the position where I can influence the path.

“We've got to have the right level of player, we're not going to give minutes away, but my job is to make sure that there is a path for players who are good enough to get the opportunity.

“We took a player, Max Alleyne, to Manchester City and we wanted another player – there is some incredible talent around this 17 to 19 age group and you’re seeing it now.”

Wilcox insists that Saints will also continue to sign top young players from around the country’s academies and continue their individual development at Staplewood.

Supporters have already seen this in action since Sport Republic’s arrival, with Sam-Amo-Ameyaw – now a member of the first-team squad – and Jayden Meghoma swapping Spurs for Saints last summer.

“We’ve got to get the next ones and we’ve got to create this conveyor belt where agents, families and players look at Southampton and think 'This is the football club I want to join,” Wilcox said.

“I really believe you can establish yourself as a top 10 Premier League club and provide the best platform for young players to thrive. The manager loves youth but they’ve got to be good enough.

“Players like Cole Palmer, Phil Foden and Rico Lewis are saving Manchester City a lot of money and therefore helping them win.

“The number of agents that are sending me their clients and saying ‘We think Southampton is the right place for my client, we see the manager and see what you’re doing’.

“What I’ve got to do is that I get the balance right and the age right, making sure we also look at our under-8s programme – that’s what I’m challenging Andy (Goldie) to do.

“The only way to do this job properly is to imagine yourself here in 10 or 15 years’ time. The best time to plant the tree was 40 years ago and the next best time is now.”

Wilcox and academy director Goldie have been given another, unexpected, task in order to assure the academy is in the best position after a significant under-21s departure.

The process of appointing head coach Dave Horseman’s successor, with Lee Skyrme and Olly Lancashire currently leading the Premier League 2 outfit, is under way.

Wilcox hints that he will give an up-and-coming member of staff a chance – whether that is an internal or external appointment.

He explained: “We’re on the way with the 21s coach, yes. We have appointed an 18s coach and we have been in the process of hiring academy recruitment.

“When I look down the list of the number of roles we have recruited for, it’s a lot of time to do them – the adverts go out and you filter through candidates and multiple stages of interviews.

“This is what I spend all my time doing but I think we’re in a really good stage now that even when I watch the academy teams, with no education, they’re trying to play our way.

“We need to get more talent but we always need to improve the talent as we do the staff – we want to get to a stage where staff also go to top six clubs or first teams, we should be proud of that.”

He continued: “I really believe in giving an opportunity to staff before they are ready – you get so much energy and hunger, even if they haven’t acquired all of the skills yet.

“If you have got real strong leadership you can promote people before they are ready and see things fly. I’ve just been in a meeting now with so much talent in terms of staff.”