MAN UTD FUTURE IS BRIGHT! Exclusive Interview with Nick Cox, Head of Academy

Hi Nick, thanks for taking the time and talking to us here today, busy schedule I know, so I just want to say thanks for that and thanks for coming to United Stan, it's a pleasure, thanks for having me. I'm going. Straight up, Nick, obviously we'll go into some detail about your role here and what you do at the club, but it's a hot topic at the moment with the fanbase. Alejandro, natural boy. Directly. The Academy has just signed a new five-year contract. As? that makes you and your team feel because there are a lot of people behind the scenes other than yourself, how does that make you feel seeing that with an

academy

player coming straight out five years it's like Pinnacle starting in the Academy at a young age and then getting that big deal in the first team, I guess a huge sense of pride, um, that's our number one driving force, trying to help young people achieve their dreams of playing at Old Trafford, so when It happens, it's quite magical, the

academy

is more than just debuting and we'll probably talk about that, but certainly the big driver for us is whether we can help young players go and contribute to a successful first team so that when they make their debut and when he starts to mark some of the milestones in In terms of you know, he came on as a substitute and then he makes his first start and he scores his first goal and then he scores his first European goal.

Each of those little moments is incredibly satisfying, first and foremost, for him and his family. You've probably seen the pictures of his family on his debut, a little crying and quite rightly, seeing your son achieve that sort of thing is pretty incredible isn't it, but obviously for the staff who worked to bring him to the club or work to support him make that breakthrough is the reason we all come to work is the reason we are in this type of work is to help young children do those types of things, so it's amazing, yeah, It's like you said picking up on something you said and then when you say 'That's my boy,' it feels like it's like a family, that's what you try to do, so you tried to build here at the Academy how they feel." You're yours, you take them under your wings at a young age, you take care of them, that's what it's all about for you, yeah, I mean, if you came and spent just an hour at the academy, you would do what you would feel like.

What they feel is that yes, all of our staff are experts, whether they are expert coaches, physiotherapists, analysts or sports scientists, but behind that experience there is simply a passion for young people and we are passionate about all the children we work with. So some will debut but they are a minority so it is a real family feeling and we all feel a great responsibility to help young children progress in life. We want to prepare them for an incredible adult life for some. It will be on the pitch for some, it won't be on the pitch for some, it will be at United, for others it will be at other clubs, but we are all connected to help kids achieve whatever they are capable of doing.

When you have people who are passionate about helping young people, it starts to feel like a really nurturing and nurturing environment and it feels like a very close-knit family and I think that's what makes this club special and different, is that it's a global brand. It's the biggest club in the world, but once you're inside you feel like a really small family and that doesn't happen everywhere. Yes, there are many big clubs around the world and yes, there are many clubs that feel like families, but I don't think there are many that are as big as us, but feel as rooted and as familiar as ours.

That's it, because you talk about family, the connection with the fans is very important for the first team you have. I've been to Old Trafford watching their game. I've seen you on Twitter, so I know you sat there when the fans were singing. Get a real name in the stands. You got goosebumps, I'm sure, but that connection between the fans and the players is even an even bigger achievement for you to hear the fans chant the name of one of the academy players as if they were one of their owners, well, you develop that, yeah, and you made that connection with other fans by nurturing that player, yeah, it's about that. it's about that connection so football clubs have academies mainly because years ago that was the cheapest way to have a football team so it's no secret we've been running for 90 years but 90 years ago years ago we established our youth development program because the president at the time thought it was the cheapest way to have a winning team.

We have now been on a journey as a football club for over 90 years and Youth Development means more than just being economic, so the fact that it was young players that took us to Europe for the first time the fact that it was players young players who saw us survive Munich the fact that it was the young players who saw us win the European Cup for the first time and the fact that our best days have had young players at the center means that youth development in this Football club means something different to any other football club in the world and what it means is a connection with our history, a connection with all those who came before us and the connection between the fans in the stands and the players on the field, You know, we are very aware of the fact that Matt Busby created a football club to play in such a way that would give people relief from the graph during the week and that will give people the opportunity to get out of the factories and getting away from the railways on a Saturday afternoon to feel joy and connect, so I think when we put young players on the team, it connects us to our history, but it connects the fans to the field as well and I think I'm watching Alejandro develop and foster an incredible connection with the crowd.

He had never seen anything like it. In fact, I think from what he's accomplished, he's at the beginning of his journey. He's doing well, but he's at the beginning of a journey, he's got a lot of work to do, he's got a lot more milestones to mark before we can talk about him in the same vein as some of our most notable graduates, but he's really building a amazing connection, wonderful song and you can see he's a bit of a showman so it's exciting to see but that was a very long answer yeah we're proud when you hear people sing his name you feel like a staff of youth development we have really contributed to the atmosphere in the stadium we have contributed to the success on the field and it keeps us all going that's why we do the job yes you talk about best in class Nick In terms of who has gotten their team surrounds it, the club looks for every detail of the fans to attract people to improve the careers of these young players.

Let's go back to the beginning, obviously, it started at Watford's, uh, 12 years there and then at Sheffield United. moment when you got the job because you were here at United for three years before getting the job at the start of this season as academy director, tell me about that moment when you came home that night and then sat down in your chair. at home and it was like, wow, did you have that surreal moment where it was like I was running the most famous football academy in the history of football? That's how big it is, did you have that kind of like sitting down with a glass of wine and just saying wow, it was probably more getting to the club was the most special moment, um, so like you say, I've been in youth development. for over 20 years and had an amazing experience. experience at Watford um, a very different club to this one, but with some of the same values ​​and principles in terms of youth development um and a wonderful journey um, but a lot of the staff that I work with at Watford when I got the job here for first time um rang I got up to remind myself that I used to say "I remember saying it." When things weren't quite right, he'd say, "Oh gee, I bet this doesn't happen at Manchester United because I kept Manchester United as the benchmark of good." The biggest club, in particular, you know, when I was a kid, they were, you know, I'm from that area, you know, United were the best team, the dominant team, but the most important thing is that they are the benchmark for youth development, they fly the flag, I think, all over the world. world for Youth Development, so getting the job here was an incredible moment, and I am very grateful to Nikki, but you know I came to work together with Nikki Button, he was wonderful to me, he has a great knowledge of football, ​​​​a great. person, but he really supported me a lot when I arrived at the club and helped me.

It's not an easy club to get to right. He is a giant of a football club. There is pressure. There is a spotlight, but having Nikki by my side helping. coming in supporting me to find my place in the club was amazing um and but in terms of the change of role um it was a good time actually so when I knew I was coming for a while you know it takes a little bit of time for you know, for the news to be made public, but I've known about it for a while. I was actually out to dinner with my family, we were at a local pub and the moment came when he says your name.

Through the sky at the yellow bar at the bottom and you could see the people in the pub reading the yellow bar and that was quite a nice moment because, this football club, it regularly throws up experiences that really make you have to pinch you. and I think if this is really happening and I think if you work at this club and you're not having moments where you think this is incredible then you need to get out, it's the wrong football club, it's a special place to take, it opens doors . that no other football club could create moments that no other football club could create and they happen regularly.

I've had moments this week where I say wow and think you know, you don't have a soul if this football club can't spark those kinds of emotions in you, so yeah, it's a privilege. I think this is the best place in the world for youth development, so for me to have the opportunity to support a group of staff to continue the legacy. Youth Development at this football club is incredible and I think I have the best job in the world and I love it. One of his moments could be when the awards for the under 18s and under 21s were announced last night at the game at Old Trafford, one of those players also made his first team debut in Colby menu, from the 21s this season, the under 18s and under 21s receive information about each team and the progress of each one, obviously, there are less than 16 players. also in different categories helps, but being there last night handing out the awards to people like Colby Menu and then knowing that that player has also been involved in the first team training regularly with the first team players as well this great season. great moment for a young player and just look at that and see for yourself, look and see, that's my job, that's my job, that's one of his moments where I walked into Manchester United to see that young player in front of 73,000 at home.

The fans received that award and knew that he had already set foot on the same field as the first team players behind him. Yeah, it was a really nice time last night. Both Cobby and Dan's families were in the director's box and were obviously having a wonderful evening. they're very proud of their guys, for me to be able to be with those guys on that field and present them with really prestigious awards and you know where you could probably see us on the field where we're looking at the Shield that's presented to them and you're following the list of names and they're following the footsteps of some greats, any great young player who has ever come out of this Academy has two, two Shields, so that was a good moment, um, but I am very aware of the fact that you know this is a football club relentless and you look at Marcus and say he is the highest level of Youth Development, he is in the team regularly, he has established himself and leads the team, he is almost the senior player now, he is scoring regularly, he is performing well and he is a job well done, the next level down is, I'm looking at Alejandro, um, he's this season, it's his breakthrough season, really, isn't it?

He's starting to settle down. himself in the team we hope he contributes in the

future

, but there is a lot of work to do and he is still young and still developing. There are a lot of expectations for him, but he has some way to go to get there. Marcus is in and then the nature of all of us in academia is that we're always hoping that well, there's a job done, how do we get the next one? So you're looking at people like Copyco and he's really In the early stages, you know he's made his debut and he's just at the beginning of hopefully following those other two that I just mentioned on a similar journey, but again he's It needs a lot of support and a lot of work to do. but you know that football has a funny habit of always looking a

head

and sometimes you forget to live in the present moment and enjoy it, so last night it was great to be able to sit andenjoy living in the present moment and accepting that there are Two guys who have been with us since they were young and who, you know, achieved great things this season and you know, we hope that they can continue in the same vein and reach their full potential.

¿ Are you finding the expectations at Manchester United from previous roles? Obviously, 85 years old, an academy player has now been continuously on match day. Team in the starting line, in fact, the pressure on higher expectations, have you found that has changed with moving to Manchester United? Yes, pressure means different things at different clubs, so I knew that at Watford, if I didn't get kids into the first team, we would go out of business. I remember, I think two occasions, during my time there, where we packed up on a Friday night. and we said goodbye to our colleagues because we weren't sure if on Monday morning the club would still exist, so there is pressure trying to get kids on the team to keep the club going;

It's a huge pressure trying to keep people in work and The fact that we managed to keep a club without any investment over a period of time and make it suitable for a takeover and now for a very different club to the one I worked for is a great achievement, but it's a different scale at Manchester United, so you can use the word pressure, so there is a pressure to try and get kids into the toughest league in world football. That's not an easy thing to do. There is a pressure to make sure we uphold the values ​​and behaviors of all those who came before.

We were together the other week at the unveiling of the Jimmy Murphy statue as if he had established a code of um the way we should work in terms of the way you should play, the way you should behave, um, the qualities that young people need to demonstrate in this football club, he laid down those markers, there is a pressure to make sure that we are the custodians and the guardians of the culture that he established, so that is pressure, you can use the word pressure and I'm not sure it's really pressure, it's just a privilege, okay, what comes with pressure is a resource, being able to build the right program for young players, it's backed by the coach, a board that's passionate about youth development and that maintains youth development at the highest level.

The heart of the approach is that we are adopting a kind of fan-based, young-player-obsessed scheming and we get great satisfaction from seeing youngsters like Alejandro make their debut, so it's pressure, it's a privilege. I tend to think it's a privilege. I think every member of Academy and Club staff comes to work knowing how privileged we are to be at this club and to follow in the footsteps of those great people who came before us, so yeah, I'm not as sure I see it as Pressure though it is, you know you have to deliver at this football club, you can't take your foot off the gas, it's an unforgiving place, the focus is on you, you have to make sure you and your staff are equipped. to be able to offer the right level of expertise to make sure we're successful, yes, that's appropriate, we're actually filming this

interview

at the Jimmy Murphy Center.

Here he was The Benchmark, as you said, he laid the foundation of what is expected. At Manchester United, that relationship with coach Overton in the first season, like you, do you have a lot of dialect movement? Do you have a lot of input in the different age groups of the academy? How is your relationship with 10 hack? Yes, look absolutely, he is a youth developer let them exactly he is a youth developer at heart he has a great track record in developing young players he himself has worked in academies he has debuted many young players and has largely been appointed in this football club for those reasons he is also a wonderful manager and he is going to put a winning team on the field regularly but the fact that he knows how to incorporate young players into his team is largely the reason he is here , I imagine, and that is why he has a great interest in the work we do.

What we are doing now is difficult, isn't it in a big club like this? The coach has to predominantly focus on winning on the weekends. But we have a regular dialogue with the players at the top end of the program and we are talking about how we could transition to the first team and we could be talking about, you know, we are already talking about pre-season and which players could support the first team to train during the preseason, but the great strength is that it is. not only the manager who is passionate about youth development, so if you look at the staff he has around him, many of his employees also know experienced youth developers, so there is a regular dialogue between the senior staff of the academy, whether Travis Binion.

Mark Dempsey and the first team staff, as well as Darren Fletcher, is probably the best connector between the two departments so we couldn't wish for anyone better than Darren to support us in providing young players to the first team because he has come through the program himself. himself, he's played at the highest level, he's won every trophy there is to win and he's worked in academies and when he came back to the club he also worked with young players with us for a period of time, so Darren is the nice guy. helping to bridge the gap between the Academy and the first team, that's great, but you know you also have Eric Ramsey who used to be a youth developer and is now a first team coach.

Steve McLaren has a history of giving young players their debuts. Richard Hart is the goalkeeping coach. I know I used to be the academy goalkeeping coach and a lot of the backroom staff have come from the academy to the first team, so there are a lot of organic connections between the academy and the first team and I think that's probably the best thing. the way we work here. It's just that nothing is too manufactured, we don't have to force things, it's really organic because there is a real belief in young players here, so those types of conversations are conversations that people seek out on a regular basis.

Yes, you mentioned the team. from Fletcher to Dempsey, in the opinion of everyone who is involved with the youth organisation, to the first team to get a little bit of information so that people know, it is a collective effort of all of you, let's say, for example, when it is decided where one. of the academy players take to the pitch because this season, seen from the outside, it seems that it has been a very prosperous season for many solitary plays, especially from the academy, they all did very well, many fans have said before that it did not seem So. many have progressed, although The Lawns didn't seem worth it, but this season there have been many quality loans and high performing loans throughout the first team and Academy.

Is it a collective? Do you all come together and decide where a player is now? It is best suited to what type of equipment will benefit them and their qualities. Yes absolutely. I think people will be surprised at how much time we spend talking about young players as individuals and what their plan should be. Do we need to change the plan? we need to go a little faster, we need to go a little slower, those kinds of conversations happen constantly and you're absolutely right, it's a collaboration, yes, for some players who are a little younger, that will be the academy.

The staff sitting around planning and working if we need an intervention from the sports science team or if they need a loan or if we need to think about their nutrition, or that, there's a lot of planning, but as they get a little bit. When you're older then you have to start having conversations between the first team and the Academy, and it's people like Dara Fletcher, John's murder, sometimes the coach, Les Parry, he's our loan co-ordinator, we're all sitting there discussing what is right for this player. Well, not all clubs take the same approach, but you know I firmly believe that the individual is more important than the team, so what you won't see is me and the staff trying to put together a world beating 11 to 18 and 21 to win the league because you know we're not here to win trophies, it's going to sound strange but our measure of success is debuts so sometimes you have to make a decision for the individual who is a

head

of the team so you will have seen some guys on loan this season who could have turned up every week in our 21s and we could have finished top of the league in the 20s, but it would have been right for those players who needed the extra challenge they needed. a big believer that learning happens in discomfort, so we have to create gaps in environments where they find it difficult, where they are failing a little.

We don't want to fail catastrophically, but we want them to feel a little bit of a struggle. and the challenge, that's where the learning takes place, so we make sure our teams are really young, so our 18's are an average age, I think, 17 and a half and our 21's are an average age of 19. Teams young people who are going to find. It's difficult, they are going to learn quickly and that will accelerate their learning and prepare them for senior football quicker and then the slightly older kids will train with the first team or we will loan them out, I don't think.

We have taken a different approach to loans this season and we are refining it year on year and you know, it is not always easy to identify the right club to find a caring coach of the type you are thinking of. What League are you going to put the boy in? Will it give you the right returns in terms of what you want that player to learn? Does he need to develop physically or does he need to develop technically? You have to find the right club, you can find the right environment and then you know the stars have to align a little bit because that club also needs to have a gap in their squad that suits the player you want. put on loan, so we've done a good job this year.

I think we've seen some lads have some great experiences, and those lads who have been on loan will have learned some things that could prepare them for the first team. So the pressure from crowds playing for three points or just playing senior football, but for others, they may not be on the right path for our first team and we will help them develop a series of senior appearances that they are going to make. really employable when they leave us and that's our job, not just to focus on the ganachos that could play in the first team, but to focus on all the players and make sure that we give them the best career they can have and me.

I'm very proud of the boys who left here and achieved great things that they didn't achieve in our first team, which is no shame because trying to play for Man United is a difficult thing to do, it's like landing on the moon if We can help the boys. Coming out of here and getting 500 League games anywhere we think we've served them well and loans play a really big role in that process. I think that's it now that you covered my next question within that answer there as in saying you get these red players. Is it sometimes difficult?

Maybe you get a Manchester United fan to buy through the academy, but they don't end up at the club, but your work in preparation for them moving on at a certain age. in life is that the hardest part of the job is sometimes, uh, telling a player and when that kind of decision comes at a certain age, when that would come as a decision made collectively again, yeah, so those decisions about which kids leave the program are always done collectively and occur at a series of intervals throughout the program. It's never much fun to sit down and talk to a child about the fact that his

future

lies elsewhere.

But it doesn't seem like sometimes the media portrays that we don't. we just have a random meeting out of nowhere and the kids are surprised. All our children have an individual plan. We will regularly talk to the children about where they are and where they are against their plan. If they deviate. We will know and we will have interventions to try to put it so that over a period of time children have a real awareness of where they are in their journey, the way we work, I think they won't see it. a lot of kids sitting on the sidelines don't get games, so when they get to the end of their time with us, they'll add up and say to themselves, you know what I had a fair chance.

I have had an incredible opportunity that this staff has. They invested in me, they are giving me the best possible opportunity. I have a great sense of satisfaction because I tried well and it didn't work for me and generally that's how it ends, don't get me wrong. The children are disappointed and will find it difficult for a few days or a week, but over time I think the children will look back on their experiences here and say: I loved it, it enriched my life. I have learned skills. as a footballer but, more importantly, as a person who will prepare me to become a successful adult, whether as a footballer orWe have guys who are going to be coaches, physiotherapists, teachers and accountants.

I think the journey through our system, I know it's like that because the kids come back and they tell us we regularly have kids come back and you know, long after they drop us off, they come back for dinner, yesterday we had a couple of guys and they Say yes, do you know what I learned? Some things that prepared me for life here. Simple things like Tony Whelan taught me how to wave a hat. Shake hands correctly and look someone in the eye. You wouldn't believe what an important skill. It's and my timing is really good thanks to Man United and you know I have a purpose in my life thanks to Man United so, yes, when the boys leave it's difficult, nobody likes to have those conversations, the boys will be disappointed, but I think most kids leave holding the experience close to their hearts.

We said goodbye to some guys, not just yesterday, they reached the end of their contracts, a couple of them debuted and I promise you. The conversation I had with them in the days before they left, I mean, long after we communicated the decision, was more of a goodbye kind of conversation. Those guys are leaving. No. I loved it and I'm excited about what's going to happen. It's ahead of me and I've backed myself to move forward and achieve great things because of the experiences I've had, that's predominantly the experience. I think so, I mean, it's good for you to answer that question because, like you said, sometimes it's portrayed differently.

In the media it's good to see that inside, but yes, I'm going to touch on that point. I actually think the media is pretty chill, you can see there's a lot of talk about guys leaving the football clubs I've been at. 20 years, sometimes kids debut and live a life where they will never need to have another job other than football, very, very occasionally, kids will have a hard time and struggle when they leave and we have to. making sure that we have the right support systems in place for those guys and we do, we have psychologists, counsellors, player support staff, an educational team and all these people that maybe the world doesn't know exist to support young people. . through that difficult period of time, but really the common experience is that middle group that walks away knowing that they've had a great time and that it's changed their life and that their association, you know, some kids might have been with us since nine on the way. until age 20 or 21, a big part of your childhood and I think you look back and think that shaped my childhood, what would I have been doing if I hadn't been involved in that positive activity three or four times a week?

That's really the real essence of Youth Development is making sure that kids leave. I haven't had that experience. Nick, it's been fantastic. Insight. Thanks for coming and talking to José in the United stands. It has been an absolute pleasure. It has been a pleasure. for me too thank you