To close the gap between the academy and the first squad, the Bluebirds have expanded their coaching staff and added a new role.
In order to close the gap between its academy and first squad, Cardiff City has appointed a new coach.
With the express purpose of enhancing players and increasing the success rate of developing academy players into first team players, the Bluebirds have hired Darren Davies to the position of individual development coach.
Davies, a native of Port Talbot, has a dazzling resume and is well-liked among those who work in the industry. The 45-year-old finished his playing career in Australia, where his coaching career truly took off, after having played for teams like Greenock Morton and Forest Green.
The Welshman started off working for Melbourne Victory’s youth team, where the manager at the time was current Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglu. Postecoglu was so impressed with Davies that when the Spurs manager was appointed as the coach of Australia, he included him to his coaching team. Additionally, Davies was a member of the Brisbane Roar staff that included former Liverpool and Cardiff striker Robbie Fowler.
He returned to Wales in 2021 and joined Swansea City’s youth programme, although he left in the summer after two years since Cardiff had created a position particularly for him to fulfil. Taking what is being referred to as a “elite training group” to Cardiff, which will include the brightest young talents from the academy as well as periphery players from the first team, will play a significant role in the performance.
Every Thursday, they will train together with the goal of easing the transition between the academy and the first team and assisting first-team staff in better understanding where the best academy talents are in their development and how far away they are from playing entertaining senior football. Sessions are anticipated to start at the end of the month and are reportedly being led by Davies and first-team coach Tom Ramasut.
“Working with Erol Bulut and the first team staff has been important for me. It’s great to have that link in place even though I work predominantly with the academy sides,” Davies said.
“Tom Ramasut has been important for keeping that link and he’s working hard with me to get the (elite) training group up and running, which the rest of the first team coaching staff have also been really open towards. We’re hoping to get the training group up and running in the next few weeks and that’s a project we are all excited for.
“Tom has been fantastic to work with. We’ve known each other a long time, having played together for Wales U15s when we were younger. Our paths have crossed many times and it’s been great to reconnect with someone like him and to be on the same page with a shared goal in mind. Everyone involved is singing from the same hymn sheet.
“It’s an extra layer of detail for us as an academy, to really be able to invest in these young people and to give them the very best chance of progressing and having careers in the game.
“Having the Thursday training group has been endorsed by the first team staff, so it’s a good chance for the players to get on the manager’s radar and to be comfortable with being in that environment. We have some very talented players here at the academy and hopefully this new training group will be beneficial to players and staff alike.”
It’s a proactive move on the part of Cardiff as they continue to go inward, as is the fashion and imperative in contemporary football, in order to generate more of their own and concentrate more on the personal growth of players than the collective development of the academy sides.
The Bluebirds hope to increase the number of young players they have promoted to the first team during the last three seasons compared to the preceding ten years. Gavin Chesterfield, the academy manager, articulately discussed this during the launch of the Bluebirds’ new academy facility in Llanrumney, and the club is hoping that his appointment will help to maximise the potential of the junior system.
“I’ve known Gavin Chesterfield for many years and when I spoke to him about this new position I realised that it was like starting to write on a blank piece of paper,” Davies added. “It’s a growing responsibility within modern football, with a lot of top clubs developing their own.
“Cardiff City has been proactive in developing this role and there are plenty of things for me to be excited about. Aside from working for a club of this size I know a lot of the staff and have friendships with and a professional respect for the people here. As for myself, this is a new challenge; I’ve been involved in coaching different age groups throughout my career, both for clubs and international sides, so the opportunity to progress further is really appealing.
“I’m now based within the professional development phase and spend my time with the U21s and U18s, working alongside the coaches. However, whereas a team coach is focused on the group, my role is to hone in on the individuals and work on what we can do to improve them as young players who can make the step into the first team.
“With the ages we are working with, these are players who are looking to push into senior football, so it’s my job to try to get those extra few percentages from them on an individual basis and over the line into senior football.”
A group of top-performing academy players will be chosen by Davies for the elite training group, serving as an incentive for those already working in the system and ensuring that Ramasut, the link between the first team and the academy, is regularly keeping an eye on the brightest young players. Cardiff is using the strategy after Liverpool assistant Pep Ljinders launched a similar plan in the summer to lessen Jurgen Klopp’s workload.
In a recent interview, Ljinders discussed Liverpool’s “talent group” and the idea that underlies it, which Cardiff is aiming to adopt. The manager cannot attend every young game, so I reasoned that we should send the top players from the academy to watch for him.
“We brought the best talents together in all the age groups to show him. We (the first team) train at four in the afternoon; at two o’clock is the Talent Group. They are already coming with us on pre-season and when the season starts they train here one time a week.
“They can watch Mo Salah up close – the way he prepares himself in the physio room, the way he prepares himself before the session, how treats his boots, everything. All these small things, these unwritten things – for young players to learn from their models is so important.
“The academy normally is a competitor for the scouting department. For example, when Jurgen has to decide to buy a right defender or go with the 17 or 18-year-old Trent Alexander-Arnold. Who is he going to choose? When he doesn’t know the boy, when he only played in the 18s? You need balls, you need guts to put these young players in and that is what we want. We create a relationship and we create hope for all the others in the academy.”