Youth Development Officer Dan Ashworth (pictured) has strong beliefs in the answer to the question, 'Just how important is winning at youth level?', as he explains:

At First Team level it is obviously the most important element of the game but at Youth Level it is different.

On Sundays we play in Football League fixtures at Under-9's to Under-15's level.  These matches are called 'Development Games'.  This means that there are no cups, no leagues and we are not even allowed to publish results. This is so that the smaller, and maybe physically weaker players are not left out, managers can experiment, players can play in different positions; all of which managers and coaches are reluctant to do if a result is at stake.

Last year I played a Centre Midfielder at Centre Back for a few weeks as I felt he needed to work on his heading and tackling. I had the luxury of doing this knowing that if it had cost us the game it didn't matter, as long as it improved him as a player over time.

The first thing I ask the coaches that have gone away on a Sunday is, 'How did you play' and 'who did well for us?' not 'what was the score?'  Two years ago I explained this philosophy to the parents and there were a few looks of confusion.

The Under-19s Celebrate

The cynical would say, 'yeah it's just an excuse for losing'. I would agree if we were not winning any games.  But we are making this statement with our Under-17 and Under-19 teams both sitting on top of their respective leagues with 100% records!

Finally, and most crucially, the players must have a winning mentality. The coaches can experiment, but to reach the top then the players must want to win at everything they do, from a game of head tennis in training to a full game. They must want to get the better of their opponent at all times.

The players would do well to heed the great Bill Shankly who once said, 'Show me someone who doesn't mind losing and I will show you a loser'. What a great quote.

It is important to distinguish between the mentality of a youth coach and player.  The most important thing for the youth coach and department is not the winning of an Under-11 game, but getting players into that first team. and then John and Dale take over.

Dan Ashworth