Thorn To Mentor Academy Players

Last updated : 05 May 2011 By Covsupport News Service/RD

Coventry City manager Andy Thorn has said he wants to get all of his players playing a pass and move style of football and now the senior squad are getting to grips with the more exciting philosophy he is turning his attention to the Academy.

With the younger generation of players becoming available for selection into the first team, Thorn is keen to make sure they know what is expected of them on the filed of play and the only way to do that is to teach them in the same way as he and head coach Steve Harrison teach the senior squad players.

From the moment Thorn took over from the dismissed Aidy Boothroyd, he changed the style of play from a long ball game to a quick pass and move style which has won plaudits from the fans and opposition alike.

Thorn explained to the CT: "I have set my stall out in terms of the way I want the first team to play and I won't change that and I want us to play like that right through the club."

The man charged with teaching the Academy players the Thorn style is the Academy manager Gregor Rioch and he is relishing the opportunity.

He said,"I have always known that Andy likes to play good, attractive football and from the moment he stepped in he said to me that he wants the lads to play pass and move football."

"I think that in most clubs if you have got something that comes from above and filters all the way through it gives us an easy coaching syllabus because we are all working from the same sheet from the under-nines right through to the Under-18s and into the first team."

"I thought Saturday's first team performance against Reading was an absolute delight to watch and from my point of view I would have paid money to watch that, without a doubt. You bring people along to watch that and that's what Coventry City's history has been about, a passing culture and good footballing culture."

"It was as complete a performance without winning a game and the more often you play like that, like Swansea, Norwich and QPR have done in our division this year, then the more benefits you will see."

He continued: "Personally, the club at board level can dictate how you play in the academy. If Barcelona lose Pep Guardiola their academy won't change the way they do things because it has been instilled throughout from above and that's the right way forward and I think Andy sees that as well and what he will find is that we have got some good young boys who will be capable, eventually, of breaking into his first team."

"Myself and Richard Stephens have been promoting attractive football in the four years we've been here, trying to play through the thirds, out from the back, through the midfield and up to the strikers and mixing the styles as well. So that's what we have encouraged and the great thing is we will be able to promote that again next year."

"Youth players must learn to develop the ability and knowledge to play different game styles and playing against different styles," said Rioch who insists on all youth team players watching the first team whenever their fixtures allow it. So they must learn how to press, how to drop off and be compact, how to play in a 4-4-2, with a striker playing off the front, in a 4-3-3 and 4-5-2, so it is the all round game."

"They must learn where the space is and when to play the ball into space and into feet, so there is so much to teach them over the years and that's why players like Jordan Clarke, who has been in the building since he was eight years of age, has been brought up well. And the earlier you get them the better."

He concluded by saying: "As an academy manager and youth coach you see what the first team are doing because if the manager if attempting to put one of your lads in and he's doing things with the youth team that the first team aren't doing then the likelihood is he isn't going to get many games until he learns to adapt."

"So we enforce our Under-18s to watch every home game when they get the chance when we are not playing away from home ourselves so that the apprentices can see what the first team are doing and the style of play, who's in front of them in their position and what they have to do to get in that spot."