BREAKING NEWS: Colchester United keen for academy youngsters to challenge

The goal of COLCHESTER United’s academy directors is to supply Danny and Nicky Cowley with the next group of gifted players for the starting squad.

This season, a number of U’s under-21 players made the transition to the senior team. Samson Tovide, Bradley Ihionvien, and Chay Cooper, for example, all played for the team in League Two.

At the end of the season, Colchester released a lot of young players, and some well-known players from the Professional Development League, like Gene Kennedy, Donell Thomas, Kaan Bennett, and Harry Beadle, left.

Oscar Thorn, Frankie Terry, and Hakeem Sandah, among others, will be hoping to make a splash the next season and represent the U’s in the EFL, following in the footsteps of Tovide and Ihionvien.

Liam Bailey, the Colchester Under-21 manager, believes that when the club’s young players get a chance to play for the first team, they need to be able to take on a winning mindset.

“People look at results and there are a lot of games (under-21) that we lost, at the start of the season,” he stated.

We had a lot of players in and around the first team at that point, which is what we were supposed to do.

“That’s what our job is about,” said Brad Ihionvien, Samson Tovide, and Jayden Fevrier, among others who made an impression on the squad.

That’s a huge positive for us, but we’re already working on the next batch and attempting to prepare them for the management group.

“This team needs to produce some players and help the team win. We’ve suffered a little bit over the last couple of years.”

“Learning is important, and what we’re trying to develop here are players who can join the first team, where winning is everything, so they need to have that winning mentality and know-how.”

Bailey, a veteran academy coach for the United States, says he is having fun working with Danny and Nicky Cowley since their arrival in January.

The previous manager of Maldon and Tiptree claims that he learns something new every day from the seasoned pair.

Bailey continued, “It’s always great to see how first-team managers work and they’re all slightly different. I’ve worked with all the managers this season.”

“I believe you can sense the positive energy on a matchday.

“Hopefully, things are moving forward and getting better now that you’re working with two people who have experience; you’re learning every day.”

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