Anthony Wright | As an academy the focus is always on who comes through next

When Wales boss Craig Bellamy named nine Swansea City academy graduates in his 26-man World Cup qualifying squad last week, or Ben Lloyd becomes the latest Joma High Performance Centre graduate to make a senior debut earlier this season, the emotions of pride among supporters are shared by coach Anthony Wright and his colleagues.

But those feelings also immediately prompt a question: who’s next?

Of those nine players in the Wales squad (Ben Cabango, Liam Cullen, Joe Allen, Ollie Cooper, Joe Rodon, Connor Roberts, Ben Davies, Josh Sheehan and Daniel James), Wright has worked with the majority over a career with the club that has seen him work with players from under-12 level right up to his current role as under-21s’ coach and interim first-team coach.

That over a third of the current Wales squad have passed through the Swans pathway is testament to the considerable work done by academy staff past and present.

There are few clubs anywhere in Europe who can justifiably claim to be exhibiting such influence on a senior national set-up, and it has been noticeable how Bellamy – better known for his affinity with Cardiff City – has regularly spoken warmly of how players are grounded and developed in SA1.

Wright – who hails from Townhill and played his grassroots football for West End as a youngster – acknowledges there is a sense of accomplishment at seeing what those players have gone on to achieve with Swansea, Wales and further afield, but is also acutely aware there is no time to dwell or dispense pats on the back.

The aim is simple; to keep the production line turning out players who are the best they can be, on and off the pitch.

“For us as coaches and staff in the academy structure those things make you feel incredibly proud,” says under-21s lead coach Wright, who is currently also working as part of the first-team staff under caretaker head coach Alan Sheehan.

“The feeling that we all get when someone steps over the white line for Swansea in the first team environment, or for Wales at senior level, there is immense pride at having played a part in their journey, no matter how big or small.

“As you say, Craig Bellamy has been very complimentary, and no-one should forget that Craig himself has experience of academy coaching.

“Whenever I spoke to him he always thought very highly of the pathway we had in place at Swansea, and how we wanted to help players along their journey.

“We have always had that pathway here, it’s so important, and then it’s about giving them the right setting and environment to develop.

“We have produced players and continue to do so, and I am sure there are players in the next batch along who can do the same and make that step.

“I think if you look at how we have worked this season, our under-18s have had a lot of players who are in our under-16s’ squad, our under-21s have field a number of first-year scholars.

That might mean we have some tough days and results, but the important thing is those players are getting opportunities really early, and we also have a number of players out on loan getting that senior experience.

“That’s a clear way of working and a real selling point for the club and for any players on the outside looking at what we do.

“But it’s all about looking at what’s next. The objective of the academy is to produce players who can play first-team football for our football club.

“So much hard work goes into that, because we want players to find those different steps as seamless as possible.

“But the moment an Ollie Cooper gets established in the senior team, or a Ben Lloyd makes a senior debut, the thought process is already about what we can do next. It never stops, it’s relentless but that’s the way it has to be if we are to hopefully keep the proud record going that we have.

“It’s what we work for, what spurs us on. There’s nothing better than hearing that chant: “He’s one of our own.”

Those who make the grade at senior club and international level are inevitably those who grab the spotlight, but the reality is that those players are the tip of the academy iceberg.

Beneath them are a variety of different stories and experiences; football is a brutal industry and the number of those that ‘make it’ is dwarfed by those for whom the dream never comes true.

But each of those individuals is important when it comes to the academy’s work as a whole, with no shortage of time and effort devoted to giving players the skills to thrive off the pitch, and develop values they can take into life beyond football if that is where their journey takes them.

“We want players to have real values, those are the fundamentals. We want them to represent the academy and the football club in the right way,” adds Wright.

“They know we are focused on them as people, not just players.

“The work that goes on away from the pitch on the educational and personal side is massive.

“You have to have empathy for the players as human beings. We have a good balance here, we have an excellent learning environment, but there’s also an understanding that there are standards we have to meet and we are as honest as we can be about that on and off the pitch.

“For example, it does not matter if you are a footballer, or a coach, or a teacher or anything else, you cannot be consistently late.

“If we had a player given the chance to train for the first team and they reported late for the session, that reflects poorly on them and it reflects poorly on us.

“There needs to be a discipline and accountability, and we don’t ask anything of the players we would not ask of ourselves.

“So you need that balance.”

Wright’s acknowledges his perspective on player development has been largely shaped by his own experiences.

A talented young midfielder, he was spotted by scouts playing for West End in a Boys Club of Wales cup final in Margam, and he was soon having trials with some of the biggest clubs in the country. Glasgow Rangers, Norwich City, Swansea City and Liverpool were among them.

While Wright had grown up watching the Swans at the Vetch, he was a die-hard Liverpool fan, and so the pull of signing for the Anfield club was too enticing to turn down.

He formally signed for the Reds aged 14, and he was soon lining up alongside such fledgling young talents Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen.

Wright loved the experience, but as he hit his mid-teens his perspective began to change and his enjoyment on the pitch suffered.

“A scout from Port Talbot called Fred Edgington spotted me, I managed to play quite well in the final and I had the phone call,” he said.

“I was a Liverpool fan, so you can imagine what that felt like as a 12 year old, as I was at the time.

“There was interest from a few other clubs, I was going around the UK. I had trials at Swansea, Norwich, Manchester United, Rangers, Liverpool and QPR.

“I think I’m right in saying that, at that time, by the age of 14 you had to decide who you would sign for, and for me it came down to Swansea, Liverpool and Norwich. It was a tough decision, but I went with where I thought I would learn the most and there was an attachment because I was a Liverpool fan.

“I wouldn’t change it looking back, those memories will live with me forever and it’s made me who I am today. I played alongside the likes of Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen week in and week out. The standard of that team was incredible.

“I was there from 1992 to 1996. I was really highly thought of, but when I got to the age of 15 or 16 I started to let that become a pressure for me.

“I started to hide a little bit, to play with fear and anyone will tell you that it’s the one thing that really upsets me, is to see a player who is on the pitch and has that fear because – having experienced it myself – the last thing we want is a situation where a Swansea City player feels that. We don’t want the environment to give you that emotion.

“We want players to play with freedom, and I look back and I think my downfall was that I froze and stopped being myself.”

When Wright was released, it was understandably a considerable blow.

Despite that disappointment, he had the chance to continue his development with Oxford United, where he would make his senior debut during the 1998-99 season..

However, there would be more heartache when budget cuts meant a proposal for a first professional deal instead ended with him leaving the U’s.

A positive trial spell at Swindon Town ended in not dissimilar fashion, and a dejected Wright returned to south Wales.

He would play again for the likes of West End, Garden Village Llanelli Town and Cwmbran Town, whilst making his first steps in coaching.

But Wright himself admits that he has regrets about making the decision to stop chasing his dream of becoming professional at such a young age.

“I signed a two-year YTS at Oxford and, after the first year, I was around the first team quite a lot and I was set to get a pro contract for a couple of years,” he said.

“In the second of those years I made my debut and was in the squad more of less week in and week out. That was a time when the bench did not have as many players on it, but I also had several starts.

“Towards the end of that season we had shaken hands on a pro contract, but then there was financial uncertainty around the club and I was one of about eight or nine players who were pulled in and told we were actually being released. It was really tough to take.

“I felt I was playing well, I was in the Wales Under-21 squad regularly, I had played for Wales B. I was 18 and I felt I was in a good place, and it suddenly got taken away and I struggled mentally with it.

“I had a chance to go to Swindon, and I spent a couple of weeks up there with Jimmy Quinn and they were keen on signing me, but then I got the call on the way home that there was no budget to do the deal.

“I just felt like the world had caved in on me, and I made the decision that I would give it up and stop chasing my dream. I wish now, looking back, that was not the case, but that’s what I did.

“To players now who suffer those disappointments, I always try to say for them not to give up, to keep going and to keep believing. Those setbacks will come but it’s how you deal with them.

“I certainly think those experiences were informative for me now when it comes to speaking to players and trying to offer guidance.

“There were unquestionably mistakes I made, and it’s important for our players to understand what the journey can look like. It gives me a balance as a coach because it’s a personal learning I have been through and it helps me support players.”

His early coaching experience saw him take West End up through the Welsh Leagues and win the first division. The chance to start his coaching journey with the Swans, and to work with some of the players we mentioned at the start of this piece, would soon follow.

“When I came back after Oxford, there were a few things in the pipeline, but I started playing again for Llanelli in the Welsh Premier League under the likes of Leighton James, Wyndham Evans, and later Peter Nicholas,” continues Wright.

“But I got a nasty injury against Cardiff City in a friendly.

“I ruptured my Achilles, it put me out for a long time and I knew then I had to look at what was next. I worked for a football company that was tied to a government scheme called Soccer Skills, which I did around playing once I’d recovered.

“You worked with people aged 18 to 24 who had been out of work for a number of months, but we would put a football programme together that was based around an NVQ delivery to get people back on the pathway back to work, and that was really rewarding.

“I made the move to play for Cwmbran and I loved that, but then I had a call from Martin Evans to say there was a role at Gorseinon College to lead their first team. They trained Monday, Tuesday and Friday and played Wednesdays.

“The college had a partnership with Llanelli, who I had not long left and who were struggling lower down in the table. But I had an attachment to Llanelli too, and I made the decision to tie the two together so I re-signed for the Reds.

“So I ran the football academy at Gower College, as it’s called now, and won numerous titles in the English system, and that was a big learning experience for me in what was a safe environment, and I also took on coaching West End during that time.

“But when that opportunity came to join Swansea, and I was being asked to come in, ultimately I felt that decision had to be down to me and what I wanted to do to progress.

“I joined as a part-time coach under Tony Pennock. It was a split role, to lead the under-12s but also assist the under-15s and 16s with Gary Richards.

“It fitted around my other coaching work so it was almost like being full-time. I did that for about eight months and then got the chance to join Swansea full-time as the under-16s lead and to work with the under-18s.

“We had just become a category one programme and we had a lot of players who came through at that time, which was brilliant.

“From there I came up to the under-23s with Kris O’Leary, so it’s felt like a natural progression of gaining more experience and I love my job and it motivates me every day. It drives me every day.”

And what of that batch of nine players preparing to try and get Wales’ bid to reach the 2026 World Cup finals in the United States?

Wright has warm memories, but it is telling that he rounds off with the same question that initially arrived much earlier in this interview: who’s next?

“I look back at it, I think Ben (Cabango) came in and joined us as an under-14 or under-15 player, so myself and Gary Richards worked with that age-group,” says Wright.

“I worked with Liam Cullen and Ollie Cooper for a number of years, I worked with Connor Roberts briefly when I came up to the under-23s as they were then.

“Joe Allen and Ben Davies were a bit before my time, but I worked with Joe Rodon and Dan James too.

“But the point I want to make is that there were so many coaches and members of staff who were involved in helping all those players along their path.

“It’s not just about me, it’s about everyone. Everyone contributes and everyone has a part to play, and then the players themselves have to be able to play arguably the biggest part by then putting it all out on the field.

“I think being with the under-21s means you get the limelight a bit more as it’s the final stage before they go into senior football, so it gets a bit more attention.

“When a player has been with us from under-eight or under-nine level and gets all the way to senior football, an awful lot of people have been part of it. It’s a real team effort.

“It’s certainly special seeing players like Ben (Cabango), Liam and Ollie Cooper come all the way through and to have seen so much of their journeys.

“Up to now I think as an academy we’ve done a really good job of it. But what matters now is, can we get the next batch through?”