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The Academy - Squads 2001/02

The Under-12s and older age groups play 11-a-side; younger age groups play 8-a-side (although the Under-11s sometimes play 9-a-side in preparation for their next season as Under-12s). In addition to the coaches shown below, Stephen Smith coached the Academy goalkeepers.

Under-19

Coach - Brendan Rodgers
To be eligible players must have been born after 31/8/1982

The Under-19 Academy side will include players from younger age groups as well, particularly those who are Under-18 as there are no League matches at that age group.

Justin Wilson (left-back) has played in an Under-19 friendly and in the FA Premier Academy League whilst on trial. Chad Harpur (goalkeeper), Denis Behan (forward), Marcel Nugent (defender) have played in the FA Premier Academy League whilst on trial. These players may actually be in younger age groups than Under-19.

At the end of January 2002, Reading announced that Declan O'Hara, Ryan Maxwell and Scott Williams would not be offered professional contracts when their scholarships expire. Joey Alcott, Matt Birnie and Adam Campion have not yet been offered contracts but have been given a chance to impress in the last few months of the 2001/02 season. (Ricky Allaway was given a professional contract to the end of the 2002/03 season some time ago.)

Under-18

Normally, these scholars will play in the Under-19 team. However the FA Youth Cup is for under-18s (that is, players born after 31/8/1983).

Simon Cox is called "senior" to avoid confusion with the Under-15 player of the same name.

Matthew Hopton (2/3/1984?, forward) has played for the Under-19 team in the FA Premier Academy League.

Under-17

Coach - Naseem Bashir
To be eligible players must have been born after 31/8/1984

The Under-17 Academy side will include players from younger age groups as well, particularly those who are Under-16 as there are no League matches at that age group (but see the comment immediately before the Under-16 squad list).

Frankie Juchau (right-back), Daniel McKenzie, Bradley Crane, Ryan Townsend (defender), Aaron Wright, Bert Foster, Lee Williams, Jordan Rhodes, Daniel Johnson, Carl Bird, Mark Howlett, Ryan Golden and Matthew Jarvis have played in the FA Premier Academy League whilst on trial. A player called Brown played in at least one Under-17 friendly. Also there was at some stage a player called Church. (All these players may actually be in younger age groups than Under-17 - the last two named were also presumably trialists.)

Under-16

Normally these players will play in the Under-17 team, although apparently some (or all?) of the "Under-15" games this season are in fact a mixture of Under-15 and Under-16. It may be that the team is preparing for next season when the Under-17s were expected to have a 1st January cut-off date instead of 31st August (although in fact this change did not happen).

Mark Brown, Tim Coe, Matthew Jones, Leon Kew, Christopher Milstead, Ian Oliver, Kieron Thorne and Daniel Walsh all disappeared from the squad lists in the Evening Post on 27/2/2002. I assume this means that they have not been given an Academy scholarship for 2002/03. If so, it implies that Nathan Bailey, Leon Bird, Darren Campbell, Russell Lucas and John Mullins do have a scholarship.

In 4/2002, I learnt that Russell Lucas, John Mullins and Richard Bouton have been awarded scholarships. On 22/5/2002, Nicky Hammond said that we had seven new scholars of whom four were from Reading's Under-16s and one each from Chelsea, West Ham United and Charlton Athletic - presumably Nathan Bailey, Leon Bird, Darren Campbell and Ahmet Rifat are the other four with Mullins, Bouton and Rifat the three from other clubs.

On 25/6/2002, Reading announced that the seven new scholars were indeed Russell Lucas, John Mullins, Richard Bouton, Nathan Bailey, Leon Bird, Darren Campbell and Ahmet Rifat.

Under-15

Coach - Martin Kuhl
To be eligible players must have been born after 31/8/1986

Simon Cox is called "junior" to avoid confusion with the Under-18 goalkeeper of the same name.

Sean Ridgeway disappeared from the squad lists in the Evening Post on 27/2/2002.

Under-14

Coach - Alex Dyer
To be eligible players must have been born after 31/8/1987

Under-13

Coaches - Micky Lewis and Michael Wallace
To be eligible players must have been born after 31/8/1988

The Under-13s play 11-a-side with four periods of 20 minutes each.

Samuel Sherwood (Defender) was in the squad at the start of the season but stopped playing during the season.

Under-12

Coach - John Gargan
To be eligible players must have been born after 31/8/1989

Sam Elkins and Daniel Herbert appeared in the squad lists in the Evening Post for the first time on 27/2/2002.

Mitchell Costin disappeared from the squad lists in the Evening Post on 27/2/2002.

Luke Williams, aged 12 at 3/7/2002, has signed for Reading until the age of 16.

Arthur Swain was released in 2002.

Under-11

Coach - Alan Saville
To be eligible players must have been born after 31/8/1990

James Gilhan appeared in the squad lists in the Evening Post for the first time on 27/2/2002.

Under-10

Coach - Adam Pilling
To be eligible players must have been born after 31/8/1991

Tom Moran, Stuart Bryan and Paris Williams were released in 4/2002. Ben Hutchins was signed up at about the same time.

Under-9

Coach - Lee Herron
To be eligible players must have been born after 31/8/1992

George Saville played for the Under-9 team this season but did not appear in the official squad list.

Darren Caskey's son was due to sign for the Academy on his ninth birthday in April 2002. However, he appeared in the Under-9s squad for 2002/03, so it was presumably his eighth birthday.

Under-8 and Under-7

Reading operated an "elite centre" for players at younger age groups, certainly including Under-8s.

Kieran Maylen plays for Calleva Under-8s and has been signed up for Reading's Academy. However, he did not appear in the 2002/03 Under-9s squad.

The Academy Scouting Network

This was the network for 2000/01 - it may not have been up-to-date for 2001/02.

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