Deadbat
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Academy / Development side
A huge thanks to @goodpinch (twitter handle) for his help in most of this section and as always has helped me a fair bit to fill in the gaps etc. Indeed, a good section (majority!) of below was taken from @goodpinch who gave me lots of details on the competitions, form and players! He gave me all the details on competitions, how the teams fared at each age group and all the player stats. Fantastic research!
The Blades continued to run an Elite Player Performance Plan Category 2 academy in the Premier League’s Professional Development League, for an twelfth season. The senior age category was U21 and the younger age category continued at U18.
The sides a U21 side has very successful and won their league again – the fourth season in a row and this year finally won the playoffs. The standard does seem poor and shows why we need to move up in terms of Academy category. Suppose we can only beat what you play and this is all against a backdrop of a number of players going on loan or being involved in the first team.
The u18’s have not fared as strongly as they have in years past and been around the middle of their league most of the season but a number have now moved up to the u21’s and maybe this current crop is not as strong. I saw a few games at Shirecliffe and it seemed the u16’s were always hammering teams where as the u18’s were often struggling or not as convincing.
Derek Geary ran the u18’s for a few years and then when Lester was elevated to the first team was named head of the academy operations and now the under 18’s are run by Paul Quinn who was appointed before this season. He was manager at Brighouse and Tadcaster Albion before running the under 14’s at the academy and has worked his way up.
Michael Collins is the coach at the u21 level and he has done really well helping bring some of the younger players through and ensure despite a number going on loan or being involved with the first team, we continue to play the right way and keep winning too – often against more experienced players. Collins had a brief spell as Bradford manager and seems to have hit the ground running with results and performance.
Some of the u18’s/U21’s interchange – many are at different points of their development of course but it is not uncommon for players to feature for both too and of course some have been around the first team. We have not used many senior players as over age players for the U21’s but not many teams do this anymore and that is how it should be.
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Season summaries
The Blades continued to run an Elite Player Performance Plan Category 2 academy in the Premier League’s Professional Development League, for a twelfth season. The senior age category continued for a second season at U21 after six seasons at U23. The younger age category remained at U18.
With Reading rejoining Category 1 and both AFC Bournemouth and Fleetwood Town moving up to Category 2, there were 21 clubs split 11 in the North and ten in the South. Again the Blades were placed into the North section and played the other ten teams in their section home and away plus the ten teams in the South section once - a total of 30 league games. The two teams finishing highest in each section qualified for the four-team playoffs to determine the national champions.
The U21s were again invited to play in the Premier League Cup, a competition mainly for those Category 1 clubs not playing in UEFA youth competitions but with a number of invited non-Category 1 clubs to make up the numbers. The competition provides at least six games, three at home and three away, in a group of four clubs before progressing to a knock-out.
The U18s entered the 72nd FA Youth Cup. They also played in the U18 Professional Development League Cup, a competition for Category 2 clubs and a number of invited Category 3 and 4 clubs to make up the numbers. The competition provides at least three games in a group of four before progressing to a knock-out.
Micky Collins continued to lead the senior age group with Matt Thorpe joining the club to lead the U18s after Paul Quinn’s departure. Del Geary continued as academy head.
Competition Overviews
U21 Professional Development League (“U21PDL”)
The Blades came into the campaign off the back of three consecutive North section titles, although they had failed to go on and win the national title on each occasion.
An incredible start to the season saw five straight wins with 26 goals scored and just 4 conceded. Although they couldn’t keep that run going, it took until game ten before the first defeat of the season. The goals kept coming with the Blades eventually scoring four or more in a third of their games. Despite a slight mid-season wobble with just two points from three games and a late push by both Birmingham City and Sheffield Wednesday, a strong finish of seven wins from the last eight games saw the Blades claim a fourth successive North section title.
The playoff semi final brought South section runners-up Swansea City to Bramall Lane. An injury hit Blades took control early on and never looked like giving it up as they comfortably won 4-2 through goals from Louie Marsh, Jay Tinsdale, Sam Aston and a first at U21 level for Zain Tahir.
Bramall Lane was chosen for the playoff final and the Blades welcomed north section runners-up Birmingham City who had won at Millwall in the other semi-final. The Blades, with an unchanged matchday squad, got off to the best possible start as captain Owen Hampson put them in front in the 5th minute. It was a very tight game but a late Sam Ashton goal gave the Blades a 2-0 victory and the national title for the first time.
Owen Hampson had the most starts with 25, the most overall appearances with 27 and spent the most time on the pitch with 2242 minutes. Louie Marsh was the top scorer with 16 goals.
Premier League Cup (“PLC”)
The Blades were placed in a group with three Category 1 academies - Blackburn Rovers, Reading and West Bromwich Albion which turned out to be a very tight affair. With one game remaining only Reading were out of contention for the knock-out stages. In fact the other three clubs were all still within a shout of winning the group. The Blades were in the strongest position knowing only a three goal home defeat combined with the other game going a certain way could stop them qualifying. In the end the three clubs all ended on the same points with the Blades superior goal difference taking them through as group winners and setting up a home tie in round 2. Blackburn Rovers qualified in second place.
The last 16 brought the Blades a home tie against Swansea City. After initially being scheduled to be played at Scunthorpe United’s Glanford Park, the game was moved to Bramall Lane where the Blades ran out comfortable 5-1 winners.
The Blades were the only Category 2 academy to make the quarter finals and were drawn at home to Nottingham Forest. In a game played at Bramall Lane, despite a brace from Will Osula, the Blades lost 3-2 and missed out on a trip to Tottenham Hotspur in the semi final.
Owen Hampson played in all eight games, starting seven of them. His 648 minutes played were the most of any Blades player. Antwoine Hackford was top scorer with six goals.
U18 Professional Development League (“U18PDL”)
After four consecutive top three finishes including back-to-back playoff campaigns over the previous two seasons, the young Blades endured a poor start to their league campaign picking up just ten points in as many games. A better middle third moved the Blades away from the lower reaches of the table and a similar run-in meant they finished in the top half but 15 points adrift of the playoffs. While not as prolific at goalscoring as the U21s, when the U18s won they scored lots of goals. More than half of their wins saw three or more goals scored by the Blades.
Marshall Francis had the most appearances with 26, including 22 starts. He was also top scorer with eight goals. Sam Aston and Zain Tahir had the most starts with 23. Sam Aston also spent the most time on the pitch with 2098 minutes.
A huge thanks to @goodpinch (twitter handle) for his help in most of this section and as always has helped me a fair bit to fill in the gaps etc. Indeed, a good section (majority!) of below was taken from @goodpinch who gave me lots of details on the competitions, form and players! He gave me all the details on competitions, how the teams fared at each age group and all the player stats. Fantastic research!
The Blades continued to run an Elite Player Performance Plan Category 2 academy in the Premier League’s Professional Development League, for an twelfth season. The senior age category was U21 and the younger age category continued at U18.
The sides a U21 side has very successful and won their league again – the fourth season in a row and this year finally won the playoffs. The standard does seem poor and shows why we need to move up in terms of Academy category. Suppose we can only beat what you play and this is all against a backdrop of a number of players going on loan or being involved in the first team.
The u18’s have not fared as strongly as they have in years past and been around the middle of their league most of the season but a number have now moved up to the u21’s and maybe this current crop is not as strong. I saw a few games at Shirecliffe and it seemed the u16’s were always hammering teams where as the u18’s were often struggling or not as convincing.
Derek Geary ran the u18’s for a few years and then when Lester was elevated to the first team was named head of the academy operations and now the under 18’s are run by Paul Quinn who was appointed before this season. He was manager at Brighouse and Tadcaster Albion before running the under 14’s at the academy and has worked his way up.
Michael Collins is the coach at the u21 level and he has done really well helping bring some of the younger players through and ensure despite a number going on loan or being involved with the first team, we continue to play the right way and keep winning too – often against more experienced players. Collins had a brief spell as Bradford manager and seems to have hit the ground running with results and performance.
Some of the u18’s/U21’s interchange – many are at different points of their development of course but it is not uncommon for players to feature for both too and of course some have been around the first team. We have not used many senior players as over age players for the U21’s but not many teams do this anymore and that is how it should be.
---
Season summaries
The Blades continued to run an Elite Player Performance Plan Category 2 academy in the Premier League’s Professional Development League, for a twelfth season. The senior age category continued for a second season at U21 after six seasons at U23. The younger age category remained at U18.
With Reading rejoining Category 1 and both AFC Bournemouth and Fleetwood Town moving up to Category 2, there were 21 clubs split 11 in the North and ten in the South. Again the Blades were placed into the North section and played the other ten teams in their section home and away plus the ten teams in the South section once - a total of 30 league games. The two teams finishing highest in each section qualified for the four-team playoffs to determine the national champions.
The U21s were again invited to play in the Premier League Cup, a competition mainly for those Category 1 clubs not playing in UEFA youth competitions but with a number of invited non-Category 1 clubs to make up the numbers. The competition provides at least six games, three at home and three away, in a group of four clubs before progressing to a knock-out.
The U18s entered the 72nd FA Youth Cup. They also played in the U18 Professional Development League Cup, a competition for Category 2 clubs and a number of invited Category 3 and 4 clubs to make up the numbers. The competition provides at least three games in a group of four before progressing to a knock-out.
Micky Collins continued to lead the senior age group with Matt Thorpe joining the club to lead the U18s after Paul Quinn’s departure. Del Geary continued as academy head.
Competition Overviews
U21 Professional Development League (“U21PDL”)
The Blades came into the campaign off the back of three consecutive North section titles, although they had failed to go on and win the national title on each occasion.
An incredible start to the season saw five straight wins with 26 goals scored and just 4 conceded. Although they couldn’t keep that run going, it took until game ten before the first defeat of the season. The goals kept coming with the Blades eventually scoring four or more in a third of their games. Despite a slight mid-season wobble with just two points from three games and a late push by both Birmingham City and Sheffield Wednesday, a strong finish of seven wins from the last eight games saw the Blades claim a fourth successive North section title.
U21 PDL North | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
1 | SHEFFIELD UNITED | 30 | 19 | 6 | 5 | 83 | 34 | 49 | 63 |
2 | Birmingham City | 30 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 59 | 36 | 23 | 55 |
3 | Sheffield Wednesday | 30 | 16 | 6 | 8 | 58 | 34 | 24 | 54 |
4 | Barnsley | 30 | 17 | 3 | 10 | 65 | 44 | 21 | 54 |
5 | Hull City | 30 | 14 | 3 | 13 | 59 | 63 | -4 | 45 |
6 | Burnley | 30 | 12 | 6 | 12 | 53 | 57 | -4 | 42 |
7 | Fleetwood Town | 30 | 13 | 3 | 14 | 48 | 58 | -10 | 42 |
8 | Peterborough United | 30 | 7 | 6 | 17 | 47 | 73 | -26 | 27 |
9 | Wigan Athletic | 30 | 7 | 5 | 18 | 44 | 66 | -22 | 26 |
10 | Coventry City | 30 | 7 | 5 | 18 | 41 | 67 | -26 | 26 |
11 | Crewe Alexandra | 30 | 5 | 4 | 21 | 37 | 90 | -53 | 19 |
The playoff semi final brought South section runners-up Swansea City to Bramall Lane. An injury hit Blades took control early on and never looked like giving it up as they comfortably won 4-2 through goals from Louie Marsh, Jay Tinsdale, Sam Aston and a first at U21 level for Zain Tahir.
Bramall Lane was chosen for the playoff final and the Blades welcomed north section runners-up Birmingham City who had won at Millwall in the other semi-final. The Blades, with an unchanged matchday squad, got off to the best possible start as captain Owen Hampson put them in front in the 5th minute. It was a very tight game but a late Sam Ashton goal gave the Blades a 2-0 victory and the national title for the first time.
Owen Hampson had the most starts with 25, the most overall appearances with 27 and spent the most time on the pitch with 2242 minutes. Louie Marsh was the top scorer with 16 goals.
Premier League Cup (“PLC”)
The Blades were placed in a group with three Category 1 academies - Blackburn Rovers, Reading and West Bromwich Albion which turned out to be a very tight affair. With one game remaining only Reading were out of contention for the knock-out stages. In fact the other three clubs were all still within a shout of winning the group. The Blades were in the strongest position knowing only a three goal home defeat combined with the other game going a certain way could stop them qualifying. In the end the three clubs all ended on the same points with the Blades superior goal difference taking them through as group winners and setting up a home tie in round 2. Blackburn Rovers qualified in second place.
PL Cup Group B | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
1 | SHEFFIELD UNITED | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 12 | 3 | 10 |
2 | Blackburn Rovers | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 10 |
3 | West Bromwich Albion | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 11 | -2 | 10 |
4 | Reading | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 13 | -2 | 4 |
The last 16 brought the Blades a home tie against Swansea City. After initially being scheduled to be played at Scunthorpe United’s Glanford Park, the game was moved to Bramall Lane where the Blades ran out comfortable 5-1 winners.
The Blades were the only Category 2 academy to make the quarter finals and were drawn at home to Nottingham Forest. In a game played at Bramall Lane, despite a brace from Will Osula, the Blades lost 3-2 and missed out on a trip to Tottenham Hotspur in the semi final.
Owen Hampson played in all eight games, starting seven of them. His 648 minutes played were the most of any Blades player. Antwoine Hackford was top scorer with six goals.
U18 Professional Development League (“U18PDL”)
After four consecutive top three finishes including back-to-back playoff campaigns over the previous two seasons, the young Blades endured a poor start to their league campaign picking up just ten points in as many games. A better middle third moved the Blades away from the lower reaches of the table and a similar run-in meant they finished in the top half but 15 points adrift of the playoffs. While not as prolific at goalscoring as the U21s, when the U18s won they scored lots of goals. More than half of their wins saw three or more goals scored by the Blades.
U18 PDL North | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
1 | Birmingham City | 30 | 21 | 4 | 5 | 73 | 37 | 36 | 67 |
2 | Barnsley | 30 | 18 | 3 | 9 | 71 | 43 | 28 | 57 |
3 | Sheffield Wednesday | 30 | 16 | 4 | 10 | 56 | 36 | 20 | 52 |
4 | Burnley | 30 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 56 | 38 | 18 | 46 |
5 | SHEFFIELD UNITED | 30 | 11 | 9 | 10 | 57 | 48 | 9 | 42 |
6 | Crewe Alexandra | 30 | 12 | 3 | 15 | 71 | 73 | -2 | 39 |
7 | Fleetwood Town | 30 | 12 | 2 | 16 | 46 | 65 | -19 | 38 |
8 | Hull City | 30 | 10 | 6 | 14 | 47 | 70 | -23 | 36 |
9 | Coventry City | 30 | 9 | 5 | 16 | 51 | 75 | -24 | 32 |
10 | Wigan Athletic | 30 | 8 | 4 | 18 | 49 | 67 | -18 | 28 |
11 | Peterborough United | 30 | 6 | 2 | 22 | 44 | 87 | -43 | 20 |
Marshall Francis had the most appearances with 26, including 22 starts. He was also top scorer with eight goals. Sam Aston and Zain Tahir had the most starts with 23. Sam Aston also spent the most time on the pitch with 2098 minutes.
