Poole Town Ladies’ head coach Shane Terry believes that the club's youth system could be an essential factor in the Dolphins’ future, but what exactly makes the prospect of a new generation so exciting? With financial concern and facility funding being a frequent issue for many clubs in the lower professional tiers, the method of generating hometown talent through the club’s youth teams is certainly an intriguing one. Terry, who has taken a keen interest in the Poole’s development system, believes that the women’s game can produce the quality needed to improve the image of the sport. “Back in the days of the ’90s, football used to be all about your hometown club - you had the likes of Alan Shearer, Steven Gerrard, John Terry, etc that gave everything for their hometown team and in the women’s game", he said. “It's getting to that stage where players are coming through the youth system and staying at the team - you won’t see the £200 million transfer fees like you do in the men’s game but you will see the passion growing from the players, which is really great.” Alongside improving the image of the game, Terry emphasised how important the youth system is to Poole and their development-focused strategy, commenting "we had two of our first Under 18’s coming through into the team for a permanent basis”. “This year we’re looking at continuing that progress in the Under 18’s and we now have three or four players who are right on the verge of playing for the first team, so it could be by the end of the year we have half a team that is aged under 18. “That would really solidify our youth model of getting new people into the club. We also have some of our older players who have been here for 10-15 years but have stayed with us because of their love of the club. “Hopefully, that’s the model we can continue and hopefully we can continue to bring in young players who can really kick on with the game.” As well as integrating an exciting new crop of young footballers, the Dolphins’ head coach also commented on the improvement in match attendance, which has the potential to benefit the club in other areas of operation. Terry explained, “it's really cool to see the fan base growing, we played Southampton and we had nearly 500 fans in the stadium which is almost unheard of in our league. It’s going to be a deciding factor, the clubs that can touch base with their fans the most and get people through the doors are going to be the ones who are the most financially stable to kick forward. “In terms of Poole Town, more attendance means we can afford better facilities, better equipment and we can place our coaches on more licensing courses to improve the level of education we have at the club. In order to make that happen, we need money coming in from somewhere. “We’re trying to move away from the model that players need to pay subs, and more towards an actual revenue stream for match days - that would be crucial to any club's future, even when we look down the line of three to five years where most teams in the top four leagues could be growing their revenue stream.” With technology development being one of the most important factors in football’s growth, Poole town has also adapted to a more direct social media strategy in order to maximise the club's potential fan base. “We’ve been in contact with other coaches and we’ve really been trying to drive through social media. We’ve had people who aren’t even located in the Poole area wanting to sponsor us because they see us posting stories, admire what we’re achieving on the pitch, and they enjoy watching our team spirit when we play. “Without that social media support we wouldn’t have access to that revenue stream, so hopefully that can continue to grow and we can use that to gain more sponsorship from companies and drive fan attendance up even more. We may even be able to get extra technology in the future such as live streaming for games, if possible.” Whilst player development appears to be an impressive quality at Poole, Terry revealed that changes in the league structure could also be a big benefit for the sports’ overall growth. “From the top level, there’s been a bit of a restructure. “There seems to be more money going into the top level and a bit more support in increasing the branding and awareness. “It’s interesting because you can look down through the league to where we are - you’re seeing teams like Southampton who have some financial backing, Swindon who are playing matches at their actual stadium and teams like Cheltenham who are picking up players from the WSL. “We’re now at the point where the youth players are coming in and other existing pro players are moving into other areas of the football pyramid, so you’re starting to see an almost continuous cycle of improvement coming from years of development taking place.” As the women’s game continues to grow, the emergence of young talent will certainly be an important factor at Poole Town Ladies Football Club, whilst exciting managers such as Terry will no doubt be looking to further develop the youngsters aiming to begin their professional careers. 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As many heart broken football supporters will know, losing important players to different clubs is always a possibility. However, for Poole Town Football Club, it could be the beginning of an exciting season ahead. The Dolphins have seen several departures from Tatnam Ground during the COVID-19 lockdown, leaving many supporters worrying about the upcoming 2020-21 season in a few weeks time. Talented players such as Luke Holmes and Marvin Brooks have left the club whilst young forward Jez Bedford has been granted permission to complete a short trial with a club in Sweden. But in contrast to what most would expect of a club losing some of their key players, Poole Town’s recent friendly fixtures have reflected a united, efficient and well focused side. Head coach, Thomas Killick, has managed to lead his team to a string of impressive results against Verwood Town, New Milton and Hamworthy United, with a 14-1 rout of Portland United being the highest scoring victory of their pre-season fixtures. An undeniable factor in their recent success is the latest additions to the Dolphins first-team squad, as Killick has been able to bolster his options with players such as 24-year old goalkeeper, Mark Childs, from Weymouth Football Club and the return of exciting midfielder Luke Burbidge. Burbidge was a key figure in Poole’s 2015-16 title winning side, missing just four games in their Southern League South debut season. Killick, praised the signing as “one of the best” attacking midfielders in the league, giving Poole fans an even greater reason to be expecting an entertaining campaign this season. Despite the new additions to the squad, it isn’t just the entertainment of a new signing or a former champion returning that should give the Dolphins’ support base hope for the upcoming season. Poole Town have scored an impressive 24 goals in their last four friendly fixtures whilst their solid defensive display has continued from the 2019-20 campaign. Although finishing in 9th place, the Dolphins crafted arguably the best defensive record in the Southern League by conceding just 28 goals, the lowest amount of any team in the campaign. Alongside their solidarity at the back, the Dolphins managed an equally successful away record, winning eight of their away fixtures which made them the third highest side in the league for away victories.
Maintaining this strong away record will certainly be essential for Killick’s side in the upcoming campaign if they are to be considered as a serious force this season. One area Poole Town will be aiming to improve on may be their home winning record as they suffered a low 17th place in home wins with just six victories at Tatnam Ground. |
AuthorJames Worthington Archives |