Mark Robinson hopes professional touch inspires team
Mark Robinson is hoping that an air of professionalism about the training ground will continue to inspire his AFC Wimbledon Under-18s to success.
Following improvements to facilities at the club’s academy base, the manager can now at last take charge of a first home league game of the season against Stevenage tomorrow morning (kick-off 10.30am).
Speaking during an interview to Dons Player, Mark said: “Neal Ardley has been great helping us. We’ve been looking at making improvements and what can make us look even more professional and we felt it would be good if the boys had their own dugouts and it’s great because little things like that help. It doesn’t make them better players, but it does give that professional feel. We’re grateful for that, plus we’ve made improvements to the pitch.”
The photo shows our dedicated team of volunteers assembling the new dugouts at the club’s New Malden facility.
on our You Tube channel. here On the pitch, Mark took training this morning ahead of Saturday’s Football League Youth Alliance fixture and a behind-the-scenes clip can be viewed
Mark can see the possibilities with this season’s crop, but feels there is still room for further learning.
“There’s a lot of potential,” said Mark. “They are a talented group, one of the most talented groups I’ve had, but there’s other things that they lack. Other teams I have had perhaps didn’t lack characteristics such as the mental side of the game, but we’re working on that. In terms of raw talent though, there’s a lot in there which I hope we can bring out of them over the next couple of years.”
Mark is also hoping that midfielder Louie Cockle, who figured on our website earlier this summer, is at last nearing a place in his plans – having fully recovered from a double leg break and a more recent knock picked up while training with the under-21s.
The full in-depth five minute interview with Mark Robinson - in which he speaks more about developing young talent at AFC Wimbledon - is available to Dons Player subscribers.