Development Coach gets down to business
putting Wimbledon’s young talents through their paces.Shaun NorthThere’s still plenty of hard work going on at the training ground this week while the first-team are away in Monza with
were also among the players Shaun has been working with.Kieron Tarbie and Oluseyi Daley among his string of players. A handful of trialists for the development squad, along with second year Under-18s Charlie Fayers and Youssouf Bamba, Chace Jacquart, Tom BeereShaun, who was appointed as the club’s Under-21 Development Coach recently, yesterday started his first full week of coaching the young professionals who have not travelled to Italy with
) explained his vision for developing Wimbledon players in the future and how he was getting on with arranging fixtures and making new recruits.Mark Robinson, Shaun (pictured being welcomed to the club by Academy Manager Dons PlayerDuring an in-depth interview for
Shaun said: “Our main aim at the club is to produce players for Wimbledon’s first-team; either to develop players to a level where they can possibly progress through the leagues with the club or they can possibly be sold on. My role is to be a buffer between the first-team and the youth team so there is not a big transition for players moving up to senior level. We all have to be one big group in a way. Some of the players in the development squad may go up to the first-team squad, but others may have to go back and work with Mark Robinson for a little longer on their development.
“There has to be good interaction between Mark, Neal Ardley and myself. I could recommend players for the first-team to Neal and they do well for three or four weeks, but then they hit a barrier and have to come back to me. The same thing could happen with players who Mark sends through to me. Between the three groups of the Under-18s, the development squad and the first-team we have to manage the development of young players.”
towards the top by helping them to flourish as young players at Pompey.Asmir Begovic, Marc Wilson and Gary O’NeillDuring that time he helped current Premier League players Before filling senior managerial roles at Torquay United, Oxford United and Bristol Rovers, Shaun North worked for almost 15 years as Academy Manager at Portsmouth.
Shaun spoke passionately about replicating such success at Wimbledon during his Dons Player interview, which can now be viewed on our premium site and includes the thoughts of Mark Robinson on working with him.
Dons Player subscribers can tomorrow watch a video interview with Youssouf Bamba and Charlie Fayers all about their experiences with the first-team squad during pre-season.