Long slog starts for Wolves’ seven
Tuesday 24th March 2009, 1:06PM GMT.
Wolves’ record crop of young professionals have been warned their hard work is only just beginning as they dream of first-team stardom at Molineux.
The club’s strong focus on home-grown talent has continued after a record seven Academy scholars were given pro contracts last week.
Defenders Johnny Dunleavy, Danny Batth and Scott Malone, midfielder David Davis and forwards Kyle Bennett, Sam Winnall and Ashley Hemmings have all made it past another hurdle in their bid to turn youthful promise into a first-team career.
But Academy manager Kevin Thelwell need only turn the clock back four years to remind the latest clutch of hopefuls how far they have still to travel before they are playing senior football in front of a roaring Molineux crowd.
In 2005, Wolves announced a then-record crop of six Academy “graduates”, five of whom have since fallen by the wayside.
Mark Little – now recovering from injury – Daniel Jones and Mark Davies all made it through to the first team, but did not do enough to impress manager Mick McCarthy to stay there.
Two others, Chris Cornes and Tom Stewart, never broke through, leaving Wayne Hennessey as the only member of that half dozen to nail down a first-team contract at the club.
As Thelwell approaches his first anniversary in the post, he says: “The reality is that if two of the boys get through to play regularly at first-team level, then we’ll have done extremely well. It’s such a long journey.
“It’s a strong intake but a lot of the boys have benefitted from the policy we’ve introduced this year of giving the younger players an earlier opportunity to move up into the under-18s.
“John Perkins, the 18s coach, has moved forward with that.”
It has been Thelwell’s task to pick up the reins left by former Academy boss Chris Evans, who played such a prominent role in establishing the youth section before moving to Bolton to No 2.
Thelwell adds: “It has been a pleasing year. Our recruitment process remains strong – although it is becoming more and more difficult as it becomes more competitive.
“More than ever clubs recognise the value of finding and recruiting their own young talent. But I’m pleased Jez Moxey is very supportive of the youth programme and I hope we can go from strength to strength.”
To that end, Wolves have also been busy expanding the opportunities for their youngsters to gain more live experience – Hemmings is getting a taste of life at Cheltenham, while Malone is working with Wolves’ Hungarian partners Ujpest.
They have already signed deals to 2010, along with England age group player Bennett.
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we hear about villa and man utd bringing kids through, but surely we are second to none at in the country for youth development and giving them a chance well done all involved
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Brilliant kids for the future.
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Great to see so many coming through, but will Mick give them a chance anytime?
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Load of “Spin “, patting each other on the back, truth is, the lads are wasting their times while MM is still there
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Best of Luck to all–Crazey Dave
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What about Zele? Is he old enough to signed yet?
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5. Nah he’s only 15
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Just maybe,if the presant team can make the prem.then some of these lads can develop to help keep wolves in the league our history says we should have been in for some time.best of luck to everyone at the club.
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Kyle Bennett is class
so he’ll be sold!
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We could do with sum more young player’s in the team lol.
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i agree no.9 Kyle Bennet is out standing and asoon has a big club see’s him play then he’s gone just like Mark Davis and the same will happen with Zele Ishamil
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‘Mark Davies did not do enough to impress Mick McCarthy’ speaks volumes. The same Mark Davies walks straight into a Premier league side and on his debut has the pundits on Match of the Day purring with delight [Spare me the Mark is a bad boy tosh, I don't see Gerard getting the same stick]. One of the reasons I follow Wolves is to see the youngsters progress, but under Mick they find they get pushed to the back as lesser mortals who can ‘huff and puff’ go out on the pitch.
Good luck to the youngsters and for those who don’t make it, let’s hope their lives aren’t blighted by their broken dream.
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Good luck to you all.
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what a waste of time with muppet mick there just look at mark davies better than any of our midfield and now in prem, but never even gave him 1 chance, then there is little,jones, glesson,none have had a chance he is just a joke,i have been going to wolves for 53 years and in the past lots of young player have been given a chance but m.m onley hennessey.
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These journalists have got no bottle to take a pop at Mick McCarthy, Mark Davies didn’t impress him but he was good enough to play Premier League football, okay at a club like Bolton but the lad is doing well, again the reaction by journalist were all in favour of Mick. As for the new crop I do hope some of them get a chance but we keep getting managers who just don’t believe in our south system they just keeping thinking the big clubs are producing the best players, most of the time they are buying the best young players from the clubs like us. If Kyle Bennett is a good as what I have read or Zeli Ismail, they will still most likely be sold and not brought through, I do hope I’m wrong. The chances of our club of producing a real class player or dare I say world class player – Robbie Keane – are higher than what we will buy. I strongly doubt the situation will change with our current manager lets face it if Murray never got injured then Hennessey would probably be out loan like Gleeson keeps getting the loan treatment they are not going to improve they are playing in lower level football. Once they have been successful at the clubs they have been at then some how and where they should get a chance this are what Sir Alex Fergusson does really well, Johnny Evans, Darren Fletcher, John O’Shea, Wes Brown and now even Darren Gibson! Before them well we all know who they are.
I also must point out that not all of these Man Utd players above mentioned are special players but they all have, most of them now have very important roles to play within the team and the Utd’s squad.
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What a suprise to see the usual half-wits slagging off MM.
Open your eyes, we are top of the league and have been for most of the season, look like going up to Prem and have a promising youth set up.
No club or manager in the country is perfect, but would you swap with Charton, Forest or Saints ?
No I thought not….
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Best of luck to all you lads. Hope to see you in a Premiership shirt for Wolves.
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The ones at the back in the picture look a bit old for their age……!!!
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Having met Kevin Thelwell briefly the other week at Compton when over from Malta to see Wolves play twice, I immediately realised that the Wolves Academy is second to none. In recent weeks the boys under coach John Perkins, showed that they can mix with others from the top clubs with wins over Bolton, Liverpool and Manchester United – what a thrill – and a draw against Middlesbrough.
The 7 who will be going up another step of the ladder will surely become better players but like the 6 of four years ago the numbers who will make it to the first team will be less.
However, one hopes that what they were thought at the Wolves Academy will serve them in good stead in their lives. Good luck boys!
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We are top of the League but Mick will never let any players who are home-grown play as he is too stubborn. Mark Davies, Dan Jones, Mark Little all great young players and have never got a look in.
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Mark Davies, Dan Jones, Mark Little = Injury prone, bad attitude or simply not good enough
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Tonty and me have never said a single word against our manager and O M G its paid off we are the champions, bless you Mick brilliant performance, Briddy and a very very happy Tont.
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no chance with muppet mick here,we have got good young players but has not given even 1 a chance,just look at davies on loan playing for 5/6 game and doing really well so in jan/window we are looking for midfield player so why did he not bring him back and give him a chance?? so when bolton came along he went as any player would and straight into 1 team and does well. yes we are top but this the poorest championship in year.
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Why does everyone keep bangin on about Mark Davies, he had one good game for Bolton then he was tosh! Plus he is now out for the season with a knee injury, good ridance!
Good luck to the new blood coming through!
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16, totally agree mate, too many waiting to slag off the management at any given opportunity, what chance have these kids got when they read these comments? their confidence will be shot down before they start, they are still very impressionable so when they do get released I hope these halfwit, perennial slaggers off of anything gold and black will be happy with themselves, god knows what they’d be like if we were bottom!!!!!!!
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24/25 totally agree, well done mm and everybody at wwfc , best academy in the country, top of the league, top scorers in the country , up the wolves
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well done lads….u have worked hard and got yr reward.
I hope that you all get a chance to play for Wolves first team…. but if not…. there is a big world out there to play in.
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In response to all the comments about Mark Davies ‘setting the prem alight’….he played 3 games and lo and behold he is out for the season….again…who wants a bet he wont play 10 games in the next 12 months?
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yes. lets hope if we go up, mick bases a premier league team around a bunch of kids. bejesus!
the very best always come through.
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this article was really misleading, it says only one has made it out of the six signed. However Daniel jones is playing at oldham (on loan) Mark Davies is at Bolton, Mark little is injured but still under contract, and Hennessy is playing. That means only 2 have fell by the wayside. Thats a 66% success rate. It is about time the express and star put a positive slant on things instead of being negative all the time.
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