Pat, aged 72, still gets a kick out of coaching

And a life-long passion for the beautiful game is showing no signs of dwindling for 72-year-old Pat Wright who is still nurturing budding Beckhams in the West Midlands.

The football fanatic, who originally hails from Oldbury, launched his academy more than 30 years ago after a playing career which started at Birmingham as a teenager.

After well over 200 first team games with spells at Blues, being club captain at Shrewsbury, Derby and Portsmouth he went on to manage and coach in the Middle East.

Pat originally got involved in coaching during his late 20s, while still playing, and has gone on to develop hundreds of young players through his own football academy.

Former England and Aston Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie, Republic of Ireland centre-half Sean St Ledger and ex-West Bromwich Albion and current Leicester winger Lloyd Dyer are just some of those to have honed their skills under his tutelage. He has also worked with current Walsall boss Dean Smith.

The lifestyles of the current breed of footballers are a world away from the when he started out. Pat, who played right back and was a West Bromwich Albion fan as a child, was spotted by scouts at Birmingham as a 15 year-old. He was part time when he made his debut aged 19, working as an engineer at London Works (Barlows) Ltd in Oldbury. He would regularly go to work, then attend training sessions, not getting home until 9pm – – or even later when there was an away game – as he came through the youth and reserve team ranks.

"I used to get up at 6.30 in the morning, work until 5pm and then go to St Andrews three nights a week," he said. "Now they talk about players being tired but it's a load of rubbish." It was when at Shrewsbury he got the call to link up with Clough at Derby in 1967. He was contacted by former Coventry chairman Jimmy Hill in the 1970s to help assist Saudi Arabia. During that time he came across the old Leeds boss Don Revie and they went on to work together.

The married father-of-one, who now lives in Great Barr, said: "Our kids at the moment, because clubs are bringing a lot of foreign players over, are being stunted. My passion is to get as many English kids as we can to a good level of football."

Pat's academy now runs at St Francis of Assisi School in Erdington Road, Aldridge, on Wednesdays from 6-7.30pm. He has launched a new class for five to six year-olds which has been inspired by the Barcelona system. Sessions are also held for six to 11 year-olds on a Friday from 6.30-7.30pm and for those aged 11 to 16 between 7.30 and 9pm. For more details call 0121 357 3602.