Black Country football academy hopeful after move to new training base

Saddlers favourite Martin O'Connor believes his academy is "getting better every day" as it looks to provide local youngsters with the football training and academic education to set them up in life.

Founded in 2015, the Martin O’Connor Education & Football Academy (MOCEFA), runs in partnership with Chasetown, developing them for the first team while getting them the qualifications for careers in sport and business.

For the last three years the academy has been based at Norton Canes High School, but now, after the latest contract was up, they have moved to West Walsall E-Act Academy.

And O'Connor believes this step will take them to the next level.

"We're looking forward now, we needed better facilities for both the football and education sides," he said.

"We had a three year contract at Norton Canes and I thought we should look at a new site - I had a few schools contact me who wanted in with what we're doing.

"I chose West Walsall because of the facilities we have access to in sports and education.

"It's massive for us, we have 4G pitches, big sports halls, even a swimming pool for recovery - and we can use it all.

"In education there's great spaces, such as computer suites, places for students to relax - it ticked all of the boxes we had.

"We've been running for five years now and we're getting better every day and getting great results in education, with some heading off to uni, and some playing in the Chasetown first team."

It runs similarly to the youth groups at professional clubs, with players training in the morning before taking to the classroom.

BTEC qualifications are up for grabs for youngsters, alongside a scheme to earn The Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

Success stories at the academy has seen some students head to university, while the best talents have been given trials at Walsall.

And O'Connor is hoping his former club can benefit from his work.

He added: "Some of our lads have had trials at Walsall, and that for me is one of our objectives, to get players into good clubs like Walsall and with a bit of luck we'll make that happen.

"I want to get our name out in the community, get players into teams and expand what we do - we want to get better every year."

The 51-year-old lead Walsall to promotion into the old Division Two in 1995 and most recently took charge as caretaker boss after Dean Keates was dismissed, but couldn't stop Walsall's slide into League Two.

"We are also looking out for a girls team too so any females who like the look of our academy please feel free to enquire as we have places available," he added.

Youngsters interested in joining the academy can find out more by visiting www.mocefa.co.uk.