Express & Star

How Steve Hopcroft built the Albion production line

It comes as no surprise to find Steve Hopcroft bemused at his name having been in lights this week.

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After all, if this former serviceman, market trader and police officer, who is happy to describe himself as a 'failed footballer' was any more down-to-earth, his fingertips would probably be clogged with soil.

Yet the hype around Hopcroft is entirely justified, even if the attention focused on him this week by newspapers, radio and TV was triggered by his decision to spurn the advances of Manchester United, no less, and sign a new deal at The Hawthorns.

If you want to know why Albion are suddenly at the forefront of youth development, then Hopcroft is without doubt the man to ask. For one thing, he helped recruit all of them. Whether it be watching Saido Berahino as an 11-year-old in Smethwick's Black Patch Park, to bringing in Izzy Brown, Jerome Sinclair, Sam Field, Kane Wilson, Jonathan Leko, the list goes on and on.

Hopcroft's voice fills with pride when he speaks about Albion's academy being a 'world class' facility and the relative ease with which they are now able to attract the cream of the region's young talent. It wasn't always thus. When he first joined in 2004, the Baggies barely had a youth policy worthy of the name. A scouting network existed but the structure was so slapdash some coaching sessions were held at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre, meaning their Midlands rivals could and often did steal the best players.

"We were fifth choice, behind Walsall, with the other Midland clubs way ahead of us," recalls Hopcroft.

"I recently said to the chairman (Jeremy Peace) that when I started, the last academy player this club had sold was Ugo Ehiogu to Villa – and even he wasn't a local lad, he was from London!"

Hopcroft tells the story of watching an Albion youth team suffer a double-digit defeat to Rochdale during his first few weeks at the club.

"I thought 'here is this team from a little town up north coming to beat a team from a big city like us," he says.

The change, Hopcroft explains, was driven by Peace with Dan Ashworth, who began work at The Hawthorns on the same day as himself, also playing a key role.

Their method sounds simple enough. Go and watch games, no matter where they might be, and find the best players. Yet Albion have become successful at it over the past decade, it is natural to think there must be a secret.

"We do look to do things differently and we have a lot of initiatives other clubs don't," says Hopcroft. "We have young birthdays and late developer projects – Sam Field came through one of those.

"I tell our scouts to look under the stones which no-one else does. It is strange when other clubs comment on how good some of our players are and ask where we found them. I always say the same thing, it's just luck. They often were at the same festivals and the same things we were at.

"We spot these players, not necessarily before other clubs but because other clubs watch games and don't see players and I'd like to think our scouts do watch games and see players.

"I always remind scouts that when you go and watch a match, don't watch the match, watch the players."

Once they have found a player, Hopcroft and his team do not waste time.

"You have to act quick," he says. "This is the middle of the country, a competitive area where there are a lot of scouts.

"You can't be fifth in the queue. If you are you have to go round the back, climb the fence and kick the doors in, you can't wait.

"When we need to be, we are very aggressive. That is something I told Jeremy a long time ago. We were just too polite. We were saying please and thank you and getting in the queue behind everyone else.

"We had to push people out the way and get to the front. It's a case of saying 'forget that lot, West Brom is where it's at'."

Albion fought hard to keep Hopcroft when United came calling and his new deal, on improved terms, demonstrates the regard with which he is held at the Hawthorns.

Yet his decision to remain was motivated less by money and more his self-awareness and pride at his small yet influential part in the club's machine.

To understand it, you have to know the roots of a man who very likely continued his career with the police until circumstance and good fortune led to him scouting for Birmingham City.

"My best friend left school on the same day as me and still has the same job in a factory," says Hopcroft, who was born in Winson Green and has lived his entire life in the Second City. "He's always telling me I don't know how lucky I am.

"Football is all about players but there is a whole industry behind it and we are so lucky to follow in their wake. I am lucky enough to be one of those little ripples."

So Hopcroft will go on, working whatever hours it requires to make sure Albion get the best.

"I feel like I would be nowhere near as effective, anywhere else, than I am at West Brom. I feel part of the club," he says. "When I finish work in ten, 20 years time, ten years after I finish there will be players come through who I signed.

"It is a fantastic thing to know you are having an influence on a club which is 150 years old.

"I went to the Chris Brunt 300 appearance evening a few months ago and there were players there who made appearances 60 or 70 years ago.

"I gave them the brochures and said 'if one of you just plays here for nine years you will be remembered forever'. I feel so privileged to be in a position where I can have an input which might last for 30 or 40 years.

"If someone comes through and makes 800 appearances there will be a statue out there in front of the stadium. To think my children might be able to stand there and say 'dad spotted him' well, that is an amazing opportunity."

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