New Houghton Main manager Jimmy Whitehead admits that is a great time for young footballers in Barnsley who want to make it in the Non League game.
Whitehead, also a Barnsley FC shadow scholars squad coach, oversaw the progression of at least seven players into Non League football during his time as Worsbrough Bridge under 21s manager.
His achievements go alongside several other Barnsley-based coaches or managers who are all helping to rapidly create an ever-expanding hot-bed of talent in the area.
“I think it has changed a little now (since I was 18 or 19) because previously you didn’t get into Northern Counties East teams until you were a little older,” Whitehead told Non League Yorkshire.
“Teams used to look for experience. Nowadays you’re getting into first teams at a younger ages and managers are willing to take a chance on people when they’re 18 or 19.
“What I said when I went into Worsbrough (under 21s) if you’re not in the first team when you’re 21, you’re probably not good enough to play at that level. There may be one or two late developers, but generally when you are 21 you should be playing first team.
“I had a good relationship with (former Worsbrough manager Lee Morris) Moz where I wouldn’t tell him to look at a player unless I felt they were ready to go (into the first team).
“At the minute I think it is exciting for loads of young players, especially in the Barnsley area. The Barnsley area has always produced good young players and there’s more opportunities and better coaching from people like Sam Sutton (Barnsley Scholars coach and AFC Emley academy chief), Fudge (Luke Forgione, Barnsley College and Worsbrough first team) and a few others.
“The under 21s league wasn’t around at the time (when I was 18 or 19) and that’s a kind of middle ground between your under 18s and first team and it is very competitive. I think it actually helps players understand the difference between that and the NCEL so there’s a nice pathway.”
To say he only spent less than two years in the role, Whitehead’s record as Worsbrough under 21s boss is outstanding.
“When I sat down and wrote out our successes, I surprised myself in what we had done in that 18 months,” he said.
“We sat back and said ‘yeah we are proud of what we have done at Worsbrough. The development side was in a poor state when I came in so to leave after 18 months after finishing second, getting players in the first team, everything I said I wanted to do, I feel I delivered on.
“We got the season going and we started really well. The shadow scholars we brought in were brilliant and integrated with the four or five we did like from the trials. We finished second when the season ended (because of the pandemic) and we had seven players who played in the first team during the season.
“Steven Simpson went into the (Worsbrough) first team and has now signed a pro deal with Barnsley’s under 23s. Dom Claxton was with us and he’s now in the first team at Pontefract Collieries.
“Jack Tinker is now with Brighouse Town. Luke McGinnell went to the first team after playing a few months with us and is at Penistone Church. Callum Turner, Finn Morgan and Ellis Pickard were Worsbrough first team and under 21s players – they were kind of doing a bit of both.
“Everyone of them has text to say ‘thank you for the opportunity at Worsbrough, I wouldn’t be where I am now without you’. That was nice because you know you have made a bit of a difference to their pathway in football.
“I’m very proud of helping these players get to where they are. We trust young players to play and it was a tough (under 21s) league last year. Our players were mainly 17 or 18 so they could have played in the under 19s league, but we felt they were good enough to step up to the under 21s.
“A lot of the teams we were playing against had an average age of 20 or 21. I think we lost only three games in the time we were there. Although it is not about winning games in one respect because you are developing players, but you have to say winning is important because if they step into a first team then it is all about winning games.
“We’re all really proud that some of these boys were coming from Leeds, Huddersfield, Sheffield, travelling a lot way to play for us. Myself and Beddy know they did because they liked the way we did things.
“We’re not just proud because they stepped up into the first team, but the way they work and the effort they put in. We were very successful in both ways, one in winning games and two in producing players that have stepped up to Northern Counties East League football and higher in some cases.”
Whitehead, whose life almost totally revolves around developing young footballers due to his roles with Barnsley FC, Barnsley Schools FA and his Momentous Football Academy, had hoped to become the successor to Lee Morris when the now ex-Worsbrough boss resigned almost three weeks ago. Luke Forgione was instead appointed and that’s when Whitehead and his assistant manager Joe Bedford decided to step down.
Forgione’s installation at Worsbrough created a vacancy at Sheffield & Hallamshire Senior League Premier Division side Houghton and Whitehead was soon approached.
“We wanted to be considered for the Worsbrough first team job and interviews never took place so on the back of that we felt staying at Worsbrough wasn’t the right thing for us,” he said.
“We felt overlooked and it all happened in a week. We had a game with the under 21s and we did that game and won 5-1 and we told the players after that game that we were leaving and why.
“We told the chairman (Mark Booth) and left. At the end of that week, Houghton’s chairman Carl (Brennan) got in touch with us to see I would go to Houghton. It was brilliant for them to ring us and sell it to us.
“Carl’s been brilliant and he’s said ‘it is your club, do what you want with it to take it forward’. That was really positive. Obviously at Worsbrough we were the under 21s so you are restricted in what you can do in certain things.
“(Before taking the job) I wanted to make sure I got the right coaching team around me so I had to speak to them. Dean works with me with the Barnsley Schools FA under 13s and we’ve done that since under 11s and I’ve also played with him at Worsbrough Bridge.
“I coach with Joe at Barnsley Scholars and I brought him to Worsbrough under 21s halfway through last season. It was vital they came to Houghton with me and I wouldn’t have taken the job without them two coming in with me.
“It is important to have the right coaching team and we work well together and we bounce off each other and players see that and they want to play for us.”
Whitehead watched a patched-up Houghton side, under the guidance of caretaker boss Martin Beaumont, lose 4-0 to league leaders Dodworth Miners Welfare on October 10th.
He then took the job and is now planning for his first game in charge – the home clash with Oughtilbridge on Saturday.
“There’ll be a handful (of Worsbrough under 21s/shadow scholars) coming in to go alongside the Houghton lads,” he said,
“We’ve said to everyone at the club that we want to look at everyone. We’ve already seen that they have some quality so we will be looking at moulding both (new and old players) together.
“We’ve explained that some will get selected and some will not. We’re really big on wanting our team to be the fittest in the league – that’s what we were like with the shadow scholars.
“It is about the players at Houghton Main stepping up to that as if not, the team isn’t going to work if we have six of seven fit players and three or four who aren’t. I think they understood that at training which was really intense on Saturday.
“The first task is get the team playing in the way of our identity and that will take time. We hope to finish in the top five, but we’ve not really looked too far into the future. We’ve said we’ll come in this season and take a look at what it is like and they’ll (Houghton will) look at us – with a view of carrying on next year.”
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NLY Community Sport, run by James Grayson and Connor Rollinson, has always had combatting social isolation at the top of our objectives when running our Disability Football teams. As we slowly return to ‘action’, our work will play an important role in reintroducing our players, who have disabilities and learning difficulties, back into society.
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We have not been hit as badly as other organisations, but we do need raise £2000 to put us back at the level we were at in mid-March and enable us to make a difference once again to our players’ lives in the future, without having financial worries. Several of our players are suffering from effects of the lockdown and we are determined to be in the strongest position possible to provide services for them.
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