Youth development key to Step 7’s survival – Wombwell chief

Sheffield & Hallamshire County Senior League Premier Division 

Youth development could be key to the survival of Step 7 clubs in the coming years, says Wombwell Main manager Terry Simon.

The 2021/22 season has been a watershed moment for many as vast numbers of Step 7 sides across the country are struggling for players on a weekly basis.

Several teams in the County Senior League Premier Division have nearly folded in the past few months.

Simon fears for the future for some clubs and says building infrastructure to ensure a conveyor belt of young players coming through is paramount.

“I think potentially there could be a fallout of half-a-dozen teams (from the league in the coming years),” Simon told Non League Yorkshire.

“It could have easily happened this year.

“It won’t be through the fault of anyone.

“I think we have to be careful and awareness for all clubs because potentially a number (of teams) could fall (out of the league).

“Teams have to be more creative than ‘well I’ll just ring everyone on Friday night and they’ll turn out on Saturday’.

“It has to be a lot better than that.

“I’m not suggesting clubs act in that manner anymore but they have to be creative and offer other things and make sure it is not about this season.

“I’m trying to build a model which probably mirrors Handsworth, Penistone and Athersley where we have a good youth system with players coming through.

“I said to you in that first interview this season that I wanted to blood young players this season and what I said has come true.

“We have probably had seven players who have made their debuts, all 18, 19 or 20-year-old and not one has looked out of place.

“Stocksbridge, Penistone, Handsworth will always bring youth through so it is important to have a good system.

“The fall-out of players from junior football to senior football is massive and we have noticed that.

“In the last few years I’ve tried to attract young lads who have no affinity to Wombwell Main so they’ll play a few games and go somewhere else.

“I look now and our under 16s have been with us since under 11s so I’d like to think their ambition is to play for Man U or Liverpool and if they can’t play them it’ll be Barnsley or Sheffield Wednesday.

“If it can’t be them, it’ll be Wombwell Main.

“For an individual team to be strong in the next four or five years, you need a strong youth set-up.”

Simon has always been advocate of youth systems.

“I look at some teams and they’ve had the same players for many years,” he said.

“I think it is important that young players come into the league.

“If you go back ten years, Wombwell Main were as successful as anyone.

“When we last won the Premier, we also won the League Cup and the Montague Cup.

“The runners-up were Athersley and Penistone were a mid-table team.

“We were in as strong position as anyone in the Barnsley area but we had a good side who had got older together.

“We tried to bring youth in and a few people objected saying ‘well we’re a successful side, we need to keep winning, the young un’s won’t win anything’.

“They came in and they weren’t at the standard of the past so we had to take a step-back but you look now and there’s four-or-five of them still playing for us now.

“When I came back (in 2018 to manage Wombwell), myself, (assistant) Paul Kay and a few others put together a five-year-plan.

“We had a reserves side which we still have but it was an over 35s side.

“There was no benefit to the first team.

“If we were struggling for a player we couldn’t pull anyone from the reserves.

“Our plan was first to develop youth.

“We then would look at getting a good under 18s, 19s side which we have got and a youthful reserve team.

“The five-year-plan is bang on cue.

“I like to think we’re on our game and we know where we’re going and want to go.”

Rewind just under 12 months and the County Senior League was on a crest of a wave because of the very successful League Cup competition.

The league had also benefited from a small exodus of players from Step 6 due to the FA’s crazy decision to attempt a full season despite it being obvious a second and third lockdown were looming.

Although this season has been a disaster area for the County Senior League, Simon believes the standard remains high.

“The players who came down from the North East Counties, they are still playing in our league, not many of them have gone back,” he said.

“The quality of the teams is still strong.

“If you look at the top seven teams they’ll all competitive and have a lot of quality.

“It is two leagues within one but having said that, look at Houghton since they have come back (from their break).

“They have only lost one game and they got a great draw against Wakefield.

“Quality is there but the consistency of teams getting the same side out each week is not what it was a couple of years ago.

“You look at the teams who win the league they’re the sides who can regularly turn out a strong 12 or 13 players.

“When Gawber won everything, they weren’t the best footballing side but every week they had the same group of players.

“Swinton always turn out eleven regulars.

“Penistone, Dodworth, Ecclesfield, Wakefield, ourselves and Stocksbridge are the same.”

The casualty of the fixture pile-up this season is the League Cup which is unlikely to be held this year and Simon agrees that it has been a campaign to forget.

“Covid has had an impact in the last couple of years but this year there’s been so much disruption and chaos with one thing and another,” he said.

“(Then in the last four weeks) the weather has not been beneficial to anyone.

“I know the league were looking at getting the cup competitions in at the end of the season.

“That looks like it is a non-starter because of the backlog of fixtures.

“It is just a case of getting the games in.

“In the next few weeks when the clocks move forward we’ll be able to get some midweek games in.

“It’ll be then probably Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday or Saturday-Tuesday-Thursday.

“Let’s get the season completed and particularly the league committee can pat themselves on the back for managing to finish.

“I saw Nathan Simms’ interview the other day and if (Houghton Main) hadn’t had that break they could have folded.

“I think a couple of clubs were in the same boat.

“Let’s look at the positives and get the season done.

“We’ll then go into next season with a clean slate and hope everyone has a good full season.”