Clach under-14s rose to local glory against the odds through the dark winter months, to the delight of the coaches and parents.
The Lilywhites lads, led by coaches Gavin Walker, Drew Martin and Kojo Agyei – known as Adj – clinched the SYFA Moray Firth Under-14 Youth Development League (West Section).
Next week, they start a range of fixtures against sides from Elgin, Forres and Buckie over an eight-week spell to see who comes out as the best in the wider area.
Boosted by Merkinch facilities
With sparse resources to work with, getting the use of Merkinch Primary helped the group, although one midweek session and then matchdays has been all they’ve been used to as they went for glory.
Walker added: “We have done this with limited facilities. We only get to train the boys for a 90-minute session during the week then the game itself.
“Our time with the group is limited, so although we do have fun, we also have to put the hard yards in and the boys certainly do that.
“From August until October, we trained at Culloden pitches and it was almost a case of jumpers for goalposts.
“It is difficult in Inverness to get facilities but Clach have secured us Merkinch Primary for the winter months, which is great. Having the astroturf pitch has made a massive difference.
“We have done it all under difficult circumstances, which makes the achievements all the more impressive.”
Settled coaches making a difference
And Walker is thrilled to have seen young footballers rise from primary school age to teens so seamlessly and he feels having a third coach of Adj’s quality has made a massive difference.
He said: “I have been involved with Clach for a number of years now and my son, Ryan, plays for the under-14s. The majority of the squad have come all the way through the age groups, starting from primary three since I started, so it’s good.
“A lot of coaches and a lot of people have put plenty of time in over the years to see the groups progress year on year and keep the boys playing.
“It’s been great for us to get a settled coaching team in place. I have been doing it with the help of parents and other coaches, but it’s a great help to have more than a couple of people doing it.
“It allows us to split up and, for example, for us to work just with the goalkeepers and do fitness and drills.
“The three of us work hard as a coaching team and it’s great for the boys to have three guys who are dedicated. It’s all done voluntarily and it’s about our love for the game.”
Lilywhites kids hitting new heights
Walker insists getting former Chelsea and Brighton trainer Adj on board has raised the bar as the sides roared to title glory.
Huge congratulations to our U14's who yesterday clinched their league section. They went through the whole campaign undefeated.
Well done to the players, parents and the coaches.
Absolutely brilliant stuff 👏@oriongroup pic.twitter.com/ULENj8c4en— Inverness Clachnacuddin FC (@clachfc) January 31, 2022
Walker and fellow coach Drew Martin this season were thrilled that Adj agreed to help train the team.
Walker said: “It really is all about the players. The parents put a lot in as well to support us.
“The start of this year, with the way the age groups worked out, we merged two age groups, the 13s and 14s, and we had 34 kids, which was quite a task.
“But that’s the big plus for us, with Adj coming in, that’s allowed us to keep that numbe of kids. We could not have done that without having him as a coach. We’re able to provide the quality of training we wouldn’t have been able to do without Adj.
“He’s come in from a far higher level than myself and Drew, who have been involved for a long time at local level. It’s great he’s come in and set such high standards.
“As a coaching team, that’s been a big driver in terms of what has been achieved this season.”
Coach targets new Highland facility
Adj, meanwhile, wants Scotland to follow Iceland’s transformational training base plan – and is spearheading a campaign to deliver a new floodlit indoor arena in or near Inverness.
The former Chelsea and Brighton coach, who is best known as Adj, has been helping guide Clach’s under-14s to local league success.
However, his plans to train the youngsters are slowed down in the dark nights of north winters due to the lack of football facilities and he wants to deliver a new training arena by 2027 at the latest.
He’s teamed up with former Lilywhites player and director Jim Oliver, ex-Ross County and ICT star Richie Hart and David Caldwell, another former Scottish professional player in England, to drive the project forward.
He said: “I noticed that everything stopped at the October holidays. There are very few training facilities in the area to use when the light nights are gone in the winter.
“There is really the only one indoor facility, which is in Dingwall, so my next mission is to set up a charity to raise funds to create an indoor and outdoor training facility in Inverness or the Black Isle.
“I love coaching the boys, but it is hard to coach them in the winter because there’s nowhere for them to train.
“I have now a three-to-five-year plan with the boys I am reaching and I want to within that timeframe get the new indoor training base in the area.”
We should follow Iceland’s lead
He uses Scandanavia as the ideal example for the Highlands to follow due to its similar climate.
Adj said: “The Icelandic FA started a revolutionary process of improving the facilities available for the nation’s footballers.
“From 2000, seven full-size indoor halls were built around the country – roughly one pitch per 50,000 inhabitants; 1200 pitches would need to be built in the UK for a comparative figure – as well as over 20 artificial pitches and more than 150 mini-pitches for schools and communities, allowing football to become a year-round sport.
“Since the turn of the millennium, the football infrastructure in Iceland has taken giant steps and the facilities and football players (young and old) can now train and compete in are top class all year round and give shelter from the unforgiving Arctic weather.”
Adj said there is one full-size pitch for every 128 registered footballers in Iceland and would love to see a similar drive towards this goal started by the Scottish FA and local and national governments.
He added: “Look at the population of Iceland to Scotland (around 340,000 compared to 5.5 million), and the amount of times Iceland and other Scandanavian countries have qualified for major senior male tournament, as opposed to one in 23 years – and hopefully another for Scotland this year.”
Locals to live out World Cup dream?
And his dreams are far from limited when it comes to what he would love to see becoming a reality on the global stage.
He said: “My ultimate goal would be to see a group of Highland boys forming the spine of the 2030 Scotland World Cup team who can get out of the group stages and compete against the top teams in the world in the latter stages of the competition.”