AZ Gull
@SeagullsAcademy @seagullsacademy.bsky.social
2016-17 was the third season that Albion’s U-18s have competed in the U-18 Premier League and the second season that they were coached by Ian Buckman and assisted by Adam Hinshelwood (it was announced last week that Hinshelwood has joined Hastings United as manager and he will be replaced by Mark Beard next season). The 24 Category One academies are split into two geographical divisions at U-18 level with Albion competing (obviously) in the South division.
The league consists of two distinct phases. Albion play each of their eleven South division rivals twice to make up a 22-game initial campaign; the placings in the two divisions then determine the make-up of three merit divisions. The top 4 teams in the North and South division form an 8-team merit division 1 where teams play each other just once for a 7-match mini-league. The same happens for teams placed 5th to 8th (merit division 2) and 9th to 12th (merit division 2).
Of the 13 1st-year scholars from 2015-16, only 12 were back in 2016-17; the tall American centre-back Sam Golan returned from whence he came – Virginia – in the summer (although it didn’t stop him making his US international debut at U-19 level in September 2016). The feisty Irish striker Thomas Byrne was back this season but he played just once for the U-18s (in the opening match of the campaign) before scoring two goals in a loan spell at Bognor and then leaving Albion in November; he signed for Drogheda United in January 2017.
There were nine new scholars for 2016-17: six making the step up from the U-16s. These included goalkeeper Tom McGill, right-back Hamish Morrison, centre-back Sam Rolph, left-back Alex Cochrane and the two Eastbourne midfielders Isaac Hutchinson and Charlie Ferguson. The three new recruits were Irish striker Aaron Connolly (from Mervue United), Icelandic striker Stefan Alexander Ljubicic and midfielder Tyrese Fornah who had been at Reading during his U-16 season.
The youngsters prepared for the new campaign by assembling a giant Airfix model:-
League
Outside of a 10-match unbeaten run (in league and cup) during the heart of the campaign, Albion were inconsistent in the league. They finished in 10th place in the South Division with 23 points. This compares with 9th place (and 22 points) last season and 8th place (with 27 points) in 2014-15. In Merit Group 3 they finished 6th of the 8 teams with two wins from seven.
U-18 football can produce some odd results as the strength of teams will vary for a variety of reasons. Albion’s most striking result was their 13-0 defeat at Chelsea in February but there were a couple of mitigating factors. Firstly Chelsea have dominated U-18 football for the last 3 years or so and secondly it was a very inexperienced Albion side (six of the starters for the FA Youth Cup game two weeks previously were rested).
Albion also suffered heavy defeats against Reading (7-4) and Spurs (4-0) but beat WBA 7-1 and Aston Villa 4-1. During the season they had issues in the centre-back position (as explained below) and there was no stand-out goalscorer; two players top-scored in the league with 6 goals and another couple of players scored 5 apiece.
FA Youth Cup
The most prestigious competition at U-18 level is the FA Youth Cup (in contrast to first-team football, clubs will always seek to play their strongest side in the competition, with matches often played at the first-team’s stadium). In 2005-06 Albion (under coach Dean Wilkins) reached the 6th round. Since then the club’s record has been disappointing but this season they put that to rights and came within seconds of matching that performance.
In the 3rd round Albion despatched Derby County 2-0 at the Amex (gaining revenge for a defeat against the same opponents at the same stage two years previously). In the 4th round Albion were again drawn at home and defeated Cambridge United by the same scoreline. That set up a 5th round tie at Stoke City. Albion took a 2-0 half-time lead; they came under pressure in the second half but looked like holding out until conceding an equalizing penalty in the 3rd minute of injury time. With no more scoring in extra time, the match went to penalties and Albion lost 4-2 (thus going out on penalties for the second year running).
Review by position (stats are for league and cup combined)
Goalkeepers: 1st-year scholar Tom McGill made most appearances with 21. He was also selected by England U-17s for the two qualification phases of the U-17 European Championships. Unfortunately he missed out on the 18-man squad for the finals in Croatia but still had the experience of travelling with the group as 19th-man. 2nd-year scholar George Hobbs made 5 appearances up to October; in February Whitehawk announced that the “former” Albion scholar had joined them. U-16 George Bentley was named on the bench 23 times and U-15 Roco Rees also had a couple of turns on the bench.
Defenders: Albion had issues at centre-back during the first half of the campaign. Sam Golan didn’t return for his second scholar year and 1st-year scholar Sam Rolph suffered a long-term injury in September. 2nd-year scholar (and captain) Danny Barker was often utilized in a midfield role. As a result, Reading 1st-year scholar Jamal Balogun was brought in on a youth loan and made 8 appearances. He was partnered in a number of them by trialist Nikola Tavares. South African Tavares had spent a number of years in Brentford’s academy before it was closed last May. After trials at Wolves and Middlesbrough he came to Albion. It looked like Albion might offer the tall, ball-playing central defender a contract but he moved on to Crystal Palace and signed a professional contract in February. Tottenham 2nd-year scholar Joy Mukena also played a couple of times on trial in November; in March his scholarship was transferred from Spurs to Watford.
For the FA Youth Cup campaign Danny Barker was back at centre-back and was partnered by Owen Moore (who is usually a right-back). Towards the end of the campaign U-16 Tareq Shihab made 9 appearances (and was called up by England U-16s). Sam Rolph returned to action in February and there were also appearances at centre-back by Rian O’Sullivan and Alex Cochrane.
2nd-year scholar Owen Moore made 15 appearances at right-back. Fellow 2nd-year Archie Davies (more often a midfielder) made 11 appearances in the position and 1st-year Hamish Morrison made 4 appearances in an injury-disrupted campaign.
At left-back Rian O’Sullivan made 19 appearances; he also made 6 appearances (and scored 1 goal) for the Republic of Ireland U-18 side. 1st-year scholar Alex Cochrane made 11 appearances and U-16 Cam Tutt made 1 start in the penultimate league game.
Midfielders: 1st-year scholar Isaac Hutchinson was involved in all but one match and scored five goals. Danny Mandroiu made 24 appearances and was overall top-scorer with 8 goals; he also made 4 appearances for the Irish U-19s. Archie Davies made 18 appearances in midfield and scored 4 goals in total. Max Sanders scored 6 goals in 17 appearances but was another who had a season disrupted by injury. 1st-year scholar Tyrese Fornah made 15 appearances and his fellow 1st-year Charlie Ferguson made 13 appearances, scoring 1 goal. Jayson Molumby was brought back into the fold (from the U-23s) for the FA Youth Cup campaign and made 5 appearances.
Out wide David Ajiboye scored 2 goals in 18 appearances; in February he joined Worthing on loan but made only 3 appearances after being sent-off in his second match. Luis Garcia contributed 5 goals in 24 appearances.
Forwards: 1st-year scholar Aaron Connolly scored 4 goals in 18 appearances. He hit the headlines when he scored twice on his debut for the U-23s in January. At international level he scored 7 goals in 6 matches for the Republic of Ireland U-17s to head the scoring charts for the qualification stages of the European Championships. He didn’t find the net for the Irish at the Finals tournament but it capped a memorable campaign for him. 2nd-year scholar Reece Meekums scored one goal in 14 appearances but thankfully came through surgery in November. Icelandic 1st-year Stefan Ljubicic scored two goals in 17 appearances (and got sent-off in April meaning he’ll be suspended for the first match of next season). U-16 Danny Cashman scored 3 goals in 15 appearances; he also made half-a-dozen appearances for the England U-16 side, scoring one goal. Two other U-16s made appearances; 5, in the case of Columbus Ibeh, and 2 for Ryan Longman (who also scored a goal).
Professional contracts
In 2015-16 thirteen 1st-year scholars were taken on. Sam Golan left the club in the summer of 2016 and Thomas Byrne left in November. Goalkeeper George Hobbs was not offered a professional contract.
Four lads were registered on professional contracts last summer; David Ajiboye, Luis Garcia, Danny Mandroiu and Rian O’Sullivan. Jayson Molumby will also have agreed professional terms. In recent months Archie Davies and Reece Meekums also agreed terms. I believe Max Sanders has also been offered terms.
That just leaves Danny Barker and Owen Moore, whose status is unknown to me at present. Hopefully the club will see fit to make an announcement in the next few days.
The league consists of two distinct phases. Albion play each of their eleven South division rivals twice to make up a 22-game initial campaign; the placings in the two divisions then determine the make-up of three merit divisions. The top 4 teams in the North and South division form an 8-team merit division 1 where teams play each other just once for a 7-match mini-league. The same happens for teams placed 5th to 8th (merit division 2) and 9th to 12th (merit division 2).
Of the 13 1st-year scholars from 2015-16, only 12 were back in 2016-17; the tall American centre-back Sam Golan returned from whence he came – Virginia – in the summer (although it didn’t stop him making his US international debut at U-19 level in September 2016). The feisty Irish striker Thomas Byrne was back this season but he played just once for the U-18s (in the opening match of the campaign) before scoring two goals in a loan spell at Bognor and then leaving Albion in November; he signed for Drogheda United in January 2017.
There were nine new scholars for 2016-17: six making the step up from the U-16s. These included goalkeeper Tom McGill, right-back Hamish Morrison, centre-back Sam Rolph, left-back Alex Cochrane and the two Eastbourne midfielders Isaac Hutchinson and Charlie Ferguson. The three new recruits were Irish striker Aaron Connolly (from Mervue United), Icelandic striker Stefan Alexander Ljubicic and midfielder Tyrese Fornah who had been at Reading during his U-16 season.
The youngsters prepared for the new campaign by assembling a giant Airfix model:-
League
Outside of a 10-match unbeaten run (in league and cup) during the heart of the campaign, Albion were inconsistent in the league. They finished in 10th place in the South Division with 23 points. This compares with 9th place (and 22 points) last season and 8th place (with 27 points) in 2014-15. In Merit Group 3 they finished 6th of the 8 teams with two wins from seven.
U-18 football can produce some odd results as the strength of teams will vary for a variety of reasons. Albion’s most striking result was their 13-0 defeat at Chelsea in February but there were a couple of mitigating factors. Firstly Chelsea have dominated U-18 football for the last 3 years or so and secondly it was a very inexperienced Albion side (six of the starters for the FA Youth Cup game two weeks previously were rested).
Albion also suffered heavy defeats against Reading (7-4) and Spurs (4-0) but beat WBA 7-1 and Aston Villa 4-1. During the season they had issues in the centre-back position (as explained below) and there was no stand-out goalscorer; two players top-scored in the league with 6 goals and another couple of players scored 5 apiece.
FA Youth Cup
The most prestigious competition at U-18 level is the FA Youth Cup (in contrast to first-team football, clubs will always seek to play their strongest side in the competition, with matches often played at the first-team’s stadium). In 2005-06 Albion (under coach Dean Wilkins) reached the 6th round. Since then the club’s record has been disappointing but this season they put that to rights and came within seconds of matching that performance.
In the 3rd round Albion despatched Derby County 2-0 at the Amex (gaining revenge for a defeat against the same opponents at the same stage two years previously). In the 4th round Albion were again drawn at home and defeated Cambridge United by the same scoreline. That set up a 5th round tie at Stoke City. Albion took a 2-0 half-time lead; they came under pressure in the second half but looked like holding out until conceding an equalizing penalty in the 3rd minute of injury time. With no more scoring in extra time, the match went to penalties and Albion lost 4-2 (thus going out on penalties for the second year running).
Review by position (stats are for league and cup combined)
Goalkeepers: 1st-year scholar Tom McGill made most appearances with 21. He was also selected by England U-17s for the two qualification phases of the U-17 European Championships. Unfortunately he missed out on the 18-man squad for the finals in Croatia but still had the experience of travelling with the group as 19th-man. 2nd-year scholar George Hobbs made 5 appearances up to October; in February Whitehawk announced that the “former” Albion scholar had joined them. U-16 George Bentley was named on the bench 23 times and U-15 Roco Rees also had a couple of turns on the bench.
Defenders: Albion had issues at centre-back during the first half of the campaign. Sam Golan didn’t return for his second scholar year and 1st-year scholar Sam Rolph suffered a long-term injury in September. 2nd-year scholar (and captain) Danny Barker was often utilized in a midfield role. As a result, Reading 1st-year scholar Jamal Balogun was brought in on a youth loan and made 8 appearances. He was partnered in a number of them by trialist Nikola Tavares. South African Tavares had spent a number of years in Brentford’s academy before it was closed last May. After trials at Wolves and Middlesbrough he came to Albion. It looked like Albion might offer the tall, ball-playing central defender a contract but he moved on to Crystal Palace and signed a professional contract in February. Tottenham 2nd-year scholar Joy Mukena also played a couple of times on trial in November; in March his scholarship was transferred from Spurs to Watford.
For the FA Youth Cup campaign Danny Barker was back at centre-back and was partnered by Owen Moore (who is usually a right-back). Towards the end of the campaign U-16 Tareq Shihab made 9 appearances (and was called up by England U-16s). Sam Rolph returned to action in February and there were also appearances at centre-back by Rian O’Sullivan and Alex Cochrane.
2nd-year scholar Owen Moore made 15 appearances at right-back. Fellow 2nd-year Archie Davies (more often a midfielder) made 11 appearances in the position and 1st-year Hamish Morrison made 4 appearances in an injury-disrupted campaign.
At left-back Rian O’Sullivan made 19 appearances; he also made 6 appearances (and scored 1 goal) for the Republic of Ireland U-18 side. 1st-year scholar Alex Cochrane made 11 appearances and U-16 Cam Tutt made 1 start in the penultimate league game.
Midfielders: 1st-year scholar Isaac Hutchinson was involved in all but one match and scored five goals. Danny Mandroiu made 24 appearances and was overall top-scorer with 8 goals; he also made 4 appearances for the Irish U-19s. Archie Davies made 18 appearances in midfield and scored 4 goals in total. Max Sanders scored 6 goals in 17 appearances but was another who had a season disrupted by injury. 1st-year scholar Tyrese Fornah made 15 appearances and his fellow 1st-year Charlie Ferguson made 13 appearances, scoring 1 goal. Jayson Molumby was brought back into the fold (from the U-23s) for the FA Youth Cup campaign and made 5 appearances.
Out wide David Ajiboye scored 2 goals in 18 appearances; in February he joined Worthing on loan but made only 3 appearances after being sent-off in his second match. Luis Garcia contributed 5 goals in 24 appearances.
Forwards: 1st-year scholar Aaron Connolly scored 4 goals in 18 appearances. He hit the headlines when he scored twice on his debut for the U-23s in January. At international level he scored 7 goals in 6 matches for the Republic of Ireland U-17s to head the scoring charts for the qualification stages of the European Championships. He didn’t find the net for the Irish at the Finals tournament but it capped a memorable campaign for him. 2nd-year scholar Reece Meekums scored one goal in 14 appearances but thankfully came through surgery in November. Icelandic 1st-year Stefan Ljubicic scored two goals in 17 appearances (and got sent-off in April meaning he’ll be suspended for the first match of next season). U-16 Danny Cashman scored 3 goals in 15 appearances; he also made half-a-dozen appearances for the England U-16 side, scoring one goal. Two other U-16s made appearances; 5, in the case of Columbus Ibeh, and 2 for Ryan Longman (who also scored a goal).
Professional contracts
In 2015-16 thirteen 1st-year scholars were taken on. Sam Golan left the club in the summer of 2016 and Thomas Byrne left in November. Goalkeeper George Hobbs was not offered a professional contract.
Four lads were registered on professional contracts last summer; David Ajiboye, Luis Garcia, Danny Mandroiu and Rian O’Sullivan. Jayson Molumby will also have agreed professional terms. In recent months Archie Davies and Reece Meekums also agreed terms. I believe Max Sanders has also been offered terms.
That just leaves Danny Barker and Owen Moore, whose status is unknown to me at present. Hopefully the club will see fit to make an announcement in the next few days.
