THE youth department at Plainmoor have embarked on the new campaign after a positive pre-season for the new crop.
Every training session and game is obviously a learning curve for the academy boys and head of youth Geoff Harrop is aiming to school his kids in the football philosophy preached by manager Martin Ling.
"When you look at the pre-season results where we got beat heavily at Chelsea and Reading, it didn’t surprise any of us," said Geoff. "They are both Premier League clubs with big budgets and that is obviously a factor when it comes to developing players.
"I’m generally very pleased with pre-season. We won three and lost three, and we’re playing the type of football I know the manager wants our young players to learn and develop.
"We are also playing a system that is preferred by the manager and it is very important the young boys closest to the first-team have a real knowledge of what the manager is trying to achieve.
"At this football club, Martin Ling will have a couple of the youth boys train with him every day, which is fantastic for the youth department and obviously important we are heading down the same road."