Derby County are fighting to retain their Championship status under new head coach John Eustace, but the Rams have enjoyed a very productive campaign at academy level
Derby County have endured plenty of highs and lows since 2012 when the Premier League’s Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) was born.
But be it the near misses in the Championship play-offs or the ignominy of dropping into the third tier for the first time since 1986, the Rams’ fertile academy has been the one constant at Pride Park throughout that period. Indeed, some of the more recent graduates of said academy even helped keep the club afloat in the form of player sales during the darkest of days before the arrival of David Clowes.
These days, Derby are back in the Championship, albeit still with work to do to preserve their recently restored membership to what is now essentially the Premier League lite.
At academy level, the table makes for far more pleasant reading right now. Having been a Category One academy since 2014, Derby’s teams play at the highest level and only Manchester City and United respectively are ahead of lead coach Danny Maye’s Under-18 side in the U18 Premier League.
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During last year’s promotion-winning campaign under former head coach, Paul Warne, 18 per cent of minutes were played by academy-developed players; the equivalent of having two graduates feature for every minute of all 46 matches the Rams played in League One.
Finding the balance between developing young men both personally and professionally whilst taking into account the demands of producing first-team footballers is the balance Maye and others have to strike. It has unique demands.
“You still have to coach age specific,” Maye explains. “As much as some of these lads, especially when you get to 15, 16 years of age, may look like men cognitively, they’re not: they’re still kids.
“We help these young men build skills that aren’t just important in life but in football as well. It’s not the be all and end all. In terms of football, you have to coach them really around what they need, not what you think it will look like in the end. It’s a fine balance.”
In an ever-evolving sphere of the game, Derby more than hold their own. As part of the EFL’s Youth Development week, academy manager Matt Hale details the progress that has been made during his 18 months at the helm.
Additional funding has enabled the club to advance the levels of support on offer to players, as well as their staff numbers. Hale’s remit means he oversees players from U7 level at the club’s development centres all the way up to the U21s.
All aspects of their development, be that tactically or from an educational standpoint, are tailored by him as the club strive to produce Premier League-quality players.
“It’s a big responsibility and something I’m really, really proud of,” Hale says. “We’ve got a good infrastructure, top staff and fantastic facilities and it’s a really, really positive thing for the football club to be able to compete at the same level [as some top Premier League clubs].”
Derby made the semi-finals of the Premier League Cup this year, losing to West Ham in the semi-finals earlier this month, and the fifth round of the FA Youth Cup.
“We’ve had some great performances in different competitions from the U18s as well as the U21s,” Hale adds. “Ultimately, though, it’s about trying to get players in the first team.”
Attacking midfielder Cruz Allen, 18, is among the pool of upstarts hoping to be the next big thing off the conveyor belt of talent at Moor Farm. The talented teenager made his senior bow at the age of just 16 back in November 2023 and is hungry for more.
Allen has been on the books at Derby since the age of 9 and credits the experience of living in digs behind his maturity as a person, as well as his experiences on the pitch.
“Derby have a good history with the young lads, so I just want to get in,” he says of his first-team ambitions.
“At the minute I’m just trying to prove in training that I’m good enough and hopefully I end up getting on the bench a couple of times and coming on; then I’ve just got to perform.”
Academy graduates such as Dajaune Brown and Liam Thompson have ensured the continued presence of homegrown talent in the Rams squad, featuring regularly over the course of the season. Eiran Cashin, a classy centre-half who has won international caps at youth level for the Republic of Ireland, was purchased by Brighton for £9million in the January transfer window after making just shy of 150 appearances for Derby.
Those three players underline how the club’s academy continues to bear fruit in more than one way. The dark days which saw Derby flirt with financial oblivion are long gone, but we are now in an era where most clubs accept the need to trade responsibly.
“I think you can make good profit if you do youth development right,” adds Hale, pointing to the fact that the club spend significant sums to sustain their Category One status.
“If you invest, like we are doing significantly, I think you can reap the rewards in years to come. We’ve got lads in and around the first team – lads who have made debuts this season – that are now very, very valuable to the club. Whether that’s because they’re in the first team squad which prevents you from purchasing another player, or a player that may well be moved on and sold for fees in the future, that’s youth development.”
Maye, like Hale, joined Derby from Southampton. And much like the players he works with on a day-to-day basis, the pathway on offer at the club was paramount to his decision to head north.
“It’s just as important [for staff] but the players really need to see it. Their end objective is going to be really clear in the mind: they want to see that there’s chances to go through [and play at senior level].
“I think the clubs that do [youth development] best often have a really clear strategy and tactics to enable the players to get there. That’s what we’re striving for.”
A holistic approach to youth development always has been, and remains, the aim. For all the success Derby’s U18s have enjoyed this season, it’s a defeat – the recent 3-2 loss to Manchester United – which Maye pinpoints when asked to reflect on a highlight.
Derby took on a strong United team with a number of Under-16s in the line-up. Maye explains: “I could just sense a moment in that game where they realized some of these young players coming through that haven’t played at this level yet, just how good they could be and how good they are. So that really stands out.”
Youth development has changed significantly since Maye started coaching at Bristol Rovers after leaving the professional game himself at the age of 21.
The pay-offs haven’t changed, though. And listening to Maye’s moving account of how he’s felt seeing Tyler Dibling – who he worked closely with at Southampton – establish himself in the Premier League this season underlines the fruit of such labour.
“Honestly, I don’t mind admitting this but when you watch someone come out and make their debut it’s special. You sort of get the tingles come up on the back of your neck. You can’t help but get a bit emotional about it because you’ve known them since they were eight. The only feeling I can think of that would better than that is probably if it’s your kid.
“Fans, I suppose, will see only the five minutes [he plays] with warming up and going onto the pitch. But we see that this kid’s been traveling back and forth, the sacrifices his parents and siblings have made. He’s put eight years of work in. There’s just so much that goes into it to get those players on the pitch. Those five minutes mean so much more.”
Derby County’s overall fate hangs in the balance. It will be some time before fans learn the club’s fate, albeit the recent appointment of John Eustace has generated fresh optimism that survival is possible. The Rams are currently just a point adrift from safety with eight games remaining.
Relegation would, of course, be a significant setback. But whatever occurs between now and May, Hale says there is cause for fans to be optimistic given their strong academy.
“We believe we’ve got some really exciting talent in the building. They’re still young, you know, they’re still growing, they’re still developing. Some are not quite ready for first team involvement. But all I can say – and again, it’s a subjective opinion – I think the fans can be excited about some of the young talent that we’ve got coming through the system.
“I’m sure it won’t be too long before you see some of them at Pride Park.”
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