Manchester United coaches salute Glo Soccer Academy

Speaking with media men on Sunday, the coaches who arrived in Nigeria on Saturday; saluted the organizers of the soccer reality TV show as being in line with what obtains in great parts of Europe where football development is at its best.  

Manchester United youth team coaches; Andrew Smith and Adam Temple have praised the Glo Soccer Academy programme for its innovativeness and its capacity to develop the game in the country and the West Africa subregion.

The coaches that are already at the Glo Academy camp located at the Peninsula Resort in Ajah, Lagos thumbed up the facility as being classy enough to enhance the players’ performances.

“The environment the player is in is important to his development. His psyche has great importance on the way he plays. The environment that has been created here by Glo is impressive. We are glad to be associated with this programme,” Smith said.  

The coaches noted that they would be working with the players to help them boost their performances in the coming days. “We are looking at translating the atmosphere at Manchester United to the boys in the Academy,” Temple said.

He added that the academy could indeed improve the lot of African players on the international scene.

“I think Africa is on the right track. The key thing with development programmes like this is to have the right people in place. And I believe that is what has been done here,” he said.

Ex-Ghanaian international, Tony Baffoe and former Super Eagles star Victor Ikpeba agree. According to Baffoe, it is not only a good atmosphere that has been provided, but also good educational incentive. To Baffoe, education is an important element in the development of players.

“One key aspect (of football development) is education. Players have in the past signed contracts they could not even read. These kids are still minors and cannot sign contracts yet. Only coaches like us and their parents can do so for them. We are therefore here to, apart from coaching them ensure that they make the right professional decisions,” Baffoe said.

Ikpeba concurs. “The basic thing is for them to learn and we will provide the atmosphere for that,” the former Monaco player said.

The boys themselves are happy for the opportunity to not only win money but also be trained by some of the best players in the world and coaches from one of the best football clubs in the world.

Adamu Aliu, 16, of Lagos and Okpoku Mensah, 14 of Ghana both expressed their excitement at being part of the programme and praised Glo for the initiative.