Derby County Under-18 Lead Coach Danny Maye believes his side should be 'confident they can compete' ahead of their first game of the 2024/25 Under-18 Premier League - North season on Saturday at home to Liverpool (12pm kick-off).
The Under-18s play in the division alongside the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City and Newcastle United and they head into the new season coming off the back of an impressive fourth-place finish in the 2023/24 campaign.
Maye sat down with RamsTV ahead of the new season to discuss the squad’s pre-season training camp out in Poland, their expectations for the year and the impact of new coaching staff in the Academy set-up.
On the Under-18 squad’s goals for the season…
I don't think it's any different to other seasons. We want the lads to do well in the league. We want them to have a good run in the FA Youth Cup. The lads certainly should be wanting to win in everything that they do. That doesn't change, because part of our job is to develop lads with a winning mentality. But it has to also be about progression, getting lads in and around the Under-21s first.
We were fortunate that we had some lads that were around the first team last season. We want to kick that on again and get more lads that have done well and need that challenge to step up and be around Paul Warne's squad. That would be amazing and every Under-18s coach wants to see that. It has to take priority. Then after that, we want another good season where were competing consistently and we get the lads the opportunities they need.
On their first opponents, Liverpool…
Liverpool have got a brilliant, rich history of producing players, as we have. It's a good first fixture. The thing with Under-18s football is that you can play the same team twice in a season and none of the same players play.
That's how it should be, really, because if lads are doing well, they should be progressing, and younger lads should be coming up and getting chances to play.
On Derby’s Under-18s squad make-up coming into the new season…
You'll see some familiar faces, some lads that ended last season that aren't yet ready to go into the Under-21s or the spaces aren't there for them yet. Hopefully, they'll be involved in driving the style and the standards we spoke about a lot last year.
We've got a good group of lads from the Under-16s that are around it and have earned their scholarship, along with some acquisitions. This first period of the season is about getting to know the players as individuals, but also making sure that they're really clear on our identity and the way that we play. So, of course, the squad will look different. It will probably not look exactly the same as it did towards the end of last season. Based on pre-season, they're in a really good place and they've played really well.
On new players ageing into the squad…
It freshens things up. It would be a worry for me if you're keeping all the same players for the following season because the lads did well, so they deserve the opportunity to go up to the Under-21s. It's interesting as a coach to start working with some new players. The club's brought in some really good, new and young players that have got bags of potential. To be working with them is great. We've got Bradley Johnson as well who has joined the staff, that's been good. It's a different voice, new ideas to bring in and hopefully develop the good work that all of the staff did last year.
On Bradley Johnson joining the Under-18s coaching staff from the Under-21s…
It is brilliant. And the other way around as well, to have Lewis Bourne be around the Under-18s last season and then come back in with the Under-16s to lead them is positive. It is key between the youth phase and the professional phase. Bradleyhas come in and he's got bags of playing experience, which is already good that he can draw upon that. He’s not just a really good coach, but a good human being as well. That's always important; to understand the type of people you need around these young lads. As much as you'll see them on Saturday, some of them look like men, but they're not and they're still kids.
On the squad’s pre-season trip to Poland…
It was really interesting; it was ideal for what we needed. We'd had a couple of games in the build-up to going out there and the lads had done well. We wanted to go and play against a different style of football, and we got that. Both the teams that we played out there dropped into a low block and playing a 4-4-2 shape. You don't get that too often in Under-18s football. It made it difficult to break it down and it took lads time to figure it out. We also had a difficult game that was ended 20 minutes in because of thunder and we had to knock that match on the head.
The key other bit is the time that you get with them. As I’ve said, some of these are new players and it’s really important for the staff to get to know them and for them to get to know us and the other boys.
We did a couple of good things around them talking about heartbreaks that they've had, their history and their heroes, which is actually something that we took from the first team that they did in Spain. The lads really committed to it and we left the trip in a much better place as a team than we did when we arrived.
On striving to better last year’s fourth-place finish in the league…
We have good group of players, so they certainly should be setting their expectations as high as possible. Under-18s football is slightly different to some other age groups because - if we're doing our job right - the team that we start with shouldn't be the team that we end with.
There'll be Under-21s that hopefully get first-team opportunities and loan opportunities. If that opens up spaces and the Under-18s are playing well and they deserve it, I'm hoping that they're moving up sooner rather than later and then you have a new group that's coming in and learning. Takes a little bit of time.
