I've posted a couple times (here and here to be precise) about the success of the Glenn Hoddle Academy. Further news has come out about possible success stories, and it always makes good reading. This is from the Metro.
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Football fans often bemoan the lack of home-grown players turning out for the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and even Portsmouth.
Maybe they should look to the Spanish league and check out Jerez Industrial. The third division side boasts six British players – and two Irishmen – and has earned the title ‘Los Ingleses’.
The eight young players may not have attracted the same kind of attention given to David Beckham when he left Manchester United for Real Madrid but they have been crucial to Jerez Industrial’s fortunes.
All have been recruited through Glenn Hoddle’s Football Academy, based in southern Spain, which helps players who have been rejected by clubs – including the likes of Man United, Millwall and Bolton Wanderers – to kick-start their careers.
‘I have made it clear to them that the hard work really starts now. We’ve given them the opportunity and now it’s down to them to take it,’ said the 52-year-old former England player and manager.
Industrial play in front of a home crowd of 8,000 at the Stadium of Youth in the city of Jerez, in the province of Cadiz in south-west Spain.
The squad is now made up of 14 Spaniards, six Brits, two Irishmen and one Senegalese.
Striker Chris Fagan, 20, spent two years with United and has played for the Republic of Ireland’s under-21s. He is on loan at Industrial from Lincoln City.
He scored two goals on his debut and said: ‘I learned a lot from Sir Alex Ferguson but I’ve also made a lot of progress with Glenn Hoddle. We’ve got a good team.’
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