Faced with a tough decision regarding whether to extend an academy goalkeeper's contract or let them go? A series of experts advise on how they manage retain/release decisions.
As we enter the end of the football season, academies across the UK will be finalising their retain and release lists. The decision to keep a player involves a lot of discussion between senior members of the coaching staff, given that a professional contract is at stake.
We spoke to experts in academy goalkeeping on the best ways to navigate this time of year. They discussed a range of factors, including the decision-making process among coaches, and the best way to communicate with parents and players.
Paul Wavell is Head of Academy Goalkeeping at Swansea City, overseeing goalkeepers playing for the Under-18s and Under-21s as well as the academy goalkeeper pathway as a whole. He outlined that the decision to retain or release each player is taken by the whole coaching staff, based on a variety of factors. At Swansea, “succession plan meetings” take place every three to four weeks involving senior coaches and heads of departments to track the progress of every player.
Disagreements among coaches are an important part of the decision-making process, according to Wavell:
“There are two things whenever we make a decision - what's right for the player and what's right for the club. We can't just be offering something to a player that we don't think is actually a benefit to them if they've got a better opportunity elsewhere.
“We can't be selfish in that and then we also have to consider that, ultimately, we are a football club. What’s the right thing for the club in terms of having the right person to progress and us to invest time and effort and finances in that we believe could hopefully break through at our football club?
“There are disagreements among coaches, but I think whenever you come out of the room, everyone is on the same page.”
Dan Tumelty-Bevan works as the Head of Academy Goalkeeping at Birmingham City FC and outlined his decision-making process when putting forward his arguments during retain and release discussions among coaches. He said:
“My thing is, in all conversations around players you’ve got to understand that your opinion is one of many opinions and isn’t the sole opinion. It’s not the least important opinion, but it’s not the most important opinion either and that’s for me and goalkeepers in my view, as well as outfield players.
“So what I’ll say in our retain and release meetings, for example, is I will not be the sole decider on players. If I feel that there is a strong case to be made, I will do as much evidence and research on the points I need to make so I can give hard stats on what I’ve seen and what I know, for example, biological age versus chronological age, what they’ve got left to go, are they early maturing are they late maturing, are they really improving in something, are they trying to do what’s being asked of them and getting better at it and therefore they’re making mistakes because of it? It’s more about being able to put your view across with as much evidence as you can rather than just going “I think this”.
“I’ll sit there and ask, what do we think? If the room is a yes, then it’s yes. If the room is a no, then it’s closer to a no. However, if the room is a no I will try and give context to make sure we explore every angle, and if the room is a yes and I think it’s a no I will try and give more context, but ultimately the decision is the club’s decision, and we have to be happy as a collective staff. So, it’s never a case of my opinion over anyone else’s or someone else’s opinion over someone else’s.”
One thing that all the coaches interviewed agreed on was that the decision to retain or release a goalkeeper requires long-term planning.
While it is easy to place extra importance on recent performances, Rob Shay, Head of Academy Goalkeeping at Reading FC, believes that the eventual decision should factor in the progression tracked by various coaches over an extended period. He said:
“I think decisions around scholarships form a really important part of the goalkeeper coach’s job. Taking a long-term approach to decision-making is important. Opinions should be formed over a longer term alongside the multi-disciplinary team (MDT) team at the club and ideally be benchmarked against the KPI’s the club determine are important for how they want their goalkeepers to play.
“Context is also key, it’s vital you have the best gauge you can of where that goalkeeper is in their development in order to assess potential. Ultimately if you are taking a goalkeeper onto a scholarship program you need to be confident you are able to provide a program which gives the best opportunity for the goalkeeper to reach their potential.”
Graeme Smith, who enjoyed an accomplished playing career, plying his trade for the likes of Rangers, Kilmarnock, and St Mirren among others, now works as Goalkeeping Performance and Coach Education Manager, since March 2024, for the Scottish FA. He also has experience coaching young players, working at Rangers for six years as the Head of Academy Goalkeeping between 2018 and 2024.
Smith agreed with Shay that recency bias can’t affect the final decision when deciding to retain or release young goalkeepers. He said:
“I think the most important bit for me from a release point of view is it should never really come as a shock if you're doing your work properly and you're reviewing your players, whether it's weekly, daily, which the top clubs should do. At Rangers, we would have daily meetings in terms of the goalkeepers, even with the first team staff. We would then have weekly meetings with the whole kind of phase, whether it was the YDP (Youth Development Phase) or whether it was the Foundation Phase or the children's academy or whatever it may be.
“We would have six weekly reviews. We would have six monthly parents’ evenings. So, you would always know where your son was at. There would never be a real shock. There was always constant dialogue between the coaches.”
He added: “From a release point of view there were very few times that you would ever turn and go ‘wow I didn't see that coming’. As long as you're reviewing properly and you're following your processes properly and they're happening at regular periods, then I think it's an easier one to manage.
“What a lot of people tend to fall into the trap of is only remembering the last two weeks or the last two games. Whereas, if you've got evidence there from a six-month period or a 12-month period, it's far easier to look at that and make an informed decision based on all the information rather than just what your unconscious bias will tell you. Because again, young players will likely be inconsistent.”
Communicating the final decision to parents and players during retain and release season is challenging and requires a tailored approach dependent on the individual. As at most clubs, a fair few players in Swansea’s Professional Development Phase (PDP) are released every year. In younger academy age groups, meetings to discuss whether a player has been retained or released includes the parents. However, when the decision is given to scholars, it is typically just the player themselves. Wavell provided the following advice on the best way how to communicate this decision:
“I would always start off with giving the decision straight away because we know that the moment someone walks in that room - the emotion, the anxiety, the panic, the fear, that's in the front of everyone's mind.
“As soon as they walk in the room, give them the decision and if they are in a position where you think that they would like some feedback and information at that moment, then we might give them some information as to why we've come to that decision.
“Or we just give the decision and then we tell them to take some time to digest the information that we've given them on the night, and then we can sit down again and go into more detail about why the decision has happened, what are the next steps and how we can help moving forward.”
