Sparkes discusses how he created a link between academy and first team goalkeepers over the course of a season in the world's toughest league.
Many would regard the Championship as one of the toughest leagues in the world due to its gruelling and unforgiving nature. Yet, as Andrew Sparkes approaches a year in his role as Queens Park Rangers’ Head of Goalkeeping, he is able to reflect on the “really big progress” made at the club, with Goalkeeper.com.
He shares that one of the big things he wanted to achieve was “developing a goalkeeper structure in terms of our methodology, our philosophy, aligning it with our game model and just trying to put a really robust structure in place for goalkeepers and goalkeeper coaches to develop within our system.”
That model focuses on goalkeepers from the first-team to the youngest in the academy for both the men and women, while also playing into QPR’s wider methodology. “We want them to be proficient with their in-possession game,” Sparkes says of his goalkeepers. “That starts with how we recruit our goalkeepers, how we develop them when they're in our system. You put that next to our game model, and those three things need to align to ensure that we're giving the goalkeepers the best possible environment to develop their in-possession game, which in turn then helps the team and the club on a weekly basis.”
While admitting “each week varies” in “a jam-packed” schedule, Sparkes shares how he ensures the goalkeepers are best prepared for every game. “Each goalkeeper in the club has an IDP [Individual Development Plan], so we have a little bit more scope to work on their individual needs within a week,” he says. “Then matchday minus one, minus two is all about the opposition and how they predominantly create chances, what type of crosses they put into the box, how they press.”
Sparkes is also able to rely on his team of goalkeeping coaches to help ensure every goalkeeper gets the attention they need. “A lot of the early work was putting the groundwork and the foundations in to make sure that as coaches we're all aligned,” he explains. “I think that's really important, that what we're looking for in the first-team is filtered down into the academy.”
He continues: “Obviously the complexity of first-team level is going to be more than it is in the foundation phase, but we're looking for the goalkeeper coaches to develop the goalkeepers in a particular way. We have a certain session structure that the U9 goalkeeper coaches will deliver the same as the first-team. We'll start with an in-possession element and then going into the session, regardless of what age goalkeepers train with a goalkeeper coach, they're going to be well versed and used to a certain way of working.”
They also have CPD [Continuous Professional Development] events across the season, “to bring everyone together” and there have also been masterclasses where a first-team goalkeeper talks about a specific element of the game, which Sparkes says have “probably gone better than expected”.
He offers an example: “Paul Nardi was delivering a presentation on shot-stopping and defending the goal. We'd have all the academy keepers in the analysis room, from our U8s to the first-team goalkeepers, the boys, the girls. It was basically trying to understand what Paul was thinking, what he was feeling at certain times, why he made decisions and certain technical actions.”
Sparkes adds: “For me, that really builds that togetherness within the club. Your familiarity then from the academy goalkeepers to the first-team and vice versa.”
He’s already seen the benefits of these masterclasses, with Tony Roberts having put on similar sessions when Sparkes was head of academy goalkeeping at Swansea City, with QPR’s third-choice Nathan Shepperd being an example of that. “He was actually on the goalkeeper masterclass with David Seaman, when we did it back in Swansea, and then he does it now at QPR,” Sparkes shares.
“Those are the types of things that I tried to learn from Tony, putting these things on. And with David being an ex-QPR goalkeeper, one or two calls, and he's more than welcome to come into the building and speak to our goalkeepers. So that was fantastic.”
He will use many other lessons from that role and his time as Southampton’s first-team goalkeeper coach, stating that his new position is “blending those two experiences together”. In a club appointed role, Sparkes also has the assurance of his position being a long-term one, while he also focuses on short-term goals.
Sparkes is able to point to his previous long-term success amid hopes he will have the same impact at QPR. ”I had seven years at Swansea, and we had an unbelievable track record of developing goalkeepers,” he says. “It’s amazing this season where there's five goalkeepers in Championship teams who have come through Swansea, through the academy, and then you've got Steven Benda at Fulham.”
He continues: “When I was at Swansea, and I've been away from Swansea for 10 years now, along with the goalkeeper coaches there, I was basically planting the seeds to let these goalkeepers try to develop and put them in a good structure, and it's only now that I'm seeing the fruits of what we looked to achieve back then.”
As he states: “I might not even be at QPR in 10 years to see what comes to fruition, but for me, it's about putting these things in place and hoping that the goalkeepers in the academy, first and foremost, can we try and put one in the first-team, to become number one, and the other part there is to educate them on their goalkeeping journey and try and get them to the highest level they can possibly get.”
There are already positive signs for the goalkeepers coming through, with Shepperd having helped to maintain an impressive record for the Development Squad in the Premier League Cup before Matteo Salomon came in for a 3-1 win against Brentford B in the final.
There is also Joe Walsh, who Sparkes admits might have had more first-team opportunities “if it wasn't for the form of Paul during the season”. Even so, the 23-year-old “shows on a daily basis that he has all the tools to be very good goalkeeper in the league“ and was rewarded with a start on the final day of the season for a second consecutive campaign.
Sparkes adds: “He works so incredibly hard every single day. He deserved the opportunity, I was just really pleased that he took that opportunity once again this season, to show that he has the quality to play in the Championship.” Sparkes also references Murphy Cooper who capped off his loan spell with Stevenage by being named their Young Player of the Year.
Then there is “top guy” Nardi, who joined QPR and went on to be runner-up in the club’s Supporters’ Player of the Year award in his debut season. “Coming from France and then into Belgium, it's a lot different,” Sparkes says. “I think he was surprised by the physicality of the league, how quick it is, and especially physicality in terms of contact on crosses, in open play, in crossing situations, and he made big developments in those areas.”
Sharing how the Frenchman was prepared for the unique tests he faces, Sparkes says: “In the Championship, you normally have a blocker or two on the goalkeeper, and it's really physical, and not a lot of fouls are given on the goalkeeper. I had to prepare him for that, so the first three or four months, every Thursday was putting crosses under the bar with tackle pads, with inflatable mannequins around him, and working on his punching technique, his timing, his take off.”
There was also the physical side to deal with in terms of fitness. “He came off quite a significant injury the season before we signed him,” Sparkes says. “So, for us to manage him through that season, and for him to have the resilience to come back from such a bad injury to play all those games, to have 100% availability in the Championship, was a fantastic achievement as well.”
The 31-year-old has also bought into the togetherness that Sparkes is looking to create among his goalkeepers at all levels. “He's got time for everyone, he even came into the other masterclasses and sat next to the academy keepers who are 9/10 years old, and they're literally looking at him in awe. He's just a really down to earth guy, will give the time to know anyone,” Sparkes says.
“We have a few of the academy keepers watch the first-team warm-ups behind the goal, and Paul will always go over to address them by first name during the warm-up. Some of the kids have gone to away games, and Paul has spotted them in the crowd and given his shirt to them. It's these little things that from the outside seem really small but have a big effect on people, and especially the academy goalkeepers.”
That mix of performances on the pitch and togetherness off it epitomise what Sparkes has already implemented at QPR and will look to continue moving forward with the club.
