INTERVIEW: Alex Carroll, QPR Academy Director

"I would like QPR to be the Academy of choice in London"

Queens Park Rangers FC Academy Manager, Alex Carroll believes the move to a new training ground will enhance the club's ability to attract and retain the best talent in London, with all the club's football departments set to be under one roof once the state of the art facilities are complete.

What is the current state of the Academy?

We operate a Category Two Academy at our training base in Heston. Our categorisation is determined by the Professional Game Board following an audit process which is overseen by the Professional Game Academy Audit Company (PGAAC).

Our vision is to help young people fulfil their potential by providing them with a range of positive pathways, both inside and outside the game.

We are delighted with the progress that we have made over the last 6 years, with 20 players that have been produced through our development programme making debuts in the First Team. We are equally proud of the boys that have gone on to forge successful careers in different industries, as well as those that have earned places at some world-renowned universities/colleges, such as Harvard College in the United States of America.

There is plenty of positive change on the horizon with the ongoing training ground project at Heston. The First Team have recently moved across to be on the same site at the Academy, and works are well underway to construct a state-of-theart training centre.

What does the transition period between seasons look like for you?

We don’t have a traditional closed season break at our Academy as our Schoolboys (U9 – U14) have a summer programme that runs until the start of the school holidays. We started this programme several years ago as we felt it would provide the boys with an opportunity to go on holiday and spend time with their friends and families without the pressure of having to commit to the Academy schedule.

The full-time Academy groups (U18 & U23) do have some time away from the Academy and are all provided with programmes to ensure that they return in good physical condition ahead of preseason.

The summer period provides our staff with a great opportunity to review the previous season and plan effectively for the new season. It has however been a summer like no other as we have been busy planning the integration of the First Team at our training base.

On a personal note, I was fortunate enough to recently go on holiday with my young family. It is vitally important to ensure that you take care of yourself and recharge the batteries when you have the opportunity, as the football industry can be all consuming. ➡

How does the Academy align with school commitments for the younger players?

We recognise that being a registered player at an Academy is a huge commitment for the boys and their families, with the Schoolboys attending a minimum of 4 activities per week. This prompted our decision to close our hybrid programme (School Release) as we felt that we couldn’t justify the time away from school. There are examples of Category 1 Academies that can provide compensatory education sessions with a large pool of qualified teachers, however we are not blessed with the same resources. Our Head of Education & Player Care keeps in regular contact with the schools to ensure that we kept updated on their progress.

As a group of staff, we realise that we can help to keep the boys on track at school by constantly reinforcing messaging on the importance of education in our environment. The drop-out rates in the Academy system are well publicised, and it is therefore vitally important that the boys are seen as children first, and Academy players second.

What is your relationship like with the schools of the players to manage their physical activity?

We keep in contact with our families to track the physical activity that the players are undertaking at school to ensure that they're not doing too much. It could be quite easy to miss that one of the boys had played an 80-minute match in the afternoon at school, before reporting for training a couple of hours later. Our staff are therefore pro-active with communications to ensure that we look after the physical and emotional wellbeing of the boys.

We work closely with the schools to allow the boys the opportunity to play with their friends when an appropriate opportunity arises. We also encourage the boys to continue playing a range of sport at school as this can have such a positive impact on their development, especially on a social level. In the school football team, they might be seen as the Academy player who is heavily relied upon, but in a different sport they may have to play a different role within the group. These ranges of experiences will ultimately develop them as characters and support their performance on the football pitch.

What are your aspirations with Academy?

I would like QPR to become the Academy of choice in London.

We understand that we are located in a catchment area that contains some of the biggest Clubs in the country, however we believe that we already have the software (people) in place to deliver an outstanding programme to provide young people with positive experiences and pathways. The hardware (training facilities) to take us to the next level is on the horizon.

Our ambition is to reduce the number of young players departing for other Clubs before they have had the opportunity to play for our first team.

We must continue to produce players for our First Team and demonstrate a return on investment to our Owners. We have had great recent success in providing players for our First Team, as well as players that have been sold to Clubs in the Premier League. This has gone a long way to helping to Club to achieve its mission to become a more sustainable business.

It is also important to remember that we are accountable for providing pathways outside of the game, and we are extremely proud of recent Academy graduates who have gone on to positive exit destinations in further education/ alternative careers.

When a big club comes calling for a player you have nurtured through the Academy, what's the balance between trying to fight to keep them at the club and supporting them with the new opportunity?

When a Club makes an approach for one of your young players there are often mixed emotions amongst the staff. Clearly it is a positive reflection on our programme that the bigger Club are recognising our players, however there is also a sense of disappointment that we will no longer be able to affect their individual development.

We realise, given our current infrastructure, that we are unable to compete with the resources of other Clubs, therefore it is vitally important that we promote a clear pathway to our First Team. This will ultimately encourage young players to join, and stay, at our Club.

Since 2016, we have received compensation/transfer fees for 16 players that have progressed through our development programme. Our ambition is to reduce the number of young players departing for other Clubs before they have had the opportunity to play for our First Team.

How do you support players in their transition to a new club?

The first thing to mention is that we don't stand in the way of any young player and their family who wish to move, as long as our Club receives an appropriate level of compensation.

We inform our families immediately if a formal approach has been made, and we meet with them to outline the process regarding the potential move.

Once a family expresses their interest in the move, arrangements are made for them to visit the new Club to provide an opportunity to determine whether they feel it is the right environment for their son.

If the transition to a new Club is complete, then our staff always remain available should the family want advice or support in the future. ➡

You have people coming from a range of cultures. How do you make everyone sort of gel together?

We are fortunate to have one of the most diverse Boards of Directors in football. The example is set from the very top of our structure, and we are proud of the wide range of backgrounds that we have amongst our players and staff.

It is so important for our young players to have role models within our environment that look like them. London is such a cosmopolitan area, and I think it would be fair to say that the makeup of our stakeholders provides a fair representation of our local community.

To support our desire for an inclusive environment, we work with several delivery partners, such as Kick it Out, Sporting Equals and Rose Night to deliver workshops focused on equality and diversity. These workshops encourage important conversations and give everyone an opportunity to share their thoughts and feelings.

We have 3 standards (The 3 R’s: respect; responsibility; resilience) that are expected of everyone entering our Academy. The staff are accountable for setting the environment that allows individuals to flourish.

How significant will the new facilities be for the club?

It is an enormously exciting project for everyone at the Club, and the significance cannot be understated. The project will play a significant role in helping us to attract and retain the best players and staff.

We have been operating in universityowned facilities for 17 years, whilst other Clubs in London have developed their own purpose-built training grounds.

Having exclusive use of our own facilities will allow us to expand our programme which will benefit not just our staff and players, but also the local community.

At present we have 5 Deso pitches being installed, with 2 more to follow along with 2 full-size artificial pitches. There won’t be many Clubs outside of the Premier League top 6 that would be able to boast such facilities.

Who is going to benefit most from the new facilities?

The new facilities will of course have a massive impact on our staff and players, who will have access to state-of-theart pitches, gyms and classrooms to operate in.

Our local community will also benefit from the facilities, as we plan to run a number of health and wellbeing sessions for them in collaboration with our Community Trust. As a Club we are enormously proud of the work that is delivered in the community around ➡

“Our local community will also benefit from the facilities as we plan to run a number of health and wellbeng session for them.

One of the key drivers behind our decision to partner with Teamworks was to enhance a players' experience with us...

our stadium. This project offers us the opportunity to impact the lives of people in the borough of Hounslow.

How would you define operational excellence?

I believe operational excellence is achieved when everyone has clarity on their individual roles and responsibilities, and they delivered in a timely fashion with high quality.

A key aspect of being an effective leader is to ensure that the right people are put in the right positions and provided with the tools required to deliver their job.

To maintain operational excellence, it is important to create an environment that enables staff to feel comfortable in challenging each-other in a respectful manner. Having a diverse group of staff with a vast array of experiences will also go a long way to ensuring that the right questions are asked to drive your programme to the next level.

The club have recently implemented new operating system to streamline internal communications. Prior to partnering with Teamworks, what are the main sort of pain points that you have dealt with previously in regards to engaging with the players and the operational efficiencies?

One of our biggest operational challenges is communicating with so many different groups of people and ensuring that they get the information that they need, when they need it.

Academies are such dynamic organisations and things change on a daily basis. We previously found that keeping everyone up to date was extremely difficult when communicating through WhatsApp groups and emails.

From my perspective as Academy Director, it was also difficult to cut through the noise and find the key information that I really needed to know.

What benefits have you seen because of centralising communications?

Our players and staff have benefited enormously from having access to live schedules. Our staff can make changes to schedules/itineraries and immediate updates are received by those that need to know.

The messaging function has allowed us to schedule reminders for players, which has been particularly useful in the build up to key deadlines or events.

The forms function has allowed us to collate information in an efficient manner, reducing the need for huge reems of paperwork. This has also assisted us in maintaining secure records and databases for our players.

What types of messages/ content that you send do you find makes them more likely to engage?

Our players and parents have reacted extremely well to the positive stories that we have published on our news feed. This has enabled us to promote the culture of our Academy and shout about the achievements of those connected to us.

As an example, we recently published a story regarding some of our Academy players who were selected to take part in an event held for the Asian Inclusion Mentoring Scheme at St George’s Park. We were extremely proud of way in which the boy represented our Club, and it is great to have the technology available to promote this across our Academy.

When you have new players, what needs to happen to ensure they are successfully onboarded and how does Teamworks fit into that process?

A Teamworks demonstration now forms part of the induction process for trialists at the Academy. The players and their parents are taken through the app and our staff explain the ways in which we will push out communications/ schedules for them. We pin user guides and videos to their dashboards so that they always have an opportunity to revisit a specific area of the platform if required.

We are now looking to take things one step further and work with our media team to produce a welcome video for those that are signed at the Academy.

Teamworks allows us to provide our players with answers to questions that they may have felt hesitant to ask before. One of the key drivers behind our decision to partner with Teamworks was to enhance a players’ experience with us, and we believe that we are well on

How easy has it been to introduce Teamworks to current players and staff?

The staff at Teamworks have been extremely helpful in delivering introductory workshops for our different user groups. The Customer Success Team have remained on hand to help us to develop our bespoke offering to Schoolboy staff and players.

The next stage of our roll out will involve the introduction of our full-time age groups, and we very much look forward to seeing how the platform can help us to deliver operational excellence at our new training facility. ◆