20 February 2007

We are inviting young players to attend trials for places in the Histon Academy for next season. We have had a very successful season and must emphasise that the standard is high and a large number of our players at present play for Histon in preference to Professional Academies and Centres of Excellence.

However if you think you have what it takes then you are very welcome.

The April trials will be in Cambridge and exact venues will be given nearer the date. They will commence at 10.00 and end at 14.00.

PLAYERS AGED UNDER 9 NEXT SEASON. Thursday April 5th.

PLAYERS AGED UNDER 13 & 14 NEXT SEASON. Tuesday April 10th.

PLAYERS AGED UNDER 10 , 11 & 12 NEXT SEASON. Wednesday April 11th.

PLAYERS AGED UNDER 15 & 16 NEXT SEASON. Thursday April 12th.

For the April trials please confirm your participation by an e mail to

You will then receive in March a final letter with exact venue and what to bring etc.

This Season the Academy is running an Under 16 team with a mix of Under 15/16 players and an Under 14 team with a mix of U.13/14 players and an Under 10 team. It is our intention to increase the number of teams next Season now that the Academy is successfully established.

The first scholars start Pre Season in July and from this squad we hope to produce players for the first team and players to sell to strengthen the club finances for the future.

COACHES RESPONSIBLE.

BRIAN PAGE - Under 15/16

ANTHONY GRAVES - Under 13/14

ADAM CLEMENTS - Under 9-12.

Report added 1 February 2007

We WON the Areena Tournament which is an 11 a side indoor tournament played in the town of Seinajoki in the impressive Seinajoki Arena. The leading clubs from Finland travel to the town and the level is very high . Most clubs were Finnish Premiership clubs and a couple of Regional Rep sides also took part.

Our first match was against the youth section ILVES of the Finnish Champions Tampere. They won it last year and looked a threatening prospect when we saw them play . We won the match 1-0 with a Jay Dowie goal and in a dramatic last 10 minutes our keeper Michael Winstone was carried off and Robert Burley went in goal. We were glad when the final whistle went. From then on local boy Daniel Tuppurainen became our keeper as Michael was unable to play . In our next match against VIFK ( who had drawn with Ilves) we lost 1-0 after a dreadful error by our new keeper but we finished second in our group and went into the Quarter Finals with confidence having played well in the first round.

In the Quarter Final we had HJK one of Finlands greatest clubs and with fine goals from Jack Higgs and Jack Sessions we won 2-0. Our performance was one that now got us well and truly noticed particularly as it was HJK we had put out. However we paid a price in that Charlie Fowler a key player in midfield was injured and did not play any further part in the tournament.

For the Semi Final we met Vaasa (VP 93) and this game was a real nail biter. We conceded after 2 minutes to a long range shot which caught us by surprise. VP then defended really well and after 30 minutes it seemed that we could not break them down. In a gamble we played three at the back and pushed Sebastian Baxter up front as an extra striker. The move caught the Finns by surprise and he scored almost at once. We then played our normal formation but had done enough to rattle the Finns and Jack Higgs scored a great winner to book our place in the Final.

In the Final we met the team that had beaten us in the opening round VIFK. We had prepared professionally for all our matches and although the boys were nervous they were also confident and at the start went for the jugular ! Robert Burley scored a fine headed goal to give us an early lead. VIFK were an excellent team and threw everything at us and got their reward with an equaliser. The spirit and attitude of the Histon team was impressive and they launched attack after attack and Harri Hawkins headed home the goal that gave Histon Academy its first international tournament victory.

The win was a popular one and the two best teams had reached the Final. Histon were truly impressive and we made a lot of friends in Finland because of the way that we played and conducted ourselves at the tournament. Robert Burley got a special award and Sebastian Baxter lifted the trophy as a fine captain. A very happy Histon squad returned home this week .

The Finalists

The Final Goal

Report added 23 January 2007

  

Callum is having a fine season and has been catching the eye of coaches both in the academy, the club and beyond.

He is a centre back and a right back although he enjoys playing midfield as well which he has done for part of the season.

He captained our successful team in the Dana Cup in the Summer when we reached the semi final of the worlds third largest tournament going out to the Cameroons in a great match.

Callum is very ambitious and I can see him coming through the ranks at Histon and into a future first team and then even beyond that. This may put pressure on him by saying that but Callum thrives on pressure.

The Under 16’s compete in the Eastern Junior Alliance and is a mix of Under 15 & 16 players. Next season they will become the club’s first scholars team and the conveyor belt of talent which we are building will start to become apparent.

Report added 16 January 2007

Likewise rubbing shoulder with Europe’s elite and watching and learning from them at close range was the order of the day last weekend. The boys played well in the opening games winning their first two but against the Swiss team FC Ems they made two simple errors and lost 2-0 which meant they had to beat Swiss giants FC Luzern to qualify. They were outclassed by Luzern. However to be put out by the Champions had some satisfaction.

FC Luzern won the tournament for the third time by beating the Croatians of Hadjek Split in a truly thrilling Final and Schalke 04 beat Bayern Munich in the 3rd /4th play off.

To see HISTON FC alongside these great clubs was special and to play in front of a packed and very noisy stand full of enthusiastic supporters from all across Europe was really exciting for our young players.

We had a pre tournament match against CFR Cluj of Romania and managed a good win.

I was honoured this year by being presented along with the coach of Fiorentina of Italy with an award for attending all ten tournaments in Munderkingen with our team. So next year we can again let our young players travel to Germany and mix with Europes leading young players.

Our boys stayed with local families and so learned what life in a German family was like. Munderkingen is a beautiful old town on the Danube and the boys also visited the old town and saw its sights between phases of the tournament.

HISTON SQUAD:
Josh Ling (Captain). Rickie Knaepel, Benji Baxter, Jack Davies, Dominic Foster, Louis Boulter, Charlie Day, Luke Smith, Hayden Bream, Cameron Anderson.

Two press reports are reproduced below as pdf attachments. The second one shows three of the Histon lads with their German host family:

Report added 8 January 2007

The Premiership Tournament on Saturday is for leading European clubs but four places are reserved for the winners of 4 separate international tournaments held during the week. The Histon squad went with the aim of winning one of these events and so securing a place in the big event on Saturday.

On Wednesday after some fine displays the Histon lads had the heartbreak of losing the Final 3-2 and so having to compete again the next day in the second event and try to secure a coveted place in that. They went through to the Final unbeaten although most games were very close and won a thrilling final and so had the honour of playing in the big event.

Histon played FC Basel & FC Luzern of Switzerland and Slavia Prague from the Czech Republic as well as Debrecen of Hungary and all together played 24 10 minute matches.

The tournament was won by Hertha Berlin who beat FC Hamburg in the Final and VfB Stuttgart lost to Karlsruhr in the third fourth match. Last years winners Rapide Vienna were early casualties like us and my own two favourite teams Borussia Dortmund and Legia Warsaw lost in the quarters.

The standard was brilliant and the most impressive aspect is the speed of the games allied to the technical skills of the players.

From Histon’s perspectives we had in Liam O’Neil and Joe Asensi two of the youngest players in the tournament. In Sam Mason-Smith and Lee Brennan who scored 22 & 21 goals each we had two boys in the top ten goal scorers. Michael Winstone was the youngest keeper. Huw Hawkins got injured early on and as a player well suited to indoor football this was a big blow to us. Eden Jeffries showed blistering pace and finished with several spectacular goals whilst Charlie Fowler impressed many of the European coaches watching as a young talented player who also scored 9 goals.

This squad did the club proud and hopefully from being an unknown name to the clubs competing this weekend Histon is now considered worthy of being alongside some of these great European names.

Next weekend the U.12/13’s head off to Germany where the likes of Bayern Munich among others will be competing. A report will follow.

Histon Academy Squad.

Michael Winstone. Joe Asensi, Charlie Fowler, Liam O’Neil, Huw Hawkins, Lee Brennan (cpt) Sam Mason-Smith. Eden Jeffries.

  

Report added 3 January 2007

This week January 4th - 8th they are competing in Austria in the town of Scharding where the Histon boys will be rubbing shoulders with the players of teams such as Slavia Prague, FC Basel, FC Luzern. Debrecen, Rapid Vienna, Borussia Dortmund, FC Hamburg, Legia Warsaw and many others.

On the weekend January 12th -15th the Under 12/13 players will be challenging the likes of Bayern Munich, Fiorentina, Hadjuk Split, VfB Stuttgart, FC Schalke 04, NK Maribor and many other great names of European football.

Then on the final weekend of January they are in Seinajokki Finland where the top clubs of Finland all meet in the superb indoor arena to play 11 aside indoor football and where Histon have already built up a great name having played this season in the Kokkola Cup.

Indoor football is a major sport in Europe and exposure to leading clubs enables the young Histon players to compete with Europes elite.

A progress report on each tournament will appear when we return from each one. These are great names and to play such teams is a young players dream. At Histon young players dreams become reality !

Report added 5 December 2006

Photos from the Cambridge United games are shown below:

  

Report added 23 November 2006

Report added 15 November 2006

What an incredible experience for this young squad who at the end of the tournament having won three games and lost three they were presented with medals as the tournaments youngest team. We added Josh Ling to the squad as an U.12 and Joe Woolford as an U.11 but the rest were just Under 10’s led by team Manager Adam Clements and assisted by Under 16 coach Chris Reynolds.

The boys flew out to Stuttgart and were met by Harold of Filderstadt who has arranged everything with me and spent a fun afternoon in the water park before meeting their German families who they stayed with during the tournament.

I have to say on behalf of everyone at Histon FC a big thank you to our German friends for the wonderful welcome they gave us and how well they looked after our young players. All our players love visiting Germany and it the personal kindnesses which are remembered and which we particularly appreciate.

Once again this tour illustrates the incredible life of a young Histon player and the lessons learned by such tours are not only those of football -playing against leading clubs but also the thrill of representing your club and country well and seeing life in families from other countries. The social confidence this gives players in life is something all parents comment on.

So well done lads for spreading the good name of Histon FC across Europe and thanks to all of those friends in Filderstadt who made it possible.

1 November 2006

The Under 10’s with Adam Clements, the Under 14’s with Chris Reynolds and the Under 16’s with myself flew first of all to IFK Gothenburg in Sweden. Here we went to the Academy of IFK where the famous European coach Roger Gustafsson took the boys for a superb innovative session combining technical work with mental exercises to pruce very high quality work.

We left Sweden that afternoon to go by ferry to Frederikshaven where a coach was waiting to take us to our Danish base in Norhalne. Norhalne a tiny village I have been visiting for over 25 years is a perfect environment for young footballers boasting wonderful facilities and a caring community who look after us with splendid food and hospitality.

We trained, held discussions, played an indoor tournament, and played two great clubs Aalborg BK and Aarhus AGF who are both Premiership clubs. In 6 matches (2 per team) we only won once, narrowly lost one and were well beaten in 4. However from my point of view we actually played superbly and so many many lessons have been learned. I watched AGF Under 14’s demolish Chelsea Under 14’s recently and have fequently played these clubs over the years. Danish football at all levels is very high and our boys can learn so much from a tour like this.

At IFK Gothenburg Sweden

At IFK Gothenburg Sweden

Adam Clements (Under 10 manager) takes the Under 10’s training in Norhalne Sports Hall, Denmark.

Chris Reynolds takes the Under 14’s in Norhalne Sports Hall, Denmark.

Report added on 31 October 2006

Two goals from Jack Sessions and one apiece from Josh Ling and Tom Jex sealed a convincing victory but the boys are expecting a tougher match on Saturday when they meet unbeaten Derby County.

Team: Winstone. Favarulo. Asensi.Day. Fowler.Hawkins. Higgs. Ingrey. Jex. Kelly. Knaepel. Ling. O'Neil (cpt). Sessions. Tolliday. Williams.

  

Chairman’s Cup. Under 16.

Report added on 31 October 2006

Matches can hinge on critical decisions and this one certainly did. After a half time lead by Dagenham of 1-0 Histon dominated the second half and praise should go to the Dagenham defence who did well to keep the score to 1-0 until with 15 minutes to go Danny Michael Kelly was through and crudely upended in the box for a clear penalty which only the referee did not see!

The option was then to play three at the back and push on the extra striker but the result of this was to concede two late goals which gave Dagenham a flattering score line.

In the Chairman’s Cup which is based on a league system where 2 teams go through to a semi final the boys have won one and lost one so there is still everything to play for.

Team. Fisher. Heath. Whitaker. Kelly. Baxter, Stewart (Cpt). Brennan. Sparkes. Reynolds. Lawrence. Dowie,Hipwell. Mason-Smith.

Report added on 23 October 2006

The Histon Academy secured a hard fought victory against local rivals Newmarket Town on a rainy windswept Exning pitch on Sunday.

The young stutes took a 45 second lead through Carlow Lawrence after brilliant work by Huw Hawkins and after 30 minutes a penalty gave Newmarket the equaliser.

In the second half a tactical switch to 3 5 2 gave the Stutes the edge and goals from Lee Brennan, Daniel Sparkes and Sam Mason-Smith gave the Histon boys a victory in match where both teams played good football.

Report added on 22 October 2006

A lively and entertaining match in Kings Lynn with goals from Tom Jex, Harri Hawkins and Joe Asensi gave Histon a well earned victory in the Academy's first visit to Kings Lynn FC

  

Report added on 20 October 2006

An excellent match was played at Ely City against the Finnish visitors of Tp.Seinajokki who are on a tour of East Anglia. Jukka Saarijarvi of TP is a very old friend and it was great to see him again and several other familiar faces on the TP coaching staff.

The match was a high tempo game enjoyed by everyone and goals from Daniel Sparkes and Tom Whitaker secured a deserved win although the two young Finnish keepers indicates why our Premiership has two Finnish keepers!

Report added on 16 October 2006

In a hard fought match they won 3-2 with goals from Jack Higgs and a penalty from Harrie Hawkins. Charlie Fowler notched the winner 5 minutes from time.

The Under 16‘s were not so fortunate going down 3-1 to Stotfold. However I was delighted with their performance particularly as we were mising a lot of players through injury and this included our leading goalscorer Carlow Lawrence. Sam Mason-Smith returned after his bad injury in the match played at the Glassworld last month and scored a typical goal and in defence Tom Whitaker fresh from captaining the Cambridgeshire County team was outstanding.

Report added on 2 October 2006

The Under 14’s away game against Bristol Rovers was cancelled at 06.00 on Saturday morning due to a waterlogged pitch and luckily nobody had left home before all 16 players were contacted.

The Under 10’s won yet again and stay top of the Under 11 Fenland League after an 8-1 win over Three Holes.

The Under 16’s lost 3-2 to Stevenage Borough and it was one of those needless defeats for which the players have only themselves to blame. A fine goal from Chukka Obiechefu gave us the lead but Stevenage pounced on several mistakes to win the match.

I was impressed by the sportsmanship of Stevenage and their management, something not always apparent in this league. Although nobody likes to lose, the match was a good one thanks to both clubs obviously having similar priorities.

Kit

Report added on 20 September 2006

The game was a thriller and hard fought by both teams although what the Histon lads lacked in physical strength and age they more than made up with by fine technical play. Gareth Baldwin was full of praise for the performance as he watched the new Academy for the first time. Star of the day was without doubt Histon striker Carlow Lawrence (pictured right) who having scored twice against Cambridge United the week before went one better with a brilliant hatrick. Carlow stood out at the trials in May and was the leading goalscorer in the Dana Cup in Denmark (where the boys lost the semi-final to the Africans of the Cameroons). He has been a consistent goalscorer since joining and his hold up play, strength on the ball and power in his shot a pleasure to watch. When the Under 16’s recently beat Norwich City Academy Carlow again scored a great goal and so although he would be the first to say that eleven players make a team he is an important part of it. The Under 16’s already have five of the players playing for the County Under 16’s and also played five Under 15’s on Sunday. They have a strong back four with Danny Michael Kelly currently on standby for the Republic of Ireland National Under 16’s who have a European Championship match in Azerbijan soon. Chukka Obiechefu sealed the win with a good fourth goal from a fine move and this lead to the Bowers & Pitsea being red carded after kicking him in frustration after the ball hit the back of the net. A great performance and on Sunday the boys are at home in the League Cup to Billericay. “Home” means a long journey to Ware as the team cannot secure a pitch in our region to play matches on. Any help from supporters would be appreciated. We would like to thank the senior club for the use of the Glassworld on Sunday as it gave everyone a lift.

Hattrick Hero Carlow Lawrence

Squad - Grant Fisher. Callum Stewart(cpt) .Tom Whitaker. Danny Michael Kelly. Duran Reynolds. Robert Burley. Jamie Heath. Chukka Obiechefu. Lee Brennan. Jay Dowie, Daniel Sparkes. Sam Mason-Smith. Carlow Lawrence. Luke Hipwell. Huw Hawkins.

Final Score: Histon U16 4 Bowers & Pitsea 2

HECTIC WEEK FOR THE ACADEMY - 15th August

The last 10 days have been hectic for the Histon Academy but very enjoyable and successful.

The Under 10's have been to Norwich City to play in a 4 team tournament with the Norwich City Academy and followed that up with a visit to Kettering to play their Under 10's. This came on the back of several very successful 5 aside tournaments and Adam Clements has now got a settled and very talented squad. I went with them to Norwich and was very impressed by them both on and off the ball.

The Under 15/16 squad also visited Norwich City and played their Under 15/16's in a brilliant game . We scored two fine goals from Carlow Lawrence and Luke Hipwell and then Norwich got their goal in the last 20 minutes which led to a great finish and some fine defending by the Histon lads. They then also visited Kettering and played the new emerging Kettering squad minus 5 of the squad who were on duty for the county.

The five Histon boys who represented the County in a match against Cambridge United did the club proud with carlow Lawrence getting a hatrick and Danny Michael Kelly notching a brace whilst the team was captained by our own Tom Whitaker. Our keeper Grant Fisher and Luke Hipwell completed our representation.

The Under 12-14 squad were at home to Kettering and this week are at Norwich City where they play in a round robin tournament before completing the week hosting the team of Jamie Shore from Bristol. Jamie was one of my players at Norwich City and gained 18 England youth caps and first team honours before a cruel injury against Arsenal put him out of professional football at a very young age. He has set up a superb football centre in Bristol and we welcome them here.

So all in all the academy is up and running and a busy summer after three very successful tours bodes well for the future.

County Comes Calling - 6th Aug

Five Histon Academy players have been selected for the Cambridgeshire County Under 16 squad for this season.

They are - Grant Fisher [Goalkeeper], Danny Michael Kelly [Centre back/midfielder], Tom Whitaker [Centre back], Luke Hipwell [Midfielder] and Carlow Lawrence [Striker]

Congratulations to our players and all the best.

The Histon Academy won third place in the French Tournament of the South West (TIMSO) near Bordeaux at the weekend. The tournament is for league rep teams from all over France with three foreign guests – Koraczin of Poland, Leicester FC and Histon Academy.

The boys flew out via Santander in Spain where they had a training session on the beach on the arrival day prior to setting off by mini bus to the Medoc Region via Bordeaux. Kit Carson who is still on crutches after an operation on his ankle was driven to Spain and met them on arrival. Kit returned two days after the boys for the same reason ! He wishes to thank the parents of the boys for arranging this.

On the way to France they had a two hour tour of the Spanish Club Athletico Bilbao which included changing rooms, pitch and the museum.

On arrival they had a full days training at Gaillan Football club to prepare for the tournament and this included special concentration on penalties because all games must have a result and these are gained by penalties. Free Kicks, set piece moves and ability to play in the blistering heat were worked on.

On Day 1 of the tournament an Eden Jeffries goal secured a 1-0 victory over Sommieres and then a hard fought win over JS Macau 1-0 which skipper Jay Dowie secured with a late goal. In this match Scott Everdell saved a penalty and Histon had two goals disallowed.

On day 2 in the Quarter Final a brilliant performance with a changed formation from 4 4 2 to 4 1 3 2 led to a Harri Hawkins winner ( from a move practised in training) gave Histon victory over the Paris team from Pavillon Bois.

The semi final was a tough game against the Polish side who in fact secured a lucky win by taking their only chance while Histon missed three sitters in the first half. Trailing 1-0 with minutes to go the Histon lads gambled on pushing forward and were caught on the break and 2-0 with the last kick of the game. A great lesson learned – take your chances or pay the price.

The Poles went on to lose the Final to Rochefort whilst Histon met Macau again for the Bronze medal spot. Preparation for this match was excellent but the game went to penalties after a 1-1 draw secured by Ross Woolford after endless Histon pressure. <0> In the penalty shoot out Liam O.Neil, Harri Hawkins, Charlie Fowler and Jay Dowie all scored but Sam Kelly missed as did one French player. On the sixth penalty the French missed and Ross Woolford scored to secure a very creditable bronze medal and give the Academy a great start in Europe.

The club won 4 trophies which will now be displayed at the Glassworld. This was for Third Place, the Youngest Team in the tournament, The Most Skilled team and Kit got Coach of the tournament.