**Mike Sutton Podcast:** Hello and welcome to another episode of Sutton United Talk Time on Podcast. It's the Sutton Podcast in association with Lucky Star Gin. I'm your host, Mike, and today I'm pleased to introduce Jimmy Dac. We are going to be covering Jimmy's role, his story so far, and his hopes for his legacy at Sutton United. Don't forget, we love hearing from everyone, so please join the conversation, like, share, retweet, and quote tweet, and chat with other fans. Let us know what you think, and engage. Big shout out to everyone who does it, I do love all the engagement. We're going to say thank you to Jimmy and hope you're well. There is a controversial one to start off with. Is there any truth in the rumour that you were so traumatised by my performance at left back in last year's fan game that you couldn't manage the new one this year?
**Jimmy Dack:** I couldn't put myself through it anymore, Mike. Well, I got one win, one winning one, and I thought, you know what? I'm going to cut my losses while I'm on top.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** Unfortunately, I did. Except I went to right back this time. Someone thought I might be better there, they were horribly wrong. What, 100%? Now, there are a few vintage fans who will know you very well, and you're always chatting to people whenever I see you at the club. I kind of try and catch my own say hello, but I'm always chatting to someone about something. But for the benefit of those who don't know you, can we have a quick chat about, or a praisey of yourself before you become the Academy Manager? I will try and sort my life out and do one of the ex-youth views.
**Jimmy Dack:** Yeah, I mean, I signed for Sutton as a young 18-year-old and I was signed by Ted Sheppard and Keith Blunt. And I'd come into this really big non-league club when I was 18 and I just fell in love with it. I just completely bought into the whole Sutton United thing, you know, its values, respect, people working together. And, you know, when I first came there, I didn't understand any of that. And then once I got playing for this football club, I just got drawn to it and I ended up having nearly 300 appearances for the club, which doesn't normally happen these days. And it's always been my club. I've gone off and experienced different things in my career as a coach and manager. But this has always been my club. And I always felt that I wanted to come back and do something at this football club, whatever it was. And when this opportunity came to be the Academy Manager, I just had to take it. I was Chief Scout at Wigan at the time. I'd gone all over the country and different countries looking for players. And I just got this opportunity. And I live in Worcester Park. I've never strayed from the area. I've always been there, even when I was assistant manager and manager at Newport for five years. And yeah, it's my home. And it's great coming back and seeing the same faces, you know, Bruce, Dave Fairbrother, the list is endless. Graham Starnes, you know, we can go on and on and on, sorry if I've not mentioned it.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** Don't go for all the names! Yeah, I mean, all the same people going on to the, when we were in the EFL last few years doing different interviews. It did make me laugh when we were doing the BBC ones, and I was like, you could almost take one of these fans out and replace them with a completely different fan who hadn't heard what they said, and the conversation would be exactly the same, because everyone is from the same hymn sheet, which is really, really good.
**Jimmy Dack:** Yeah. So when I came into the club, it was a new role to me, but football's football, so whether it's an under nine or an under 18 or if you're playing in the men's league, football's football. I came into the role and we were just starting off as an academy and it was just a little bit dysfunctional at times, in terms of where we had eight or nine different venues. We had lots of coaches, no one, and I just had to try and join it all together because everything was all in place. But I needed to try to home in on getting people to feel for this football club. Because even though you're playing for the badge, you're training in Guildford and you're training in Mitcham and there was no continuity for me. So, I just felt that one of my first things I needed to do was make sure we got the venue situation better, got it right, we started to get the right people in the right holes and just get the staff buying into what I experienced, the values, the work rate, the togetherness, the respect of each other, just really working hard for each other. And, you know, some bought into it, most bought into it, the ones that didn't, they went and they left because they didn't feel that it was for them and we managed to get a real good hard-working workforce here now that all understand what I want and what I expect us to be on and off the pitch. So that was one of my things I wanted to do when I came into the academy. I needed to make people aware of the values, but I also needed to make sure that we were getting good players into this football club, because that's one thing that we've always been good at. We've always had good youth teams, it's a great area in South London and we've always brought good players in and I needed to make sure that we were carrying on doing that and I wanted to get more local boys. I didn't want people travelling from all over the place that didn't understand the football club. So, for the last 18 months to two years, we've worked really hard on trying to build relationships with all the local clubs, also the local professional clubs, so that there are any players that they don't quite make the grade at Fulham and Chelsea, we want it to be appetising and we want them to say, look, go to Sutton, they're going to look after you there. They're not going to have everything and I don't pretend to have the best facilities and stuff like that, but you get treated with respect and we give you everything we possibly can and try and be the best version we can possibly be. So, I'm building on that locally and we're starting to see players now that are being released from Fulham and Chelsea and Palace and we're actually getting them, which is a great achievement really. And that comes down to building up the recruitment side of things, which we've done, and just improving the overall setup.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** I've just thought of this, this might be a bizarre question, how would the situation at Croydon affect, because obviously you've got Stormzy and Zaha who sort of started a club, they're going to attract an awful lot of young people going, I want to be with them. Has that had any effect, or am I just talking nonsense, which is quite probable?
**Jimmy Dack:** Yeah. It's going to attract players, there's no doubt about it, but players always want to play as high as they can. And because we were in the EFL, we just had that edge over, last year we were talking about, over your Bromleys, over your Wokens, your Dawkins, all the shots. A conference club and there wasn't an EFL paid programme, because we would always get the boys that had been released from the big pro clubs, us and Wimbledon were the next step, which we were always competing with them. So you always get the better standard of boy, better standard of coaches that can come in and offer their services. It's a bit of a pecking order really. But now, obviously, we've gone down to the conference, you know, I don't think we're better than anyone else by no stretch of the imagination, but we've still got two years of EFL funding. So, hopefully, with the gods on our side and Steve working his magic, we can go back up in the next two years and keep this academy going.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** So one of the first things you mentioned is obviously coming in and joining everything up and making plans and I imagine there's a lot of sitting there scratching your head going what, but how do you balance the admin with the hands-on coaching?
**Jimmy Dack:** Yeah, that's a really good question, Mike. I came in here with, because I'm an A-licence coach myself, I've coached and managed in the league and I've had promotion at a conference. And I thought I was going to come in and be able to give my experience to the players and stuff like that. And actually, it's everything. But, that's probably 10% of my job now. A lot of it's admin, a lot of it's making sure safeguarding is OK, staffing, we've got quite a lot of staff in the academy. And I probably misread the fact that you've got to organise all these staff, if people let you down or they're off, you've got to make sure there's cover. Safeguarding is a massive thing now. So, we've got to make sure we stay ahead. The game, paying bills, yeah, and then I'm speaking to the, we're always on the audit list every year. So we've got to make sure things are in place. So, yeah, there's a lot going on before we can actually get on the grass. And, if it wasn't for my assistant Kelly, Kelly Jade, who's an absolute rock to me. And all my other staff, Bev, Bev Little, who's Annie Little
, the first team goalkeeper's wife, Bev does all my player care. Then we've got the education side. So Steve Bozzi, he does all, we've got to make sure that because we give these two-year programmes, it's not just about football, with the scholars. They have to reach certain targets for their education. We try to give them a lot of stuff away from football, other skills, so if they don't make it as footballers, we give them stuff that gives them other tools, whether it's cooking, coaching, everything. We just try to make them good, rounded individuals and come away from this two-year programme if they don't become footballers.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** I mean, it's one of the oddest things about most jobs, is the better you are at the job and you get promotion, the further away you get from what you're good at and enjoy. Hang on, I do customer service and I very rarely now get to talk to customers because I'm doing lots of other things.
**Jimmy Dack:** I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm really enjoying it because it's opened my eyes up to so much more, but there is so much that goes on even before we kick a ball. And because we're not really blessed with, because we've not got all the facilities that we used to have, when we had the 3G, there was a college programme being run. So we're trying to establish ourselves and we've all these established clubs around us, so that's been a real challenge in itself. We just don't have the basic things that other league clubs have, but we just make the best of what we can and we do well with it and I just think that makes us even better.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** Yeah, as usual, if anyone's got a field or anything, we'd love to have facilities. So if you know anyone, that'd be great.
**Jimmy Dack:** Well, one of the things we've done, Mike, we went into partnership with Aberdow School and I know it's going to probably be one of your questions, but we managed to sell a player from the Academy and with the money we managed to put a 3G pitch in the school, put floodlights on and it's lovely and it's only a third size of a full-size pitch, but it's ours and it's home. All our under 9s to under 14s can train on it. The school uses it in the daytime and they can do whatever they like and we have it at night, but that's probably the best we can possibly get under tough circumstances.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** So my next one was some of the biggest challenges. I think you've kind of covered a lot of that with the facilities. How do you measure success for the academy? I know, for example, years ago I knew someone who was at the Chelsea Academy and their success was the academy paying for itself and they didn't really have any targets of players coming through to the first team. It was just sell the players on.
**Jimmy Dack:** Well, at present, we've reduced the, we had a, when we started off, it was quite a lot of money being put into the academy, but we've reduced that significantly and we're trying everything we can to have a better product, but don't pay out as much because we want to be self-sufficient at some point. Sorry, that's my dog. We're quite lucky, we've got a supportive chairman and board that believe in what we're trying to do and they know that you can't keep throwing money at it, at some point, it has to come back in other ways. We've been trying to get sponsorship, and it's been hard to come by. We've even sort of gone into the parents to see if any of the parents will sponsor teams, which we've just had one, I might give them a bit of a plug. It's Lewin Builders, who's just sponsored the under 11s. So thank you very much, guys. But we're just trying everything we can to be a bit more self-sufficient. Because the more the club pays for the Academy, which they've never had any problems with, the less the first team get. And I don't mean that horribly, but we're all here for the first team. So the quicker Steve can get us back in the league, it just makes things a lot easier. So we're all working hard behind the scenes. Ben, who's one of the directors, and Phil.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** I mean, that was going to be one of my things later on, is the setup for the academy, which we kind of, not just our academy, all academies, it's like set fees isn't there for players who've been with you for certain times. And when we fall out of that protection status, that's why a lot of academies end up having to close, because the players aren't protected anymore, anyone can come and grab them.
**Jimmy Dack:** Yes, yeah. At present, they're all frozen because we've come out of the league. So we've got protection and they're with us. And we've got it all the time. We've got EFL status, which is the next two years for definite. So we've got that protection, which is great. And they're all in a system where, I think, don't quote me on it, but if you get to under 14s and we offer them a scholarship, then we can negotiate whatever money we feel is right, and two clubs. So once they're 14 and we can offer them a scholarship, then obviously you get protected as a club. But anything before that, it's all part of a framework where you get a certain amount if they've been in the system for one, two, three years. So there is some sort of protection now. But because we've put three years into some of these boys, they've got a real feel for this football club now. When you go up and watch them on a Sunday morning at Aberdale and they're scoring goals and sliding on their knees and kissing the badge, me and Terry Bulliver just love going up there and seeing it. I don't think there's one player from under 9s up to under 18s that Terry doesn't know. He eats, sleeps and breathes football and he just loves it. So him and myself, we're up there every time we possibly can because we just get a real good kick out of seeing it, watching these boys enjoy playing for this club. When you say what is success, for me that, watching these boys playing for this football club and enjoying it and that's what it should be about, and have values and be respectful, teamwork, work hard, play hard. I don't want my team...
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** Okay, so this next one leads on, I think. It's horrible. What have been some of your proudest moments? Now, it's not all about, as you just said, it's not all about winning and being competitive, but what was kind of some of your proudest moments? You don't have to go for all of them, and this isn't a one-two-three list, just whatever comes to mind.
**Jimmy Dack:** Do you know what, it's... when you get these boys that are training through all sorts of weathers and they're always there and they want to learn and they're just so receptive and then you offer them a scholarship, I mean, for me, there's nothing like it. I just felt so happy for them. It was one of the proudest moments. I just felt so happy for offering these boys who have put everything into trying to become a footballer and it's the first step on the ladder for them. When you tell them that you're going to give them a two-year scholar, some of them, you could see their eyes well up and start to get upset and their bottom lips go. That to me is, that's when it's worthwhile. Those things for me, that's a proud moment. Also watching some of our first years last year be in and around the squad, we had six or seven of them training with the first team last year from Christmas onwards. Vinny Tunes made his first team debut, a league debut, that's what dreams are made of. We just say, if you work hard and listen and you try to be a good person on and off the pitch and work hard on and off pitch, anything can happen. We're lucky we've got a manager, a good manager who is happy to involve them and give them the experience that they need. The goal from being an under 18 player first year to league football is huge. I mean, it's so big, it's ridiculous. But the gap's closing now because we're now a conference club. They're now becoming second years. They've now had a taste of first team football, training with them. They possibly need a senior loan at Conference South or Ryman Premier League, a bit like Jack Taylor did last year and then he got his chance to become a professional, which there's a process here and we're just nurturing these boys along because we have got a conveyor belt.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** You mentioned local kids. Jack definitely wasn't local. Was it two hours a day either way or something? His poor mum had to traipse him.
**Jimmy Dack:** Yeah, Jack, if I'm honest with you, when I came in, I inherited Jack, he was just before I came in and he showed massive commitment. Sometimes I think to myself, you don't want to burn out, you don't want these boys to burn out, but sometimes, if you want it that badly, you do it.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** Yeah, I'd say he's top five appearance holder for the first team at the moment because everyone else has left us. Vinny last year he obviously came in for his debut and I did ask him afterwards but his eyes light up and Omari started pelting down and he was free in the box and he was like yeah I didn't think he's coming to it. But is there any, is there any...
**Jimmy Dack:** Well, I can't say that, because I
would say all of them, because I think the world of all of them. They are such good lads, and that's a big thing for us. We don't just sign boys on their football ability. You've got to be a good person as well, because that's really important to me. I just find that the best changing rooms I've played in and worked in, they're good changing rooms, they're good people, respectful of each other, they demand of each other. That's really important to me that we get that bit right. We don't just sign anyone. There's a process and they've got to be the right fit. I've seen talented boys come in this academy who have not got scholarships because I just don't think they've got the right attitude because it's real tough. Our second year now, it's going to be tough because they're going to be training with the first team one week, they're going to be with us, and it's, you've got to have a good mentality. Whoever you train with, you be the best version of yourself. I've seen a lot of players that go up into the first team and they come down with us.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** I suppose the step this season, for anyone doing it, is possibly going to be a bit easier in that a lot of the first team are quite young anyway, and you don't have the old kits like Eastie teaching them how to roll around on the floor and cry every time when someone comes near you. But how much involved?
**Jimmy Dack:** Yeah, it's a bit of both really, there have been times when Steve said, look, I need a left back, I need a striker, and I will just say, well, we've got X, Y and Z and he'll go, right, we'll take X and Y. So it's a bit of both really, but I've also said to Steve, look, can we step him up and can he come into your environment because he's just been really good and Steve's quite open to that and it's great. It makes it a lot easier for me when I turn around and say to the academy boys, this is what can happen if you work hard and apply yourself right. But I think if you're good enough, you'll get there. And I just feel that this academy now is in a position where you're starting to see a conveyor belt coming from. We've got six second years or seven, Steve might have a few nice choices come the end of season, the next lot of first years, he'll have the same and the under 16s, he's going to have the same.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** Yeah, I mean, obviously, being a bit older than some people, I do remember we used to have, not us, everyone used to have reserve teams as well. But the step is quite difficult because Oli came in at the start of last season, did brilliantly in some of the friendlies, didn't look out of place, but because he's been too old for the academy...
**Jimmy Dack:** Yeah.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** And he wasn't quite there for the first team yet. It's difficult, isn't it? We kind of say, well, is it fair to keep him? There's no way for us to play him, is he going to get enough game time and so on? How kind of difficult is that to see? Not just Oli, I'm not talking about just him, but here's an example. To see players that we've put so much time and effort, it's like, actually, we can't justify giving you a contract at the moment.
**Jimmy Dack:** Yeah, well Ollie was a real tough one for me because firstly he's a great lad and just gave his all every time he trained, he played, he was never late, all those little things that really made him what he was. So we wanted to get him out on loan. I think it's really hard once they finish their second year, they still need another year or two to develop and this is where it's down to us to try to, I put one or two, I put Ollie on a third year scholar and I've put Sam Roberts on a third year scholar and there's a full process behind it because I think if you put them as a pro and I think it puts a bit more pressure on them at such a young age but it also, it stops them from, they might have a U-turn on their career and say well actually I want to go out to the States and do a scholarship and do a degree and once they become a professional, I don't think they can go out there and do that. So, any of the boys we want to sort of keep around us that we feel that they're not quite ready for us, let's put them as a third year scholar, we'll get them out on loan and we'll just monitor them for the next year and hopefully, other clubs do it to us, Millwall would send us players, they send you players from a championship club into League Two to learn on your watch to gain experience, so when Millwall want him to play in their first team, he's a bit more experienced and a bit more rounded. We need to do the same for our players and we need to send them to clubs where we know they've got massive potential and we need to send them to other clubs to gain that bit of experience and give them that year.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** Yeah.
**Jimmy Dack:** Right, so you mentioned it earlier. The club has got lots of arms, lots of bits, lots of going on, but it's so much driven by the first team and to a certain extent, you guys could have the greatest academy in the world, winning titles, left, right and centre, but when we were relegated, it comes in with this funding and protection that we spoke about.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** Yeah.
**Jimmy Dack:** Yeah, it's massively more than you can imagine. Parents get a little bit worried about what's going on with their children. Are we going to be playing in the EFL program next year, or the year after? In theory, and we've actually got two years to go up, and then we lose all our status to be in the EFL program. Now, it's going to be hard, but we've got so many good boys here. We'll find another way. There's always another way. And there's no way that we're going to let any of these boys go without a fight. The best ones, there's not a lot we can do about it. But we can't put three or four years into all these boys and just let them go. So, we will do everything we can to carry it all on, because we know that there's some good boys in here and there's some good work going on in the academy. Now, in regards to staff, staff obviously want longevity in their futures. And if I'm honest with you, most of them come into academy football because they get the longevity of being in football and getting paid for it. That's why most people go in academy football, other than wanting to coach younger lads. But, if you work in senior football, you know that you're five games away or six games away from probably getting the sack. So there's not a lot of longevity in there.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** Mhm.
**Jimmy Dack:** There's a lot more pressure involved in that, but when it gets taken away from you, like when you're an EFL club and these staff sort of think, oh, we're going to be here forever. And it gets taken away from you, then they start panicking. They start thinking about, what are we going to do? We've got mortgages, we've got bills to pay. And they start looking elsewhere. So, you start losing staff. So it's hard to reassure them when you can't reassure them. It's almost like we've all got a two-year contract. It is what it is. And, if we go up, then we're all back in, all back working. But if we don't, then we find ourselves.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** Mhm.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** Yeah, I mean, in our division, I think it's Southend, I can't remember who else, Oldham I think, have basically closed off, Rochdale might be, closed it off and a lot of people are saying, well that's stupid because we get loads of players through it, we sell them on and that's the bit that is the worry about the protection. If they're not protected anymore, people can just pick them up for peanuts and they're not making the money. Again, that sounds really mercenary and these aren't pieces of meat, these are local boys that people will know, so I don't mean it in such a harsh way.
**Jimmy Dack:** I just, Mike, just going on with obviously the funding, we get full funding for the first year, so nothing changes, but then it goes to half funding next year. So what it does, it starts to wind you down as an academy, but you as a club, you have the choice to keep it, maintain it in how it is, which gives you two years to stay up. We've had some really good conversations with the club and they're really enjoying the academy and they're liking the work that's being done and they're fully supportive of it, so that's all I can ask. I can only ask for their support and they're giving it to us in abundance.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** Well, Gary was on a couple of weeks ago, and without any kind of probing or prompting, he said one of his ambitions is to have the club playing basically the same football, same style, from kids all the way up through the academy to the first team, so we can have that continuity and build to have our own players. With all of those things that you mentioned about, this is our club.
**Jimmy Dack:** Yeah, definitely, definitely. No, and listen, they're great guys and they're just really trying to make sure that nothing changes and it's great news for me as an academy manager because all the anxiety around the staffing and the parents and
stuff like that.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** Perfect. So, looking back to last season, I forget what the first team didn't do, but what were your highlights and challenges for last season from the academy point of view?
**Jimmy Dack:** Well, just watching the players develop, watching these young boys coming in at 15 and now, they're growing into men and the standards they're setting, for me, you can't buy that sort of stuff. Boys coming in and challenging each other, really working hard, playing for the team. When I watch these boys getting in and around the first team, I couldn't be prouder. Us as academy staff, we're so proud of every one of them boys. We don't stop talking about it. When Vinny went on, the WhatsApp group, the phones nearly caught fire, everyone's so proud. Just everything really, watching our team get to the semi-final of the Surrey Cup.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** Mhm.
**Jimmy Dack:** We've got 15, 16 year old boys playing, that to me is brilliant. We're playing against men, 15, 16, 17 year old boys playing against experienced men and getting to the semi-final, to me that's great, great to see. Beating Colchester away in the FA Cup, a Category 2 club, Academy, brilliant. I think we were a bit unlucky with the draw, then we drew Oxford United that got to the quarter-finals of the FA Youth Cup last year. I think we were a bit unlucky last year, but hopefully if we get good draws this year, I really feel we'll do okay.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** And Liam's still taking the free kicks and getting own goals. I mean, sorry, scoring great free kicks. Sorry, nothing.
**Jimmy Dack:** Yeah, exactly. But no, they're all the games for me. What do I measure success in the Academy? Just making sure that we're producing players to play for Sutton and wanting to play for this football club. That's my success.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** Perfect. So, before we started recording, we did have a little mini-chat, and one of the things I raised is the way football is now, with man management, player management, and the way it was when you were the 18-year-old coming in, is vastly different. How have you adapted your style over the years?
**Jimmy Dack:** Yeah, I mean, you've got to pick your moments. That's something you need to do. You just can't scream and shout at them nowadays. You shouldn't have done it when I was playing, but that was just the way it was. I think it was a lot of managers wanting to get something off their chest, but sort of not really thought it through. Now they've got a bit off their chest, but nowadays the game's changed. You've got to go away. When I was at Newport, I used to be a bit reactive and react to things straight after games. But when you actually watch the video, you see it a bit differently and think, Oh God, I shouldn't have probably said that. And I shouldn't have done that. And we had a thing at Newport where, and at Crawley when I was there as manager and assistant, we just said, look, don't speak on a Sunday, day off with the family, just regroup and we'll have a meeting on Monday. Everything looked completely different. So, we tried to do that in the Academy now. I mean, there have been a few times when I've lost my rag, but I've actually got a lot better with experience. You just have to treat them a bit differently. You have to manage them differently. You have to treat them a bit more differently these days than you did before, but they're all good.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** Yeah, I have to say, watching a match back when you know the result is a very different experience because there is so much more you can see, because you're not panicking about what's happening here, what's going on there, and so when you watch it back after, you go, oh, I missed that bit. Oh, it wasn't his fault, it was my fault.
**Jimmy Dack:** Yeah, exactly. Oh, did that really happen? Oh, no, I didn't see that. Definitely. We work closely at Carshalton Boys. Steve Bodset is our Head of Education and we speak on a regular basis just to see where the boys are at. If any of them fall behind in their work, we take the football off them. If you're going to come out of this programme, you're coming away with something. I don't see any value in just coming here to think you're going to be a footballer because it's hard being a footballer. Probably two or three make it every year. I'm not saying they don't make it anywhere else, but to make it at this football club, two or three max, really. If they can go away and come out of it with a couple of A-levels, it might give them a chance to go into uni and stuff like that. Not everyone can be a footballer, but you can go and play football, part-time football, and really enjoy yourself and get the same buzz out of being a professional footballer.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** And you also mentioned quite a few times about the teamwork and camaraderie amongst players. How do you foster that? How do you get that together? I know they've been off on a trip away, but how do you keep that teamwork going?
**Jimmy Dack:** That always helped, going away to Benidorm, not Benidorm, Porto Benus every year on a football tour, which is great. But they work so hard, but it's so good for the new first years because it integrates them. It's probably the first time they've actually been away from mum and dad. We start to develop them into being men and taking responsibility. We're big on teamwork and we go paintballing throughout the year. We're constantly doing stuff where they're working as a team. We make sure that the boys come to first team games. They get a feel for it, that some of them work on match days and doing stuff. I just want them to be part of this football club. I just felt that training near the club, being at the club, I think you get a feel for the club and the people around it. Not being at the club and only coming to games 20 times a year or whatever, I don't think you get that feel of what this football club is all about. This year for me is a great situation because the first team have changed training facilities, which is going to be local now, which will be so much easier for us as an academy because we can go up and watch them or Steve could ask for boys.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** Yeah, absolutely. Wrapping up, don't worry. How do you keep up with not just all the admin, all the coaching, but for your knowledge and your learning and any latest techniques? How do you keep your mind active?
**Jimmy Dack:** Delegate! That's something I've learned as an academy manager. You cannot do it all. You've got to trust your people around you. The ones who go by the wayside, they don't want to be here, but the ones that stay, they're good people to have around. I'm really lucky. I've got an assistant, Kelly Jade, she's a star, and I couldn't do half the stuff that I do, getting on the training ground, recruitment, and I do a lot of the stuff and Kelly does a lot of the admin stuff and fills in all the gaps and together, we work as a real good partnership. So, yeah, delegate with yourself.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** That's something I've had to learn is it's always a lot easier for me just to quickly go and do it but then it's like well how does that help you because you now don't know how to do it so I've got to teach people how to do it even though I'm pulling my limited hair out going I could have done this five minutes ago but it's the coaching side I guess. I'm going to let you go. I didn't think I was going to keep you this long. I do apologize. We're going to wrap up. This episode is great to talk. Lastly to wrap up, how can people keep up to date with the academy? How can people support the academy? What can we do to make things better and easier for you and the players?
**Jimmy Dack:** Well, just be there and support us. We're now going to be playing our home games at the David Weir. We can advertise the games, we do newsletters, we do social media, that's the word. We do lots of social media now and just stay in touch with it, keep up to date with the players, even come down to Aberdale on a Sunday. We're always there every Sunday between the end of August right the way through till the end of April, every Sunday morning between 10 till 12. We have three teams playing there, it'll be either the 9s, 11s, 13s, or it'll be the 10s, 12s, 14s. So, plenty of action, plenty of seeing the new young talent going up there and if you do want to come, just put a message out to someone at the Academy and we'll put you down on the list and come up and enjoy.
**Mike Sutton Podcast:** We will wrap up now. This finishes the episode of Sutton Podcast. We always appreciate everyone's ear-tension and feedback. Follow, like, share, retweet this episode, let everyone know all about Jimmy because he's spoken a lot and I've not spoken much today, so that's even more a bonus. We'll be back with another interview very soon. As always, thank you to our sponsors, Lucky Star Gin, and thank you to Jimmy.
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