Nicky Butt – youth development ‘part of the culture’ at Manchester United

George Best, Sir Bobby Charlton, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham four of the greatest names in the game, all reared within Manchester Uniteds fabled youth set-up and now helping to inspire the next generation coming off this prolific production line.The quartet are among the famous names pictured along the corridors that link the changing rooms at the clubs academy building at the Aon Training Complex, where the past is helping to motivate the future at a club built on homegrown talent.Remarkably, United have had a youth graduate in their squad for 3,987 straight matches and executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward recently underlined to staff how giving youth a chance was among their core three football objectives.Manchester Uniteds fabled academy has consistently produced first-team regulars (Simon Peach/PA)That address saw Woodward reference a recent PA news agency study, which found that last season they were the leading Premier League club in terms of giving minutes to their own academy graduates.Furthermore, players from Uniteds academy played more top-flightminutes across the board than any other for the third year in a row statistics that speak volumes about the work being done behind the scenes.Nicky Butt is another of the famous names on the walls at Carrington and plays a hands-on role in shaping the future, with the Class of 92 member and 1999 treble winner overseeing the trajectory of young talent.Its always been important at Man United, right from when I first came into the club at 12 years of age, Butt, promoted to head of first team development in the summer, told the PA news agency.There is the history of the players before that coming through the academy to the first team and obviously first teams at other clubs as well. Its a massive part of the club that the fans demand, the owners demand.Its just part of the culture and its something that should and will never go away.It is success that is part of the DNA at United and easily quantifiable, but the statistics do not particularly bother Butt.Without being too big headed or hope it doesnt come across like were the best but we know we are because weve done it for 50, 60 years, he said.It isnt on our watch, its on everybodys watch. We believe that we are the best before we even see the stats, if I am honest with you.Paul Pogba and Jesse Lingard are among the current first-team stars featured on the walls of the academy (Simon Peach/PA)We know were going to be at the top, we know what were doing is right.Yes, weve got to learn. Yes, weve got to get better. Yes, weve got to buy better players.Weve got to bring in more different dynamics to the coaching. Weve got to keep it on the front foot, forward thinking.But we know what we do gets players to the first team and thats a big selling point when youre speaking to parents and kids about coming to this club.Butt reports directly to manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and works closely with Nick Cox, who was promoted to head of academy in July having spent three successful years at the club following roles at Watford and Sheffield United. I think outsiders will look at Manchester United as not just an iconic club with iconic players but with an iconic academy, Cox said in his first major interview.Its recognised worldwide, isnt it, as being an amazing place for young people to be.I guess as much as every players aspiration is to try and get here, I think people working in the industry as well want to be inside the organisation as well.Cox cannot boast a playing CV like Butt, although his self-confessed average on-field talent has been a blessing in disguise as it allowed him to find his calling in youth development. We want to make sure that we keep a steady stream of talented young people graduating into our first team and a winning first team at that, Uniteds academy manager said.We want to make sure we are producing world-class footballers but if thats our only goal, then we all feel like failures.Because thats like landing on the moon. Not many people get to do that.Now we know were the best and if youre here youve got more chance of doing it than at any other football club, but ultimately were working with young people, some as young as eight years old that might be with us for 10 or 12 years.If our only measure of success is crossing the white line and playing at Old Trafford, were going to have a lot of miserable mums and dads, and kids, and coaching staff.Head of academy Nick Cox (left) and head of first team development Nicky Butt (right) have been tasked with continuing Manchester Uniteds tradition of producing their own players (Simon Peach/PA)United are focused, Cox says, on being the world-leading environment for young people to want to hang out in, giving players the chance to see new places, gain education and on-field skills.He believes if you create great people the footballer follows, which also allows the individuals to achieve success in life outside of the game.As of yet, Ive never heard anyone say they wish they wouldnt have signed, Butt added. No matter how it ends.There is excitement right now about some of the prospects coming through the system, although there is an acceptancethat everyone needs to remain grounded and the young players supported when there are setbacks.But given the work being done, there should be some new faces plastered on Uniteds corridors of success soon enough.(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){i['GoogleAnalyticsObject']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){
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