Bards strike a deal with young Blues
FUTURE stars of Premiership sides including Arsenal and Liverpool could soon be in action at the Arden Garages Stadium after a deal was struck between Stratford Town and Birmingham City.
And for Bards chairman Jed McCrory, it will also mean players of the Southern League Premier Central side will have more chance of progressing into the professional game, using the newly forged links with the League One side.
The deal means that the ground will be used as an additional venue for City's u21 and u18 teams for the remainder of the season with the first match set to be the u21 fixture with Fleetwood Town on Monday 23rd September (ko 1pm).
Mike Rigg, academy technical director at Blues, said: “We are looking forward to playing a number of our fixtures at the home of Stratford Town and thank them for their cooperation in making this possible. Relationships with local clubs are vitally important for both parties and we will work to support one another wherever possible moving forward.
“For our players, it is good for them to experience different environments and exposure to these forms part of a holistic approach to player development that the academy strongly believes in.”
The u21s compete in the Professional Development League and Premier League Cup and were runners-up in the National Final last season. Among those who have worked their way through the junior ranks is Jude Bellingham who is currently playing for Real Madrid.
Extensive work has been carried out around the ground so that it could acquire Premier League accreditation, one of just a handful of clubs at step three with such a status.
McCrory said: “We have all been working hard to improve our facilities over the years to be able to entice a club of the calibre of Birmingham City to bring their u21s to the Arden Garages Stadium and to give the local community the opportunity to watch potential stars of the future from clubs like Leeds, Arsenal and Liverpool.
“We have improved a number of areas, some of which the fans don’t see. We have had to increase the size of the kitchen so that it can cater for more people and knocking the wall down in the kit room so that we could increase the size of the physio’s room.
“The work has also meant we’ve been able to attract league teams for friendlies but there was always an eye on building that better relationship with a league club so that we could loan u21 players which give the local community the chance to see the stars of the future here at Stratford.
“Children can now come down here and maybe get inspired to become a pro footballer themselves and in ten years time it could be them playing in Birmingham City colours. It’s a chance to create an opportunity to dream for them.
“The other benefit is that those playing for Stratford Town will have the chance to shine and utilise our link with the club.”
