V9 Academy

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V9 Academy is an English football academy co-founded by Jamie Vardy with the intention of gaining non-League players contracts at professional clubs.

History[]

The V9 Academy was founded, in 2016,[1] by professional player Jamie Vardy and his agent John Morris after they felt that "too few professional clubs look hard enough in non-league football".[2] Vardy invested £100,000 into the venture.[3] Vardy had played in non-league football for a number of years before turning professional, eventually winning the Premier League with Leicester City and representing England at international level.[4][5]

For the first intake in 2017 there were thousands of applicants.[1] In the summer of 2017 the Academy invited 42 applicants to attend a week-long trial in Manchester, from which four players (Danny Newton, Alex Penny, Lamar Reynolds and Blair Turgott) received professional contracts.[2] There were scouts present from 65 professional clubs.[3] It was the subject of a Sky Sports documentary series in September 2017.[6]

There was a second intake of 42 players in June 2018,[7] which was also the subject of a Sky Sports documentary.[8]

Graduates[]

Main page: Category:V9 Academy players

Danny Newton was the first graduate who was awarded a professional contract after signing for Stevenage in June 2017.[9] Three further players – Alex Penny, Lamar Reynolds and Blair Turgott – also received professional contracts that summer.[2] Other players from that initial intake also later received professional contracts, including Elliott Durrell, Mikel Miller, and Elton Ngwatala.[1][10][11][12][13]

There was a second intake of players in 2018, the first of which was Luther Wildin.[14] In June 2018 two more graduates – Josh Heaton and Cody Cooke – were awarded professional contracts by Scottish club St Mirren.[15] Later that month Ben Stephens and Andy Dales, both graduates of the 2018 intake, signed for Football League teams.[16][17]

Sam McCallum joined Norwich City in January 2020 for a reported fee of £3,500,000 from Coventry City after breaking into the Coventry team and making a total of 35 appearances and scoring three goals over two seasons with Coventry.[18][19][20][21]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Matt Badcock (11 May 2017). "The V9 Academy unveil their chosen list of graduates". Non-League Football Paper. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  2. ^ a b c Jacob Steinberg (6 September 2017). "Jamie Vardy sees his academy bear fruit with first batch of graduate". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  3. ^ a b Mark Poyser (19 July 2017). "Lamar Reynolds: Newport County's own Jamie Vardy?". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  4. ^ Owen Phillips (18 March 2014). "Jamie Vardy: Leicester City striker's remarkable rise". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  5. ^ Ian Wright (23 October 2015). "Jamie Vardy can be England's Toto Schillaci at Euro 2016". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  6. ^ "Sky 1 to show Jamie Vardy documentary as he searches for next non-league star". Sky Sports. 22 August 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  7. ^ James Sharpe (30 May 2018). "Jamie Vardy to take time off from England's World Cup preparations to attend V9 Academy". Leicester Mercury. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  8. ^ Martin King (7 May 2018). "Town striker Ben Stephens selected for Jamie Vardy's V9 Academy". Stratford-upon-Avon Herald. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  9. ^ James Dale (19 June 2017). "Jamie Vardy's V9 Academy sees Danny Newton sign for Stevenage". Sky Sports. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  10. ^ "Elliott Durrell: Macclesfield Town sign former Chester midfielder". BC Sport. 14 July 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  11. ^ "Elton Ngwatala: Dundee sign midfielder on two-year deal". BBC Sport. 16 May 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  12. ^ "Mickel Miller: Hamilton sign Carshalton Athletic striker for undisclosed fee". BBC Sport. 30 January 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  13. ^ "The Step 3 & 4 stars all the scouts are watching..." Non-League Football Paper. 23 January 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  14. ^ Louis Dutton (16 February 2018). "Jamie Vardy snaps up Leicester hopeful for V9 Academy". Leicester Mercury. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  15. ^ Rob Tanner (22 June 2018). "Jamie Vardy's V9 Academy helps two more aspiring players earn professional deals". Leicester Mercury. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  16. ^ "Macclesfield sign Cheltenham's Grimes & Stratford's Stephens". BC Sport. 22 June 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  17. ^ "Andy Dales leaves Mickleover Sports for Scunthorpe". Non-League Football Paper. 29 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  18. ^ "Sam McCallum: Norwich sign Coventry left-back and loan back to Sky Blues". BBC Sport. 2020-01-31. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  19. ^ "Norwich sign Sam McCallum from Coventry". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  20. ^ Turner, Andy (2020-01-31). "Confirmed: Sam McCallum completes Premier League move". coventrytelegraph. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  21. ^ "City agree deal to sign Sam McCallum". www.canaries.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-01-31.

External links[]

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