A lifelong
football man and coach to the stars: Roy Massey
In 1998 the biggest change yet in the history of
the development of young footballers transformed Roy Massey’s life. Inspired by
Howard Wilkinson, one of Massey’s opponents as a player, the FA agreed to
facilitate the creation of an Academy system that would allow clubs to attract
and train children from eight years upwards.
Chosen to oversee this radical initiative at
Highbury, club legend and Head of Youth Development, Liam Brady, was quick to
choose Massey as his assistant academy manager.
In these pages we learn how the structure was
designed from scratch and plans laid, and later refined, to discover and help
develop a rich vein of young talent capable of making it to the first team at
one of the world’s greatest clubs.
In a highly competitive field, Massey explains
why certain young players such as Wilshere and Sako made it at and, why he,
wrongly as it transpired on occasions, allowed others to leave. There are also
heartbreaking stories of youngsters who had their careers snatched from them by
career-ending injuries.
Roy Massey's own story is that of a dedicated and
lifelong football man whose 50 years in the professional game spanned the full
gamut of the sport's dramatic and evolutionary change. Here is a man, unlucky
with injuries as a player, but always respected enough for his knowledge and
experience, that he was never short of an important role in the game he would
always love.
Massey scored goals for his hometown club
Rotherham United, followed by spells at Orient and Colchester United, before a
serious injury brought his 15-year playing career to an early end at an age at
which most players are nearing their peak.
He then combined working as a PE teacher and
managing in non-League football with behind-the-scenes work to discover and
nurture young talent at Colchester United.
Massey, who was brought up on tales of great
games by his grandfather Jimmy, an FA Cup winner with Sheffield Wednesday in
1896, recalls what it was like playing football in the lower leagues just after
the end of the maximum wage and in a decade when England won the World Cup.
He explains why he turned down the opportunity to
sign a professional contract with, among others, Arsenal and Aston Villa, in
the early '60s. He also recalls the inspiration he felt when Colchester United
manager Dick Graham asked him to revive the Essex club’s youth system and how
his eye for talent, organisation, training methods and motivational skills
aided the development of many youngsters into successful players.
Little wonder then, in the wake of the launch of
the Premier League in 1992, that Norwich City asked Roy Massey to join them as
they moved to revolutionise their own youth programme.
His success at Carrow Road didn't go unnoticed
and when Liam Brady asked Massey to join him at Arsenal it was the start of a
flourishing 16-year partnership.
Even after leaving the Gunners in 2014, Massey
remained in football well into his 70s, with spells scouting for three Premier
League clubs.
Throughout the book, Massey’s love for football
is never far from the surface as from an early age it was always, like most of
us, what he dreamed he would do for a living.
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