New director Wilcox is focused on future (From Worcester News)

New director Wilcox is focused on future

1:00pm Wednesday 14th December 2011 in Steve Carley

IN recent months, Worcester City have taken great strides towards establishing themselves at the forefront of community football.

That might sound daft given they are the city’s largest club, but it is not too much of an exaggeration to suggest that the St George’s Lane outfit had pretty much disappeared off the radar in that respect.

Yet, all that is changing, and at quite a pace too.

In February, City joined forces with Nunnery Wood Colts, one of the leading junior clubs in the county, to run age-group teams under the Worcester City banner.

The vision? To create a structure in which youngsters can develop their skills with the aim of one day turning out for the first team.

Already, City have teams running from under 12s through to 18s, although an under 16s side is not expected to be formed until next season.

They play in the Junior Premier League South, giving them the chance to compete against the cream of the crop in the region, and last Saturday the under 14s played their match at the Lane.

A combined under 17s/18s team play friendlies against academy sides and have so far gone up against the likes of Cardiff, Leeds and Liverpool this season.

With progress most definitely being made, City have now taken the step to appoint Mark Wilcox, the chairman of Nunnery Wood Colts, as their fifth director on the board.

He will principally be responsible for youth development and ensuring the vision becomes a reality. Within that, the 46-year-old will work alongside the University of Worcester, with whom the Colts have had a partnership for 10 years, and Worcestershire FA.

There are also plans to involve the Worcester College of Technology as their football course, run by ex-City striker Mark Owen, is currently separate.

Wilcox, chairman of the Colts for four years, said: “The whole purpose of doing this is to get a development set-up at Worcester City to get the lads to go through from under 12s to 18s into a reserve team and hopefully play for the main team.

“We are trying to get the best players from across the county to come and play in the development team under the Worcester City badge.

“Rather than players getting to a stage and going off to Burton, Wolves or West Brom, it’s about trying to keep them in the county.

“(Worcester City manager) Carl Heeley and Matt Gardiner (assistant) are looking to do some training sessions so they are keen to be involved.

“It’s early stages but it’s exciting times for the future.”

Wilcox is keen to stress the teams are open to anyone and not just players at Nunnery Wood, who continue to run sides in the Stourport and Cheltenham youth leagues.

City may have strong bonds with the charter standard club but they are not exclusive as almost every home match now sees a junior team – St John’s Colts as an example – staging games and holding penalty shoot-outs at half-time.

They also want to branch out into schools and build on education relationships forged by director Mike Davis.

Wilcox added: “The board of directors are fully supportive and they have been to watch some of the games.

“We have got a very good working relationship there now.”