The Route to the Top
Part two of Sky Sports News' documentary: Chasing the Dream
0.06%.
It's a number so small, it's hard to comprehend.
But that is the chance of a young boy becoming a professional footballer in this country.
Only six in every 10,000 make the grade.
Armed with those facts, we embarked on what became the largest, most comprehensive investigation ever carried out by Sky Sports News.
What started off as a plan for a 15-minute mini-documentary, quickly snowballed. The more we spoke to people involved with academy football in England, the more stories we discovered and the more issues we uncovered.
Whenever we answered one question, it seemed to lead to another that needed addressing.
What we ended up with was three-and-a-half hours of fascinating content, and a seven-part documentary series, looking at every aspect of youth football in this country: the good, the bad, and the seemingly impossible.
Because that was our starting point. Is the ambition to become a professional footballer an almost impossible dream? It is widely known that only a tiny minority of young boys ever make a career out of the game. And yet that doesn’t stop so many from trying.
Millions of young boys who are “Chasing the Dream.”
Watch on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Football from November 24. Showing on Sky Documentaries from December 2 to December 5.
All episodes available on demand from November 24th.
"Players need something to fall back on, need a safety net, need someone to talk to, and need other opportunities in the world."
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool
"I had enough (of football). I had enough, I didn't want to do it anymore, and my mum and dad forced me."
Kyle Walker, Manchester City
The 'embarrassing' problem facing football
Trent Alexander-Arnold says it is “embarrassing” that the football industry doesn’t do more to support young footballers when they are released from professional academies.
It comes as Manchester City defender Kyle Walker has revealed for the first time to Sky Sports News that he almost quit football as a young teenager, because the pressure and commitment was too much to bear.
Walker and Alexander-Arnold have won 20 major trophies between them.
But both have seen friends and teammates fall out of the game, and so have been moved to set up their own football academies to try to help young players who are released.
They've shared their stories exclusively with Sky Sports News as part of our “Chasing the Dream” documentary series, which is available now.
New statistics we have produced show 91% of footballers who come through a club academy never go on to play a single match as a professional.
And Alexander-Arnold has told us those who drop out of the system need more help to move forward in their lives - whether that’s within football or an alternative career.
He has set up his own After Academy, working directly with the PFA, to try to do exactly that.
“I think there's so much ask and demand from academies (on young players) and rightly so - you need to put in the time and the effort and the work to even give yourself a chance, and that comes with sacrifice," said Alexander-Arnold.
“But if you're going to ask young people to do that, then you need to give them a plan B as well. And to think that there's not something already in place is somewhat embarrassing, if you ask me.
"The number of players that fall out of the academy system need something to fall back on, need a safety net, need someone to talk to, and need other opportunities in the world.”
Alexander-Arnold says young players have more chance of winning the lottery than making it as a pro footballer, and he has seen first hand the impact that being released from a top club can have.
“It’s the reason I set up the After Academy. It's for the lads that I grew up playing with. They realised the dream's no longer going to happen for them, they had nowhere to turn to, didn't know what to do, didn't know how to go about anything.
"It made me realise that there's a problem with the system and the support that comes after you drop out of an academy.”
He goes on to say his project is important “to give opportunities, not just within football, but outside the world of football, in the real world. In a world where A-levels and degrees are deemed vitally important to get a job, it's very hard for us lads to make it in that kind of world.”
Walker: I wanted to quit football
Walker, too, has set up his own project - the KW2 Academy, in Sheffield where he grew up - to try to give released footballers a second chance in the game.
Like Alexander-Arnold, he doesn’t think football as a whole is doing enough to help those who have to transition into a different career.
“Everyone would like to be a footballer. There's only a certain few of us that are lucky enough to go and be that," he said.
"Things aren't just handed to you on a plate. I think you have to fight for them, and it's probably only the tough that survive, really.
“I was probably around about 13, 14 and I had enough (of football). I had enough, I didn't want to do it anymore, and my mum and dad forced me.
"Obviously, if I could look then into the future and see what I've achieved, I'd go home straight away.
"But when your mum's ringing down your phone saying ‘Kyle, come on, get home, you've got to play your game in the morning’, to come away from that (social life) at such a young age, it's hard.”
91% of footballers who come through a club academy never go on to play a single match as a professional.
The Premier League and EFL have told us that, since the introduction of the Elite Player Performance Plan more than a decade ago, there has been a sea-change in the levels of all-round care offered to academy footballers, with life-skills programmes and mentoring extended to try to help young players when they transition out of the professional game.
League Football Education, which works directly with the EFL, offers regular workshops at all levels, and annual check ups with released players for three years after they’ve left the academy system.
Ofsted has rated the education provided by clubs in the Premier League and EFL as ‘outstanding’.
“I think we all have a responsibility to our young people to make sure that, whilst we are investing millions of pounds into them to try to make them footballers, we also need to use that money to provide player care and safeguarding and education and welfare.
“We need to make sure there is a different pathway for them, because every club in the league, whether it’s Premier League or EFL, are audited to the same standards.
"So every club has a responsibility to make sure that they are providing that holistic care for their young players.”
Darren Wassall, EFL director of football
WALKER AND ALEXANDER-ARNOLD WERE SPEAKING AS PART OF THE SKY SPORTS NEWS' DOCUMENTARY SERIES “CHASING THE DREAM” WHICH IS AVAILABLE TO WATCH ON ALL SKY SPORTS FOOTBALL CHANNELS, FROM NOVEMBER 24
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