Weston to invest heavily into their Academy with launch of new roles and scheme

In the last few months The Seagulls have been reviewing their Academy provision and structure of both the under-16-19 programme, which has been running in partnership with Weston College for the last 15 years, and the junior sides from the ages of six to 16, which started with the college 10 years ago.

The success of the academy, which is one of only 22 clubs outside of the Football League to hold a licence nationally and the only one in North Somerset, has seen players like Luke Purnell, Dayle Grubb, Brad Ash and Ryan Jones break into the first team.

Weston have named their new bursary scheme after Ryan Jones and Dayle Grubb to enable players who don't have funds to join their academy. (Image: Archant)

The board has made provisions in the budget to heavily invest into the Academy in the last year and will continue to do so in the next two years as they look to continue improving the structure.

Because of the success, Weston have a launched a Head of Academy role alongside their existing lead phase roles and will also be introducing a recruitment team to cover the recruitment from six-years-old all the way to 19.

This will help start the Grubb-Jones Bursary, a scheme to give players - who might not be able to access their academy due to finances - the chance to apply for one of the places in the academy.

“I am really looking forward to making these improvements to the academy,” said managing director Oli Bliss.

“The Academy is a major focus for the club and has been for 10 years. Now is the chance to move it to the next level, which will set it up for the next five years.

“Working with so many good young players is a long process to see them reach the first team, but it's always worth the wait.”

To find out more about the role or to apply, send your CV to recruitment@wsmafc.co.uk.