Weston is a club where they 'cater for all' says Panes

The newly appointed Head of Academy and Recruitment has a wealth of experience in the game, including working at SGS College for 20 years, and helped produce talented sportsmen and women alongside them gaining their chosen academic qualifications.

He will work under “Mr Weston” Mark McKeever, who was recently appointed Head of Coaching alongside his role as Head of Academy Senior Phase.

Weston manager Scott Bartlett. (Image: Archant)

And Panes’ role with The Seagulls, where he feels the club have to be “realistic” in the process, will help prepare, and to develop the pathway for players to be in future Weston first-team squads.

“It is no good having academy programmes if you are not producing players for the first team,” said Panes.

“I’ve got a fair idea of the player Scott (Bartlett) needs and wants for his team. I do know he will throw them in, he will give them opportunities which is great for all the academy staff to know the pathway is realistic.

“There is a gap and I think we need to fill that gap because to be an 18-year-old in the first team is a big ask as it is a really good level of football.

“Can we bridge that gap ? I think that’s where the higher education route is extremely important. Keeping players longer in the system will help produce future senior first teamers.

“That’s one of the areas we have got to look at, if they are not quite ready then this is where we continue the system of loaning players out to the relevant clubs at the right level.

“One of my roles is recruitment. I’ve got to look at and get to know the area better. To see where we recruit from, can that area cover a larger area? I don’t know.

“I’ve got to go in, sit back and have a look at what’s going on. I’m a great believer that you have got to listen, initially.

“Listen to what everybody is saying and then you can start making your own opinion a bit later down the line. I’m not going in and change everything, that is not needed.

“It’s a massive area and the club has a lot of history, could they play a higher level than they are playing now? Yes, of course they could, and I know the club are very driven to get as high up the pyramid as they possibly can and that excites me as well.”

Weston's Head of Development Mark McKeever, Managing Director Oli Bliss, Chairman Paul Bliss and Head of Academy Matt Bazell. (Image: Archant)

But Panes wants the town to know that Weston is more than just one team. It’s a place where all players, regardless of age, gender and background can come in and feel welcome.

And as long as he is with the club he will do what he can to get them higher up the leagues where he feels, they belong.

“I want people at Weston knowing that it’s not all about the first team, this is all about football for all,” he added.

“From Walking football to Holiday Camps or to someone who just wants to support or wants to get involved in football they know the football club down the road caters for all.

“That’s really, really important. For me the question I would have is why haven’t the club played at a higher level? We need to look at the reasons why and Oli (Bliss) and his father (Paul) have been there for a long time, that’s questions I’ll be putting to them, why do you think it is?

“The Non-League system is very competitive so what are we doing to make sure that the club have an opportunity of achieving higher league status.

“It sounds to me the fan base is good, the Directors and the owners at the club are very forward thinking. That’s a massive plus. There’s stability here which I would question in other clubs. They seem to want to make changes every five minutes, you have to understand it will not happen overnight.

“I’ve got to look at what we’ve done right and what do we need to improve but that takes time. I could have gone into a club where there is no academy programme, and we would have to start one. Something I helped Scott with during his time at Forest Green Rovers.

“Thank goodness there is one set up here and it’s very highly thought of. We just need to look at what and how we can make it even better.

“The better we make it, the more players that we will be producing, the better the first team will be. If I didn’t think there was a first-team manager here that wasn’t going to play these lads I would have thought twice about the role.

“What’s the point, I’ve seen that in professional clubs where the first-team manager doesn’t go anywhere near the academy because they are only going to be at that job for two to three years and the majority of the academy of players will be 16 and under.

“They are not going to be anywhere near the first team so why bother going to see the academy. That’s very sad but I’ve seen and heard of this happening.

"It sounds to me everybody works closely together at the club, everybody is allowed to get on with their roles. There was one or two gaps which Oli needed filling and I’m one of those people to come in and fill that gap. I’m looking forward to getting stuck into the role.”