Ainslie Park to Match of the Day 2

Posted on Monday, August 31st, 2009

Academy patron Gordon Strachan spent Saturday at the Academy in his first visit since we opened.  In the morning Academy manager Douglas Samuel along with Hugh Cullen and Daniel Sheilds from our “Young Team” of volunteers showed him round then he watched the Under 9s/Under 10s training on the synthetic pitch.  We also spent time chatting through all our various Community programmes.  Gordon was particularly excited by our “Street Football in a Safe Place ” initiative.  “For us to produce better players kids need to be playing more often in small sided games, with no pressure and having fun.  We did this for years…kids will soon improve their first touch and how to control the ball if they play for hours with a few mates and a goal to shoot into”.  After lunch he “enjoyed” our game against Tynecastle but was disappointed with the result.  The last time he saw us was at Love Street when we lost 3 – 0 so he’s looking for us to at least score the next time he comes back.  He’s keen to stay involved now that he has a little more time on his hands.  He let us to head through to Hampden to lecture on the Pro Licence course yesterday morning before a flight to London for MOTD2.