The following paragraphs summarise the Club’s philosophy on coaching and squad management. The Club’s Management Committee recognise that these philosophies encourage children to prosper and improve their football abilities so that they continue to play team football for longer than maybe they would within a more competitive, ‘win at all costs’ environment. The aim is to achieve a balance whereby our teams are successful in both winning and involving every child who wants to play team football.
- Existing players with historical connections at the club take priority over squad places.
- Squads numbers are limited to registered players as follows:
16 per 11 a-side team; 14 per 9 a-side team; 12 per 7 a-side team and 8 per 5 a-side team.
- All players need to be registered and cleared with the Registrations Secretary before they can participate in club activities due to insurance restrictions.
- All training sessions should stay within the FA recommended player to coach ratio of
- 1:6 for age 4-8 years; 1:8 for age 9-12 years and 1:10 for 13 years and above.
- Throughout the course of the season managers should aim for players to be selected for an approximately equal proportion of matches based on the quantity they are available.
- Players can be shown preference for favourable commitment, attendence and attitude.
- Players will NOT necessarily have priority based on ability or team position.
- All players will ideally play a minimum of 50% of the match (FA ruling). Managers may therefore choose to select fewer players for each fixture allowing more match time per player.
- If a player starts as a substitute then managers will endeavour to start them in their next available match.
- Managers will try to fairly balance out the number of substitutions per player during a season.
- Players are only permitted to play one match fixture per day.
- Teams should be entered into leagues suitable for their ability and coaches are encouraged to offer training or friendly matches if large numbers of players do not have fixtures.
- Players should be rotated between teams so they improve and learn from each other.
- Players issued with squad numbers and dedicated kit are not allowed to swap shirts to allow other player’s to assume their identity.
- If players forget or lose their kit they are not allowed to play until their kit is replaced.