Leicester City F.C. Reserves and Academy

Leicester City Football Club

Full name	Leicester City Development Squad & Academy
Nickname(s)	The Foxes
Founded	1884 (1884) (as Leicester Fosse)
Ground	King Power Stadium Belvoir Drive Training Complex
Ground Capacity	King Power Stadium 32,262
Owner	King Power International
Chairman	Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha
Manager	Steve Beaglehole (Under 23s) Jon Rudkin (Academy)
League	Professional Development League
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Leicester City Under-23s are the reserve team of Leicester City F.C. The team mainly consists of Under-23 players at the club, although senior players occasionally play in the reserve side, for instance when they are recovering from injury. The Under-23s team are managed by Steve Beaglehole and they play in the Premier League 2.

Leicester City F.C. Academy are the youth team of Leicester City F.C, managed & directed by Jon Rudkin. Leicester City's academy has had category one status under the Elite Player Performance Plan since July 2013.

History

Although less famous than the likes of Manchester United or West Ham United's youth systems, the Leicester City Academy has been one of the more productive academies in the East Midlands. England internationals Peter Shilton, Gary Lineker, David Nish, Steve Whitworth and Emile Heskey, as well as Don Revie, who played for and managed England^[1] all began their careers with the Foxes. Frank McLintock, a Scottish international, former footballer of the year and a double winning captain with Arsenal, who was described by Bob Paisley as the "player of the decade" at the end of the 1970s also came through the Foxes' ranks.^[2] Leicester's all-time top appearance makers Graham Cross and Sep Smith were also among notable products of the academy.

Current first-team players such as Welsh international Andy King, Ghanaian international Jeffrey Schlupp, defender Liam Moore and goalkeeper Conrad Logan have come through the club's youth system in recent years. Young strikers Tom Hopper and Harry Panayiotou also made their debuts in 2012, Harry Panayiotou dramatically scoring the final goal in a 2–1 win against Leeds United in the last game of the 2011–12 season. Tom Hopper was given the number 21 shirt ahead of the 2012–13 season.

The academy is overseen by director Jon Rudkin, with Steve Beaglehole currently holding the position of 'Development Coach', working in the new Under-21 league set up from the summer of 2012. Trevor Peake and Chris Tucker currently look after the under 18s, whilst Kevin Fogg and Paul Cheney are in charge of the under 16s and below.^[3][4] On 8 April 2013 Leicester City Under 21's won the newly formed 2012–13 Professional Development League 2 with a game to go, qualifying for the knockout stage.^[5] However they exited the national play-off at the semi-final stage, after losing 3–2 to Cardiff.^[6]

On 26 May 2013, Leicester City Development Squad & Academy won the HKFC International Soccer Sevens cup, beating Newcastle United F.C. Reserves and Academy 2–0 thanks to goals from Michael Cain and Harry Panayiotou. The latter also went on to win player of the tournament.^[7] On 4 July, it was announced that Leicester City's academy had been awarded category one status, the highest level under the Premier League's Elite Player Performance Plan.^[8]

By finishing 6th in the 2013–14 Professional U21 Development League, Leicester City U21's qualified for the inaugural, 2014–15 edition, of the Premier League International Cup, being drawn in Group C with Manchester City, Benfica and Schalke 04.^[9] On 24 November 2014, Leicester City U21's became the first team to qualify for the quarter finals, after defeating Schalke 04 and Benfica, both 2-0 at the King Power Stadium.^[10]

The Players

Nat.	Player	Age	Position	International
Under-23s
	Daniel Iversen	19	GK	Denmark Under-19
	Max Bramley	18	GK
	Cédric Kipré	19	DF
	Elliott Moore	19	DF	England Under-18
	Josh Knight	18	DF
	Callum Elder	21	DF	Australia Under-20
	David Domej	20	DF
	Darnell Johnson	17	DF	England Under-19
	Connor Wood	20	DF
	Josh Debayo	20	DF
	Michael Cain	21	MF
	Danny Rowe	19	MF
	Matty Miles	19	MF
	Harvey Barnes	18	MF
	Brandon Fox	19	MF	England Under-18
	Hamza Choudhury	18	MF
	Dylan Watts	19	MF
	Faiq Bolkiah	18	MF	Brunei
	Admiral Muskwe	17	FW	England Under-17
	Kairo Mitchell	18	FW
	Layton Ndukwu	17	FW	England Under-17
	Raúl Uche	18	FW
	Liandro Martis	20	FW	Curaçao
Under-18s
	Cameron Yates	18	GK	England Under-17
	George Heaven	17	DF
	Alexandru Pascanu	18	DF	Romania Under-19
	Cal Templeton	17	DF	Northern Ireland Under-19
	Simranjit Thandi	17	DF	England Under-17
	Calvin Ughelumba	16	DF
	Kyle Gruno	17	DF	United States Under-17
	Calvin Bassey	17	DF
	Kieran Dewsbury-Hall	18	MF
	Tom Fielding	17	MF
	Rubin Gill	17	MF
	Scott Parker	17	MF
	Khanya Leshabela	17	MF
	Lamine Sherriff	17	MF
	Conor Tee	17	MF
	Morgan Brown	17	MF
	Kairo Arlott-John	17	FW
	Elliot Webber	18	FW
	Josh Felix-Eppiah	17	FW
	Kian Williams	16	FW
	József Keaveny	17	FW	Hungary Under-18 Republic of Ireland Under-17

UEFA Youth League

Current squad

As of 13 September 2016

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Max Bramley 2 DF Simranjit Thandi 3 DF Alexandru Pascanu 4 MF Lamine Sherriff 5 DF Elliott Moore 6 DF Darnell Johnson 7 FW Faiq Bolkiah 8 MF Khanya Leshabela 9 FW Admiral Muskwe 10 MF Harvey Barnes 11 FW Layton Ndukwu 12 DF Calvin Ughelumba

No. Position Player 13 GK Cameron Yates 14 DF Kyle Gruno 15 MF Morgan Brown 16 MF Ethan Hodby 17 FW Kairo Arlott-John 18 FW Elliot Webber 19 MF Conor Tee 20 DF Cal Templeton 21 MF Tom Fielding 22 GK Sam French 23 FW Josh Felix-Eppiah 24 MF Kieran Dewsbury-Hall

Staff

Under-21 Management & Captaincy
Role	Person
Under-21 Manager	Steve Beaglehole
Under-21 Coach	Ben Petty
Under-21 Captain	Elliott Moore

Academy Team Management Role Person Academy Director Jon Rudkin Lead Pro Development Coach Under-18s Trevor Peake Lead Youth Development Coach Under-16s Assistant Lead Youth Development Coach Paul Cheney Academy Goalkeeper Coach Glyn Thompson Academy Strength and Conditioning Coach Tom Williams Head Academy Physiotherapist Ben Harwood Assistant Academy Physiotherapist Guy Rogers Head of Academy Sports Science Kevin Paxton Academy Lead Sport Scientist Gary Capes Academy Lead Analyst Ryan DeFreitas Academy Analyst Paul Mitchell Academy Sport Psychologist Karl Steptoe Academy Recruitment Bill Wall Lead Foundation Coach Stuart McClarty Head of Education Ian Cawley Children’s Officer Dale Bradshaw Academy Administrator Debbie Collins Academy Operations Co-ordinator Gina Carrelli

Notable graduates

Current Leicester City players in bold.

Honours

• Premier Academy League
  • Winners: 2006-07
  • Group B Winners: 2009-10, 2011–12
  • Group B Runners Up: 2008-09, 2010–11
• HKFC International Soccer Sevens
  • Shield Winners: 2011-12
  • Cup Winners: 2012-13
  • Plate Winners: 2013-14
• U21 Professional Development League 2 North Division
  • Winners: 2012-13
• U15 Premier League Category 2 National Trophy
  • Winners: 2012-13

References