As part of the EFL's Youth Development Week, we spoke to academy analyst Kyle King about his transition from Under-18s footballer to becoming a member of staff at just 19.
King - who joined the Club's Under-18s back in 2021 - spent two-years on the Fylde Coast, where he featured in the two successful FA Youth Cup runs which included a trip to Manchester City in the Fifth Round at the Etihad Campus.
During the EFL's Youth Development Week, we sat down with Town's former midfielder to discuss the transition from player to member of staff, and how he's adapted to working with former teammates and former coaches on a day-to-day basis.
Here's what King had to say about the transition...
“I had a really good relationship with the staff anyway, and it's as if they were my friends to be honest, so that transition coming back in wasn't too difficult.
"The transition of having to adapt with the players, obviously I played with a lot of them last year so it was quite difficult at first. I suppose, to change your language, the things you say around them, and the way you act around them and things like that but I’m mature enough. I speak well enough and I’m clever enough to have that switch.
"I’d say that's actually been quite easy, a lot easier than I thought it would have been to be honest but that's just a credit to the people around me to sort of keep you in line. A big reason as to why I was re-employed by the Football Club was because I was a good person, so I actually found the transition quite easy to be honest".
The 19-year-old added: "They [the Academy staff] give you time and they understand what you are. Obviously I’m only 19, so I’m young in terms of working in full-time football but they’ve been patient with me because, at times, I have messed up and made mistakes, as everyone does.
"But Jack, for example, the gaffer, when I’ve done work with the gaffer, Lewis, who is the first team analyst. So they’ve been patient with me and given me time and I like to think that overtime and even now, I’m starting to repay that by producing good pieces of work.”
Kyle King on his role and how analysis will help the current crop of scholars...
”I work as a performance analyst. I'd say it's hard to explain because there’s so much that goes on day-to-day for us. A lot of the things we have to do are linked with games and I work across the three footballing departments, from our Under-18s, the Under-21s and also the First Team.
"A lot of my work is based around watching games and preparing for matches. I do things for the First Team that is quite individual based so preparing for the opposition, certain opposition players. There’s obviously a lot more to it than watching games from clipping up matches, but that is sort of a brief overview, really.”
“Analysis is growing in the game for sure, and we have a big emphasis in the Academy on the younger players trying to use it because it is proven that watching your games back and watching the opposition, It does help you.
"Speaking from experience as a player, it has helped me massively when I was playing, and even still when I play part-time. I think that analysis as a whole is growing and we can provide that help for the players and a lot of the work we do with the younger players is to break it down and make it easier for them to understand.
"The kind of footage we’ll show them is "this is what this team does and this is how we get around it’ and show them examples of how to do things and we try to make it as easy as possible for them really.”
Watch Kyle's interview, and much more, on our iFollow HERE.
