“To some degree we can list the attributes of a successful footballer; technical, tactical,athletic and temperamental. The trick is to identify a child’s potential and help him reach it. Clubs are trying to create foundation through basic technical skills and practice. You have to have that first. It’s like if someone gives you a bag of tools and there are only a few tools in it. Even if you are a trained electrician or plumber, but you only have one hammer and a few screws in your tool bag, there isn’t much you can do. What we at Manchester United believe in is getting kids who have the full bag of tools before they come to us at sixteen. Then it’s up to the coaches to put the footballer (soccer) part into it, the tactics and all that.”
Sir Alex Ferguson