Blackburn Rovers Academy and Under-23s
Full nameBlackburn Rovers Academy and Under-23s
Nickname(s)Rovers, Blue and Whites, The Riversiders[1]
Founded1875 (1875)
GroundCounty Ground (Leyland), Leyland, Lancashire
Capacity~2,300
Head of AcademyStuart Jones
U23 Lead CoachMike Sheron
LeaguePremier League 2
U18 Premier League

Blackburn Rovers F.C. Academy and Under-23s are the youth teams of Blackburn Rovers. The Blackburn Rovers Academy holds Category One status. The current manager of the Under 23's side is Mike Sheron. The team play in the Premier League 2 Division 1, after gaining promotion from the Premier League 2 Division 2 in the 2017/18 season.

Under-23s team

Blackburn Rovers Under-23s play in the Premier League 2 Division 1.

Damien Johnson is the former manager the Under-23. His predecessor, Eric Kinder left the role to take over as the club's Head of Academy. Kinder was appointed Gary Bowyer's replacement following his appointment as first team manager following two successful caretaker spells. However, the new current head of Academy at Blackburn Rovers is Stuart Jones. The Under 23s play their home games at The Lancashire FA County Ground at Leyland, Preston.

The team now is mainly made up of players acquired from local academies like Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and Everton. Several Under 23's players have recently made the step up into Jon Dahl Tomasson's first team, including Lewis Travis, John Buckley, Joe Rankin-Costello and Hayden Carter.

The Academy

Blackburn Rovers Academy holds Category One status, the highest possible. The club maintained this status in a full audit which took place during the 2017/18 season. The Academy trains at Brockhall training village, the same location as the first team and the Under 23s. It also provides a stepping stone for youngsters to progress to the highest levels of football at Blackburn Rovers producing high quality players in the past. Former players such as Damien Duff, Phil Jones, Damien Johnson, James Beattie, Neil Danns, Jonathan Walters, and Anthony Pilkington were all nurtured in The Academy. Current professional football players also include Jason Lowe, Martin Olsson, Grant Hanley, Josh Morris, Adam Henley, Connor Mahoney, Ryan Nyambe, David Raya and Jack O'Connell have graduated from the clubs academy. Recent graduates such as Lewis Travis, Joe Rankin-Costello, Scott Wharton, Hayden Carter and John Buckley among others, play for Blackburn Rovers Championship team currently.

History & Facilities

In January 1991, British industrialist and businessman Jack Walker a lifelong fan of Blackburn Rovers completed the takeover of the club. In the following years, the Brockhall Village Academy, was constructed at a cost of approximately £4.75 million. The centre included state of the art facilities on a par with top training facilities elsewhere in Europe. It includes 6 full-size pitches, indoor training facilities, an indoor running track, outdoor running "hill", a swimming pool, goalkeeper training facilities as well as accommodation for the youth players.

Blackburn Rovers India Academy

On 19 November 2010, Pune based chicken meat processing, and pharmaceutical company, Venkateshwara Hatcheries Private Limited., completed the takeover of Blackburn Rovers, under the name Venky's London Limited.[2][3]

One of the companies early ambitions was to open an Academy back in their home nation of India. Managing director, told The Indian Express newspaper the club was planning a centre of excellence near Pune which is 100 km (60 miles) from Mumbai.

"We are getting an academy and a stadium in Pune," Venky's B. Balaji Rao was quoted as saying. "The site is near the Mumbai-Pune highway and will be ready in a year-and-a-half or two years." Rao said the academy, on the outskirts of the city, will be run exactly like a Rovers' training centre at Brockhall in northwest England, taking players from the age of 11 and 12. As of 2016 however no academy or stadium has been constructed.[4]

Squads

Development Squad

As of 9 August 2022[5]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
35 GK England ENG Jordan Eastham
— GK England ENG Solomon Honor
31 DF Northern Ireland NIR Tom Atcheson
26 DF England ENG Sam Barnes
25 DF England ENG Jake Batty
— DF England ENG Lenni Cirino
— DF England ENG Max Davies
15 DF England ENG Patrick Gamble
— DF Japan JPN Jay Haddow
— DF England ENG Charlie Olson
— DF England ENG George Pratt
— MF England ENG Adam Caddick
41 MF England ENG Leo Duru
36 MF England ENG James Edmondson
— MF Wales WAL Ben Fyles
30 MF England ENG Jake Garrett
No. Pos. Nation Player
22 MF Republic of Ireland IRL Zak Gilsenan
39 MF Scotland SCO Kristi Montgomery
— MF Poland POL Junior Nsangou
— MF France FRA Jalil Saadi
28 MF England ENG Charlie Weston
— MF England ENG Isaac Whitehall
23 MF England ENG Adam Wharton
— MF England ENG Harrison Wood
— FW England ENG Alex Baker
— FW Poland POL Dominik Biniek
37 FW Republic of Ireland IRL Tom Bloxham
20 FW England ENG Harry Leonard
— FW England ENG Harley O'Grady-Macken

Out on Loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
— GK England ENG Felix Goddard (on loan at Marine)
— DF England ENG Georgie Gent (on loan at Motherwell)
— MF England ENG Jared Harlock (on loan at The New Saints)
— FW England ENG Ethan Walker (on loan at Oldham Athletic)

Academy (Under-18s)

Updated 9 August 2022.[6]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
— GK England ENG Solomon Honor
— GK England ENG Adam Khan
38 GK England ENG Nicholas Michalski
31 DF Northern Ireland NIR Tom Atcheson
— DF England ENG Max Davies
— DF England ENG Matthew Litherland
— DF England ENG Charlie Olson
— DF England ENG Brandon Powell
— DF England ENG Teddy Ramwell
— DF England ENG Ben Thirkill
— MF England ENG Lewis Bell
— MF England ENG Joe Boggan
— MF England ENG Nathan Dlamini
40 MF England ENG Rhys Doherty
No. Pos. Nation Player
36 MF England ENG James Edmondson
— MF England ENG Stephen Edmondson
— MF Hungary HUN Patrik Farkas
42 MF Republic of Ireland IRL Rory Finneran
— MF England ENG Lucas Houghton
— MF England ENG Lorenzo Mullarky-Matthews
— MF England ENG Paul Murphy-Worrell
— MF Poland POL Junior Nsangou
— MF England ENG Daniel Shaw
— MF England ENG Jackson Shorrocks
— MF England ENG Zack Stritch
— MF England ENG Bradley Taylor
— MF England ENG Nathan Willis
— FW England ENG Harley O'Grady-Macken

Noted graduates

Blackburn Rovers' youth system has been successful over the years, many players who have come through it have gone on to feature in the first-team and make an impact or progress in the 1st teams of other clubs in the future.

Current/Former Rovers first teamers

Other notable academy graduates

References

  1. ↑ "Nicknames". Club Nicknames. The-Football-Club.com. 2 August 2009. Archived from the original on 7 September 2009. Retrieved 2 August 2009.
  2. ↑ "Rovers Takeover Complete - Financial Document" (PDF). Rovers.co.uk. Blackburn Rovers. 19 November 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 December 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  3. ↑ "Venky's spent £23m to buy Blackburn". Deccan Chronicle. 21 November 2010. Archived from the original on 26 November 2010. Retrieved 21 November 2010.
  4. ↑ "Blackburn to set up Indian academy". Fifa.com. Football Association. 8 July 2011. Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 6 July 2012.
  5. ↑ "Development Squad". Blackburn Rovers Official Site. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  6. ↑ "Under-18s". rovers.co.uk. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
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