V9 Academy is an English football academy co-founded by Jamie Vardy with the intention of gaining non-League players contracts at professional clubs.

History

The V9 Academy was founded, in 2016,[1] by professional player Jamie Vardy and his agent John Morris after they felt that "too few professional clubs look hard enough in non-league football".[2] Vardy invested £100,000 into the venture.[3] Vardy had played in non-league football for a number of years before turning professional, eventually winning the Premier League with Leicester City and representing England at international level.[4][5]

For the first intake in 2017 there were thousands of applicants.[1] In the summer of 2017 the academy invited 42 applicants to attend a week-long trial in Manchester, from which four players (Danny Newton, Alex Penny, Lamar Reynolds and Blair Turgott) received professional contracts.[2] There were scouts present from 65 professional clubs.[3] It was the subject of a Sky Sports documentary series in September 2017.[6]

There was a second intake of 42 players in June 2018,[7] which was also the subject of a Sky Sports documentary.[8]

Graduates

Danny Newton was the first graduate who was awarded a professional contract after signing for Stevenage in June 2017.[9] Three further players – Alex Penny, Lamar Reynolds and Blair Turgott – also received professional contracts that summer.[2] Other players from that initial intake also later received professional contracts, including Elliott Durrell, Mikel Miller, and Elton Ngwatala.[1][10][11][12][13]

There was a second intake of players in 2018, the first of which was Luther Wildin.[14] In June 2018 two more graduates – Josh Heaton and Cody Cooke – were awarded professional contracts by Scottish club St Mirren.[15] Later that month Ben Stephens and Andy Dales, both graduates of the 2018 intake, signed for Football League teams.[16][17]

The most notable graduate of the V9 Academy is Sam McCallum who joined then-Premier League outfit Norwich City in January 2020 for a reported fee of £3,500,000 from Coventry City after breaking into the Coventry first team and making a total of 35 appearances and scoring three goals over two seasons with Coventry. McCallum has since spent another loan spell back with Coventry in the Championship, and also Queens Park Rangers.[18][19][20][21]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Matt Badcock (11 May 2017). "The V9 Academy unveil their chosen list of graduates". Non-League Football Paper. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 Jacob Steinberg (6 September 2017). "Jamie Vardy sees his academy bear fruit with first batch of graduate". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  3. 1 2 Mark Poyser (19 July 2017). "Lamar Reynolds: Newport County's own Jamie Vardy?". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  4. ↑ Owen Phillips (18 March 2014). "Jamie Vardy: Leicester City striker's remarkable rise". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  5. ↑ Ian Wright (23 October 2015). "Jamie Vardy can be England's Toto Schillaci at Euro 2016". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  6. ↑ "Sky 1 to show Jamie Vardy documentary as he searches for next non-league star". Sky Sports. 22 August 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  7. ↑ James Sharpe (30 May 2018). "Jamie Vardy to take time off from England's World Cup preparations to attend V9 Academy". Leicester Mercury. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  8. ↑ Martin King (7 May 2018). "Town striker Ben Stephens selected for Jamie Vardy's V9 Academy". Stratford-upon-Avon Herald. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  9. ↑ James Dale (19 June 2017). "Jamie Vardy's V9 Academy sees Danny Newton sign for Stevenage". Sky Sports. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  10. ↑ "Elliott Durrell: Macclesfield Town sign former Chester midfielder". BC Sport. 14 July 2017. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  11. ↑ "Elton Ngwatala: Dundee sign midfielder on two-year deal". BBC Sport. 16 May 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  12. ↑ "Mickel Miller: Hamilton sign Carshalton Athletic striker for undisclosed fee". BBC Sport. 30 January 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  13. ↑ "The Step 3 & 4 stars all the scouts are watching..." Non-League Football Paper. 23 January 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2018.
  14. ↑ Louis Dutton (16 February 2018). "Jamie Vardy snaps up Leicester hopeful for V9 Academy". Leicester Mercury. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  15. ↑ Rob Tanner (22 June 2018). "Jamie Vardy's V9 Academy helps two more aspiring players earn professional deals". Leicester Mercury. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  16. ↑ "Macclesfield sign Cheltenham's Grimes & Stratford's Stephens". BC Sport. 22 June 2018. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  17. ↑ "Andy Dales leaves Mickleover Sports for Scunthorpe". Non-League Football Paper. 29 June 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
  18. ↑ "Sam McCallum: Norwich sign Coventry left-back and loan back to Sky Blues". BBC Sport. 2020-01-31. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  19. ↑ "Norwich sign Sam McCallum from Coventry". Sky Sports. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  20. ↑ Turner, Andy (2020-01-31). "Confirmed: Sam McCallum completes Premier League move". coventrytelegraph. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  21. ↑ "City agree deal to sign Sam McCallum". www.canaries.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
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