Football - Kevin Betsy coaches Fulham to Premier League's U16 International Cup win |28 October 2015

Seychelles-born former professional footballer Kevin Betsy has coached the Fulham team to winning the English Premier League's U16 International Cup.

After the win, academy coach Kevin Betsy said Fulham's future looks bright as they toppled big guns to win the title.

According to the Daily Mail, Fulham won their second consecutive title, playing some beautiful football along the way, including a sumptuous 20-pass move from back to front resulting in a goal against Liverpool which could have come straight out of Barcelona's La Masia.

The newspaper adds that with youth players coming through to make it to the first team, and some, like Manchester City's summer signing Patrick Roberts, going on beyond into the Premier League, it is a moment of quiet pride for academy coach Betsy.

“It's an amazing achievement for the boys,” Betsy told Sportsmail.

“Tournaments like this are important in terms of their own self-reflection and their own confidence and football journey, when they're assessing their ability against some of Europe's best players of the same age. When they're up against the bigger clubs they can sometimes end up playing against the badge, instead of just playing against boys of their own age. So that's a challenge. But we've managed to get over that psychological problem,” said Betsy who has the job of developing the next crop of talent at Craven Cottage.

A former Fulham player who oversaw the development of Roberts at an early age, Betsy is keen to play down the “winning” aspect of his squad, instead focusing on his team's progress as individuals.

“The players are the most important people within our club,” he stressed in the interview with Sportsmail. “Everything we do is about the players. These team elements, going to a tournament and winning, is just a bonus. The individual plan that we have within the club is the most important thing.”

Those individuals are quite something, adds the article. Matt O'Riley, an U15 player promoted to the U16 squad, scored three times in the tournament. Ryan Sessegnon, another local boy who has been at the club since he was nine, and like O'Riley is in the England U16 squad, was named best attacking player at the tournament, while his twin brother, Steven, was given the award for best defender.

The story adds that it's a real bonus for a club like Fulham, who unlike neighbours Chelsea – so often derided for not giving youth a chance despite successful academy sides – have limits on the money they can spend on the first team, and rely on producing good youth players.

Producing young players

“Our pathway at the club is fantastic. We're trying to produce as many young players out of our academy and into our first team as possible. Our first team manager (Kit Symons) being a former academy coach at the club also helps. Symons, like Felix Magath before him, has been happy to use the talented youngsters in his first team, but even the promise of top level football is no guarantee of holding onto players,” said Betsy.

“The biggest challenge we face is trying to retain our players,” conceded Betsy. “Sometimes players look at it short-term and think 'I'm going to a great club that's got a great name, they've got fantastic facilities, and Fulham are in the Championship and I want to be in the Premier League'. But being at a big club doesn't necessarily mean that, when you're moving at 12 or 13.

“When you've had your grounding, your development, and you've managed to play some games, and then when you hit 18, 19, 20, then you can go to a top club. But some players, and parents, see it as a here and now, and don't look at the bigger picture, which is unfortunate,” added Betsy who helped the Seychelles team with the Indian Ocean Island Games gold medal for the first time in 2011 on home soil.

Kevin Keegan (right) brought Betsy to Fulham for £150,000 after impressing while playing non-league football.

“I think they paid about £150,000 for me, from the conference, which was a big fee for Woking to receive,” he recalls.

“I was at Fulham for about three and a half years, played under Jean Tigana and Keegan, before he went to take the England job, which obviously was a great experience for me.

“Fulham was the club where I was given an opportunity in professional football, when I was quite a late developer. I was very small at 15, 16, and was overlooked by a lot of clubs. My body grew when I was about 17, 18, and I had the technical ability by the time the physical side began to kick in. So I was lucky that Fulham gave me the opportunity,” said Betsy who himself experienced the difficulties of the academy system first hand as he was deemed 'too small' at the age of 16, and had to make his way at non-league Woking, before being signed as a 19-year-old by Kevin Keegan at Fulham.

He made 15 appearances for Fulham, scoring one goal, before moving permanently to Barnsley.

Returning the favour

Now, Betsy is looking to return the favour, helping Fulham spot the players who might otherwise go undetected.

“You're not always going to see the finished article, today. But you've got to have the eye to see what's there later on, and to be patient with those kids. Patrick Roberts came in at under 13, when myself and a coach called Dan Thomas were taking the age group, and he did OK in his trial. He had one or two 'wow moments', but he had other deficiencies, areas he needed to improve. But we didn't see that. We thought, you know what, let's give this kid a chance, he's got something that other players haven't got. He's very small in his frame, but he could do really well,” explained Betsy.

Roberts was brought into the academy, and five years later earned the club £8m when he moved to Manchester City.

Patience, as Betsy stresses on multiple occasions, will be rewarded. It is a message his successful group of teenagers will have hammered into them. If they listen, Fulham could have a new generation of special players on the way through.

Compiled by G. G.