On Monday afternoon the JMG-academy held a press conference on the Lisp. Present were JMG-man Vincent Dufour, technical director Younes Zardouk, Thomas Caers - ex STVV and co-ordinator - and Roger Smets from Lierse Youth Academy.
Aruna Dindane (RC Lens, and ex-Anderlecht), who will be godfather of the Lierse Academy, should also normally have been present, but was excused due to a troublesome revalidation.
Vincent Dufour took the initiative and began speaking about the tests which had been organised yesterday.
Dufour: ” From the players who we saw in action yesterday we’ll select 20-odd who may take part in the final stage. It will be the same process with every group until we finally get about 8 talented players left over who will be taken into the Academy. The tuition takes up 6 years but everything is catered for. The development of the players as people takes priority. If they then develop into professional footballers as well, it’s of course very nice. I can reassure people that an educational coaching is foreseen, equivalent to public schools. If they want to study Latin, they can do that too. With us it’s just the total package which is unique.”
“Our tuition is indeed unique, and the candidates have noticed that at our training bases”, added Thomas Caers.
” They were very surprised when we asked them to take their shoes off, and play barefoot. Their mouths fell open in surprise but afterwards speaking to parents, it seems that they found it superb! But it’s also the case that you don’t have the opportunity to intensively train the youngsters. At their clubs they train three times a week and that’s that.
In our academy they train ten times a week, and if you work in this way with youngsters who you know are exceptionally talented, what can go wrong”, he delightedly summed up.
Are the selected players so exceptionally talented then?
“They must be because the selection criteria is much stricter than with the Lierse youth” said Roger Smets.
“When you know what a reputation the latter have, you know enough. We’ll also scout on the street, on the town fields. What you see there sometimes is un-believ-able. The same effect we saw on film of other JMG schools!”
Another raised point is the location for all this. How does it stand with the purchase of the pitches in Berlaar?
“The pitches are still our first choice for the Academy” answered Press spokesman Terry Verbiest.
“We have made an honest offer and now the ball lies in the court of Berlaar Council. If we haven’t received a response within two weeks from now, we’ll ahve to look for other alternatives. We could also go to Kloosterstraat in Berlaar, although that would only be a temporary solution.”
