Rebuilding the Belief

Rebuilding the Belief football youth development conferences

Speakers and delegates from across the UK and Europe attended three Rebuilding the Belief Conferences held at CGM Media Centre in Worcester in 2018 and 2019.

The events explored the positive ways in which English football can put the best interests of children first in the sport from grass roots to professional academies.

Alongside presentations by six speakers including CGM managing partner Chris Green, author of the award-nominated book Every Boy’s Dream, there was plenty of lively debate.

Speakers at Rebuilding the Belief 1 were: Paul Cooper of the National Children’s Football Alliance, Give Us Back Our Game and Free v Free annual campaign; Phil Johnson, sports and exercise psychologist, former team psychologist at AS Monaco; Tim Kirk, under 13s coach at Borussia Dortmund and founder of Bath and Wiltshire Boys, part of the Bath & Wiltshire School Sport Trust, a charity which offers sporting opportunities for young people; Robert Stephenson, founder and CEO of multi-award-winning youth social enterprise programme, Blastbeat and Jameel Hadi MBE, social work lecturer at Salford University and founder of Participation Through Sport (2003 to 2013).

Joining us for RTB 2 were: Mel Eves of the Sports Parents Association, Pete Lowe, head of education at Manchester City for 13 years between 2000-2013, and co-founder of PlayersNet, Lee Hagger, academy operations manager at Fulham FC and Ernie Brennan of the National Children’s Football Alliance.

Our esteemed speaker list for RTB 3 was: Tony Whelan, a key figure in redefining Manchester United’s academy philosophy towards youth development and the welfare of the children coached at the club, Gareth Farrelly, who  progressed from Aston Villa’s academy to play for Bolton Wanderers, Everton and the Republic of Ireland – yet ended up suing his final club Cork City for unfair dismissal – a process that led to him deciding to re-train as a lawyer, PlayersNet co-founder Simon Bywater and Martin Brock, CEO of the NERF Junior Premier League.

Photos by Doug Anderson and Steve Mann.