DERRY CITY WILL LAUNCH the first of their new ‘footballing satellite centres’ tomorrow evening – just 7 kilometres from Finn Park.
City say that the centres, the first of which is being rolled out at The New Camp Complex, the home ground of Curragh Athletic FC in Killygordon, are designed to ‘nurture young players without any commitment’.
However, the news that their North-West rivals – whom they face in the opening game of the new League of Ireland season on March 4 – are effectively setting up camp in their back garden will rock Harps to the core.
“Our aim is simply to nurture them and nourish them in a way in which we feel will help them in the professional game. It’s to try and promote the Derry City badge,” Derry City manager Kenny Shiels (pictured above) said in a statement to wwwderrycityfc.net, the official Derry City website.
“We’re doing it to have an affinity with the best young players in that part of Donegal and Strabane and Castlederg and the rest of that whole area. We just want to connect with that part of the country.
“The whole youth staffing such as John Quigg, Hugh Harkin, Eddie Seydak and Gary Duffy have all been involved.
“We’ve met and we’ve spoken about it and we feel it is the way forward. It will be reciprocated in Derry.”
Derry indicate that they will be inviting players from the east Donegal area to the centre and aim to replicate this in Derry.
Shiels said: “It’s not just Donegal, it’s about both areas. We’ve been having chats with the Derry and District Youth League and that’s the next stage for us.
“Looking at the first team squad, we don’t have any players from Limavady, Dungiven, Greysteel, Eglinton, Park or Feeney; we have no players from there and I’m sure there are a lot of really good young soccer players in those areas.
“The programme we are trying to put in place is to capture all the best young players, not for now, but for the future.”
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