AFC Wimbledon boss Neal Ardley on the League One clubs battle to develop youth stars such as Anthony Hartigan and Will Nightingale and not lose them
The 45-year-old - in charge of the Wombles since 2012 - spoke of his delight at how his side are producing young talent in abundance capable of competing at the top level
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THE AFC Wimbledon fairytale is so captivating that they are making a movie out of it.
But perhaps the biggest indicator of how far they have come is the fact the club is creating its own players good enough to compete in League One, just 15 years after its inception.
The likes of Will Nightingale, Egli Kaja, Toby Sibbick, Alfie Egan, Paul Kalambayi and Anthony Hartigan have all come through the South-West Londoners’ academy and are now featuring for the first team.
Midfielder Hartigan, 17, is perhaps the pick of the bunch and could well line up against arch-rivals MK Dons tonight.
But as boss Neal Ardley explained, it has not been an easy ride to get to where they are now producing home-grown talent, particularly during the club’s days in non-league.
The Wombles chief told SunSport: “It’s been really difficult for the academy. It was only eight years ago we gained our players in the league so prior to that the club were losing players because they weren’t protected by the rules.
“Patrick Roberts, who is at Celtic now, was on the club’s books but the club had no compensation rights before entering the league.
“Since we came into the league, the club has been able to start up the academy properly. That’s been hard because the club has progressed to League One and it’s hard to keep catching up.
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“But they’ve done a wonderful job churning out players and we always try to give young players a chance. It’s something I believe in after my experience as academy manager at Cardiff.
“We’ve developed that and I think that’s put the platform there for players to come onto the first team.”
Wimbledon’s Category Three academy has to compete with the likes of Chelsea and Fulham, often losing out to those sides for local talent.
But it is a testament to the club’s vision and dedication to developing kids that they are sticking with it, unlike Brentford and Huddersfield who have ditched their academies deeming them to be not financially worth it.
Wimbledon are getting their rewards too. Hartigan, born just 16 months before the club began, has already made six appearances this term.
Ardley added: “One of my bugbears with the modern culture of young players is that they don’t want to take any responsibility of how they played. It’s always someone else’s fault.
“The amount of players I see that change their agents because he hasn’t got them a move, and don’t realise that it’s the way they’re playing why they haven’t got a move.
“This lad has come in and wants to see video footage after games already to see what he can do better. It’s a breath of fresh air. Anthony is criticising himself which is great to see.
“Wimbledon has a heritage of producing good young players. I won’t include myself in that, but Jason Euell, Carl Cort, Chris Perry, Neil Sullivan, they’ve had fantastic careers having come through the ranks at Wimbledon, and this Wimbledon want to do the same.
“The club don’t force me to play youngsters, because they know it’s hard with one of the bottom five budgets in the league anyway, but if we can get one or two around it, then they’d be delighted.”
The board would also be delighted with a win over MK at Kingsmeadow tonight.
The history of the two sides, how AFC was created in the aftermath of the old Wimbledon being moved up to Milton Keynes, has been well covered.
Ardley added: “I’m not going to be naive and say it’s just another match. Our fans want us to win it badly.
“We’ve gone through many stages, from the first six weeks into my job being the first time we met, through to the first home game last season.
“Is it going to temper down? I don’t think it will. There’s too much hurt there. We know what we’re representing when we play that game and we’ll do our best to win it.”