The tests within the games are fantastic for the players: you’re playing Tottenham, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Everton.
It’s a huge challenge and it is one we really want to replicate year-in, year-out. The big objective for us is to stay in the league this season, so that future year groups can have that same experience.
We had the invitation to join the Papa John’s Trophy in pre-season, having gained promotion so late via the play-offs. We now had a league programme that would really challenge the players, so we were sceptical at first, but we really wanted to give them as much exposure to top end football that we could.
Of course we want to go as far as possible in every cup competition, but I think we have given a good account of ourselves. People may have noticed that the Papa John’s lineup was often different to the regular league side.
This was due to a large number of players being called up to their national sides when the Papa John’s games were scheduled. Players joining up with their national sides is fantastic for the Academy.
It’s our first year in the Papa Johns, and moving forwards we will try to schedule games away from international breaks – against Sutton United and Portsmouth we had eight players respectively called into their international groups.
