Aston Villa U18 2024/25 Treble Winners - A deserved ending to a special season.
I'm sitting down to write just after getting home from Villa Park after watching our U18 side claim the Premier League National Title by beating Manchester City 1-0. It’s the third time this team lifted silverware in the past two weeks. What a special group and what a special season. It’s only right to eulogise about just how significant an achievement this is. FA Youth Cup Champions, U18 Premier League South Champions, U18 Premier League National Champions.
What I adore about this group is their character. Setbacks have come throughout this campaign. 2-0 down to Bristol City in FA Youth Cup Round Five. Three consecutive U18 Premier League losses to Southampton, Crystal Palace and Chelsea. These are moments where it would be so typical of an Academy side to crumble and be overtaken by their inexperience, allowing themselves to doubt the process. But they didn’t. They don’t. This group is so strong at overcoming adversity. Their togetherness shines so radiantly throughout every single performance. Their character resonates in every minute where those from outside may doubt. Here they are. Treble winners. Champions of the process. Champions of all that came before them this season.
Today’s game was far less eventful than the FA Youth Cup Final - but yet the belief in the process still radiated. A set piece routine that is quickly becoming a trademark of Aston Villa - two FA Youth Cup Final goalscorers combining - with Brannigan’s devilish delivery nodded back across goal by TJ Carroll for Leon Routh to slam into the City net. But then, the character. It was like Villa, and Sam Proctor in particular, had decided we were not going to concede today. Bodies on the line, magnificence in net. It had all the hallmarks of a senior side grinding their way to a win. This team knows how to win.
Another adoration is how frequently this squad finds new heroes. So many players have stood up on different occasions and it’s not always the names you’d expect. Sam Proctor’s penalty shootout heroics in the FAYC Semi Final to see off Manchester United. TJ Carroll’s bullet header gaining Villa an instant response after City’s earlier opener in the Youth Cup Final. Even beyond that, the U16 squad members who have stepped up and added crucial moments domestically. Jack McGrath’s goals in the U18 Premier League South run-in played a huge part in our success.
It would be wrong not to mention Cole Brannigan specifically. Particularly, that moment that will live in the memories of all 25,000 attendees at Villa Park. A moment that etches itself into the history of the most established and respected Academy competition. As sweet as it gets. The perfect volley. Coming out from a cleared cross, Cole meets the ball with the angle of his left boot and it ascends perfectly into the top corner of the North Stand net. Perfection.
And so, that’s it. Season done. Although, not quite. Our U21 side are currently out in Hong Kong and representing the club impressively in the Soccer Sevens. Nine goals scored and none conceded on Day One. The grind of Academy football always carries on. Indeed, some of the successful U18 squad will be looking for even more silverware this summer - Brad Burrowes is named in the England squad for the U17 Euros and I expect Triston Rowe and Kadan Young to feature in the England squad for the U19 iteration.
Today does provide a brilliant opportunity to reflect though. I’ve had some brilliant experiences this season covering these sides the way I do. Leipzig and Budapest in the UEFA Youth League. City twice and United at Villa Park. It’s been so enjoyable to cover this team and that’s what I love about the Academy football grind and what I love about providing the coverage I do. It offers a distraction or even an escape from personal frustrations and gives me a vehicle to express my own desire to be creative - all while filling the hole the club leaves in its coverage.
I would like to express my unreserved thanks to everyone for their continued support of the page. To all of the players and teams that are so brilliant to cover and that give me the opportunity to be creative. I’d also like to offer one final special mention for those who have privately expressed their gratitude for the coverage, it doesn’t go unnoticed and you know who are. You’re a big part of why I continue to do what I do.
I’ll see you tomorrow for the Final Day of the Hong Kong Soccer Sevens, and then the International Tournaments that are on the horizon. It will be pre-season before we know it, and we’ll be back in the Academy grind.
Up The Villa.
