Preview: FA Youth Cup fourth round

Wednesday 15 January 2025 15:30

A December night of attacking brilliance propelled our Under-18s forward in the FA Youth Cup, the prestigious competition intrinsically linked with the great tale of our famous Academy.

Preston North End visit Leigh Sports Village on Friday night to resume a long-lasting relationship between two clubs whose commitment to youth football stretches back nine decades.

It was at the end of the very first season of the Manchester United Junior Athletic Club (MUJAC), the predecessor to the modern Academy, when our first group of young Reds took on their North End counterparts.

That was the summer of 1939, mere months before a global war interrupted two burgeoning projects that inspired the rest of English football to follow. They would resume and, in 1952, with more clubs following in the footsteps of United, North End and other innovators like Everton, the FA Youth Cup was founded, to offer the most competitive of tests for England’s best young players.

United have since won the competition 11 times, each triumph signalling the start of a special career for one, two, or sometimes even a whole classful of Reds. Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho were the stars of our most recent success, when a 67,000-strong Old Trafford crowd watched us defeat Nottingham Forest.

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Winners: Youth Cup to FA Cup

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Their journeys since, from Youth Cup winners to teenage goalscorers in our senior Emirates FA Cup victory over Manchester City last summer, are inspirational for the current generation.

“It motivates us to go and do it,” says first-year scholar Jim Thwaites, a tidy midfielder with a penchant for scoring fine free-kicks.

“We want to achieve what they’ve done.”

His team-mate Dan Armer, a 17-year-old defender, explains how the Youth Cup’s importance is “drilled into us” from a young age. Many of the younger Academy players attend these games, or at least watch on MUTV with their parents.

But it’s the very nature of the competition, not just Kobbie and Alejandro’s success, that drives the players.

“Even though the UEFA Youth League is international, at the start of the season, you’re looking to the Youth Cup first,” Armer says.

It’s also the one that got away last season. In an unprecedented campaign of success, United’s U18s won three trophies: the Premier League Cup and northern and national league titles. But, in the Youth Cup, the boys suffered a shock fourth-round defeat to Swindon Town.

United made sure to leave UEFA Youth League heartbreak — we were beaten over two legs by a defensively disciplined AZ Alkmaar team — behind by beating Coventry City 5-0 in the Youth Cup third round. The next step is to avoid last season’s mistakes and progress further.

“We didn’t do as well as we’d hoped last year,” explains Jacob Devaney, who captained United against the Sky Blues.

“Everyone is confident that we can go on and do well this year, and we couldn’t have really got off to a better start. We wanted to start on the front foot, and we got an early goal, and carried on from there. Getting that goal helped calm our nerves and we put in a good performance.”

That they did. Gabriele Biancheri scored twice before the first 10 minutes had been played. He teed up Chido Obi for our third, and both scored a further two on the night, partnering each other in attack for the first time, with Biancheri coming in off the left and Obi through the middle.

“It was a good mood, even at half-time because we were 3-0 up,” reviewed full-back Jaydan Kamason.

U18s highlights: United v Coventry Video

U18s highlights: United v Coventry

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“We knew we were comfortable, but needed to go into that second half and take it step-by-step and not get carried away," Kamason continued.

“The U18s have done well this season, being unbeaten in the league [winning all 10 of our opening games]. We’ve also done well to get to the U18 Premier League Cup quarter-finals, because we had to beat Leeds by a certain scoreline [three goals] and we did, so that was good. The U21s have had mixed results — I think five wins and five losses — so we want a bit more consistency going into this year there.”

There is little doubt that the Youth Cup games are a unique touchpoint of each season for United. As lead coach Adam Lawrence says, "the club has got so much history in the competition."

But it is just one of nine competitions the senior Academy players compete in, and that’s not including mini-tournaments throughout the season. Playing in one of these is how United have warmed up for this fourth-round encounter.

“We’ve taken two groups to Germany to participate in indoor tournaments, which are fantastic,” said Lawrence.

“They play a lot of football over the weekend in 5v5 and 6v6 formats, in front of hundreds — sometimes thousands — of fans. It’s a weekend of high-level football against some of the other top European clubs.

“Essentially, what we try to do with our programme is give the boys a range of experiences and a diversity of games. These indoor ones stretch the players in terms of the opposition and the formats, as well.”

They’re not the only ones during the season. United’s Academy calendar has changed little in recent seasons because of its success. In the summer, we play in the historically significant SuperCupNI (formerly Milk Cup), one high-quality tournament in Zagreb, Croatia and then the Otten Innovation Cup in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. There, new rules are trialled like kick-ins/dribble-ins instead of throw-ins, sin bins for yellow cards, flying substitutions and 2x20 minute periods of play. Each trip away provides a fresh boost to the campaign and, last season, an Easter excursion to Nice and Monaco provided some end-of-season momentum, beginning with a 9-1 U18s demolition of Liverpool.

“We need to keep everything in perspective and not over-hype individual competitions or games,” explained Lawrence.

“But the Youth Cup obviously means a lot to the players. They’re well aware of the history and the players that have played for the club in the competition before, and those that have won it.

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Explore the Reds' glorious FA Youth Cup history, from Duncan Edwards in 1952 to Kobbie Mainoo, 70 years on.

“We’re Manchester United… in every single competition that we play in, we want to win. It’s a special tournament and hopefully we can progress this year, but it’s not easy.

“We have a lot of respect for Preston. It’s a good tie to look forward to.

“Over the last couple of years, we’ve had midweek U17s and U18s friendly games against them. They always look well coached, they always have an idea of how they want to play. They have good energy about them and good individuals that catch your eye as well. We’ve played against them enough to know that it’s going to be a real test and that they’re a good side. And, in the last round, they beat Liverpool 4-1, so if anyone wasn’t aware of them before, you know now. It’ll be a tough test but we back ourselves. We’re really looking forward to it at Leigh.”

So, 86 years on from that first youth meeting, United and North End face off again, with a fifth-round place at stake.

This article is also published in United Review, our much-loved matchday programme. Order your copy ahead of the Manchester United v Southampton fixture now.

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