Gerard Nash is excited to be leading Aston Villa into the new Under-18 Premier League season this weekend.
The Young Lions’ trip to Southampton on Saturday marks the first game of Nash’s tenure as Under-18 Professional Development Coach following his appointment in June.
And the 36-year-old is keen to see his side in competitive action after a demanding pre-season schedule for the squad.
“We’re ready and we’re excited for it. We’ve had a really good pre-season, in terms of lots of challenges,” he said.
“Lots of the players have been stretched. Many of the young players went to Australia and had that experience with the first team.
“Conversely, the Under-18 players stepped up and went on a pre-season tour to Prague in the Czech Republic with the Under-21s.
“We took some schoolboys to Pilsen, also in the Czech Republic, so we’ve had a good pre-season and foreign experience of playing some really good opposition and some local teams as well.”
He added: “I’m hoping to see a really good team spirit. I’m hoping to see a really clear objective of how we want to play in and out of possession. We’ve had a lot of time to talk and work on that.
“I’m hoping to see some really good individuals shine – that’s the most important thing and that’s what we’re all in it for, so we want to see some good young players perform.”
Nash, who had previously held youth development roles at Ipswich Town, was working as High Performance Coach for the FA of Ireland when he decided to make the move to the midlands.
Villa’s commitment to producing homegrown players was a key factor in Nash opting to join the club, and he’s aiming to play his part in helping the next generation of Villans to make a senior breakthrough.
He said: “Looking in from the outside, Aston Villa’s got a really good reputation for developing young players – they have a fine tradition of that.
“It was an honour to come and work here. Timing-wise, it’s a really good time to join the club because there’s a really strong alignment between the groups throughout the whole club.
“From the first team through the Academy there’s joined-up thinking and I think that’s incredibly important.
“It’s not always the case at clubs, and it was a really big factor in coming here and working in this environment to try and produce players for our first team. Hopefully, I’ll do a good job on that.”
