With Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones established on one side of Stanley Park and Anthony Gordon emerging on the other, the city of Liverpool continues to be blessed with homegrown talent.
And that has been underlined by a remarkable achievement at school level this season from the next generation of boys and girls.
On Sunday, three Liverpool teams will be represented at Stoke City’s Bet365 Stadium in the English Schools FA National finals.
In the District Cup final, the under-11 boys face Croydon (kick-off 11.30am), while the U11 girls take on Orpington (1.30pm) and the U12 girls are up against West Kent (3.30pm). The following day, Cardinal Heenan are in action in the U16s Elite Schools’ Cup final against Forest School from east Berkshire (1.30pm).
And Paul Gow, the manager of the U11 boys side, says: “I’m very proud of what we have achieved this season. We beat Doncaster 2-1 in the semi-final and Noah Mutch scored twice, including one of the best goals you’ll ever see. We actually recorded the game on video and the lads were made up to watch it.
“Talent comes in peaks and troughs, you can have times where there are more than others. I’ve been working with the schoolboys for 10 years and this is the best team I’ve ever had at U11s. They are really good individuals and work really well together as a team. For example, Frankie Freeman has been brilliant as has Samuel Roberts, our captain Frankie McGivern and Harry Caton in goal. Junior Connolly has been playing a year up – but I can go through the whole team... John Blackburn, George Bootman, Beau Brown, Alan Khoshnaw, Charlie Whitehead, Oliver Rain, Freddie Wilson, James Wright and Brandon Hughes, all have been brilliant.
“We beat Wirral 2-0 in the first round – and Wirral always have a good team, if we’d not beaten them they may have gone to the final – then we beat Wakefield.
“We have beaten Tower Hamlet from London and although we got a bye against Bradford, we had beaten them 5-0 in a friendly earlier in the season. Now it’s Croydon in the final.”
There could easily have been more Liverpool representation in the National Finals, with several teams narrowly missing out on a day out in the Potteries.
“There’s unbelievable strength in depth in the city at the moment,” says Gow. “For three teams to get to the national finals on the same day, I don’t think there’s another association that has done that before.
“Our U13 boys and U12 boys lost in their semi-finals, the U12s on penalties and the U13s by Sefton – which again shows that, as an area, Merseyside has a lot of strength right now taking in all the different teams. For example, Manchester is a massive area and they don’t have anybody at the finals this year.
“It all comes down to dedication from the parents and the staff. It doesn’t happen by accident. And we’re also grateful for the continued support of the Sovini Group, who have been sponsoring the Primary Team (U11s) for several years now. They have brilliant for us.”
Schoolboy level has proven a foundation for many notable senior professionals both past and present. Lee Jonas, a regular for Liverpool U18s, played for Liverpool Schools U13s and recently captained England U18s against Sweden.
And Gow adds: “I’ve seen quite a lot of boys come through. We have some good players who are already playing for England now. Noah Mutch plays for Everton, captain Frankie McGivern plays for Liverpool, and the core of the players are at Liverpool or Everton.
“Michael Laffey is one who has come through at under-16s and has played for England U17s and for the U18s at Liverpool this season. Terrence Miles is with the U18s as well and was the captain the year before Michael.
“Will Dixon, who is all-time leading scorer for the schoolboys after beating Wayne Rooney, is currently at Man City U18s. There are lots of players in pipeline.”
Those who want to support the boys and girls in person at Stoke can do so by picking up free tickets here. The action will also be streamed live on YouTube on Sunday.
