In the now defunct Cup Winners’ Cup final, 18 years ago, FA Cup holders Arsenal flew to Copenhagen without three of their best midfielders – John Jensen, David Hillier and Martin Keown – to take on mighty Parma.
The Gunners sent out a patched-up midfield of 23-year-old defender Steve Morrow and fresh faced 20-year-old Ian Selley to compete with the likes of Tomas Brolin, Gianfranco Zola and Roberto Sensini.
The two youngsters put in career performances and steered Arsenal to a famous 1-0 win. Both Morrow and Selley were products of Arsenal’s youth academy, and 18 years later the partnership still bears fruit.
Ian Selley is now the Head Coach at Arsenal Soccer Schools Dubai and is looking to send players from the UAE back to north London to maybe follow in his footsteps.
Selley said: “I contacted Steve Morrow, who is now head of Arsenal’s international partnerships, and I applied for the job. Being a former Arsenal player I think put me in good stead and I came over in July, sat some exams and got a nice job. The facilities are great here and probably better than some Premier League clubs.”
The Arsenal academy is now in its third year and is based at 7he Sevens ground, thanks to a partnership between the club and their main sponsor, Emirates.
Selley oversees over 400 children learning to play the Arsenal way, a method he learnt as a child in north London.
He added: “It’s an ideal job for me having joined Arsenal as a kid and eventually becoming pro; I also played in a lot of charity games for them, and it’s a very tight-knit club.
“I work with kids from five up to 18, the whole range. I’m not normally used to the office side of things, there’s a lot of paperwork and I spend a lot of time organising the coaches.
“I’ve obviously been in the UK most of my career and I know what the standard is. It’s purely a soccer school, and any kid that looks good and who the coaches feel is exceptional then we will be more than happy to get the scouts over to have a look at them.
“Hopefully, we will be able to send a few over to the UK. There’s a good standard here, and from what I’ve seen so far there isn’t much difference (in the standard of kids in the UAE and in the UK). We have some fantastic coaches and the whole set up is very professional.”
Obviously, with the academy being run by the Premier League giants everything is geared to passing and movement, a hallmark of the way Arsenal play football.
“My predecessor did a very good job and set up a good system which we have largely carried on, but we will add a few things to improve what we have,” Selly added.
“We obviously train the players up but we try to get them plenty of game time too. The way we do it is that we’ll pick an Arsenal player – say Jack Wilshere – and we spend five weeks working on all aspects of being a midfield player.
“After those five weeks they’ll maybe learn to be a defender, like Thomas Vermaelen. We like to teach the children how to play in every position across the pitch.
“Obviously, nowadays it’s so important for kids to be versatile and play a number of positions rather than just one or two. We try and keep it as simple as possible, passing and moving, but from what I’ve seen so far the kids are very responsive. If you are enjoying something you take more from it. I’ve enjoyed it so far.”
Selley joined Arsenal as a 16-year-old in 1990 before making his debut as an 18-year-old in a 1-0 defeat to Blackburn Rovers. He played all but one of his 42 Arsenal appearances under either George Graham or Bruce Rioch before he was sold by Arsene Wenger in 1997.
After making four appearances for England Under-21 team, Selley’s career fell into a series of crippling injuries. He broke his leg against Leicester City in 1995 before moving to the new, upwardly mobile Fulham with whom he again broke his leg.
Bad luck continued to stalk Selley when he moved to Wimbledon, who were suffering immense financial difficulties and were often unable to make his bonus payments and therefore restricted him to just four appearances in nearly three years at the club.
Selley knows about disappointment in a footballing career and insists that under his watch the academy will not give kids false hope.
“I think at the Arsenal academy there’s no false promises; we take every child on board, make sure they enjoy themselves in a safe environment and we can guarantee they’ll be something,” he explained.
“I think a lot of other academies, I’m not going to slate other soccer schools, but there are a lot that promise trials with clubs. It’s important for parents to know if a player is good enough, they’ll make it wherever they play. Other schools do it all for profit and tell parents anything, and 10 weeks down the line parents are disappointed because their child hasn’t got a trial.”
The school runs three 10-week terms each year. Enrolment starts at Dh1,750, which covers the cost of an Arsenal Nike training kit, water bottle, cap and sports holdall.
FACTFILE
Name: Ian Selley
Date of Birth: 14 June 1974
Position: Midfielder
1990 – Joined Arsenal as trainee.
Sept. 1992 – Made his debut for Arsenal aged 18 years against Blackburn Rovers.
May 1994 – Made his most notable appearance in a make-shift midfield as Arsenal defeated Parma 1-0 to win the Cup Winners’ Cup.
1994 – Made four appearances for the England Under-21 side.
Feb. 1995 – Selley breaks his leg playing against Leicester City.
1997 – Sold to Fulham after making one appearance under Arsene Wenger. Broke his leg again after just three games.
2000 – Joined Wimbledon, who couldn’t afford to play him.
Feb. 2002 – Joined Southend.
2003-2012 – Bounced around 10 non-league teams before moving to Dubai to take up his current post.
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