Juventus in Scotland

Juventus is one of the biggest footballing brands in the world and is the most decorated club in Italy. Their famous black and white striped shirts, originally adopted from Notts County, are instantly recognisable around the globe. The club itself lay claim to 100 million fans across Europe alone. They have been home to some of the best players in the history of the game. They have had success on the peninsula and have notability around the world. In addition, Juventus are now contributing to the development of young players across Scotland.

Italian giants’ first camp in the UK

Coach Paul Clelland is the man responsible for bringing Juventus first training camps to Scotland. It was the Italian giants’ first camp in the UK. Clelland tells how a family holiday led to him stumbling upon a training camp run by the Bianconeri.

“We were on a family holiday over in Cyprus in 2017. I had been out for a run and went past a training pitch in Paphos. Seeing all these kids with black and white kits on. I thought it looked smart so I went down to have a look. All the Juventus banners were around the pitch and I got talking to a grandfather. He was who was watching his grandkid train.

I watched the training for a bit and thought it was really good. It turned out that it was being taken by a UEFA A licence coach, which really impressed me. I got chatting to the coach and mentioned my son Archie and he told me to bring him down. It was really impressive how they worked with the kids. It was disciplined and structured. Some of that is stuff that we probably convince ourselves that kids here wouldn’t respond to.

I eventually asked the coaches why they didn’t do the camps the UK. They basically said that nobody had ever asked them. They were aware that the UK was quite strong in terms of the top clubs having their own academies so they had never pushed it. I started to think there might be an opportunity to do something here. Something that was a bit different with no agenda to it. But I never took it any further at that point. Then Ronaldo signed for them.”

Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival at Juventus

Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival at Juventus in 2018 came as a surprise to many. The former Real Madrid man had just left the Bernabau after nine successful years. The days of Italian teams having the financial ability to attract the very best the world’s game had to offer appeared to have left several decades in the past. There were clearly business reasons that Juve brought in the Portuguese. Clelland almost instantly spotted the impact of the team’s visibility outside Italy.

“I noticed all the kids at Archie’s boy’s club training started showing up with Juventus shirts on all of a sudden. It felt like we had maybe missed an opportunity. Someone else was bound to be doing the Juventus camps now. I approached the coaches that I had spoken to at Juventus. I asked if there was anything stopping us doing a camp in Scotland legally, which there wasn’t”.

Clelland wanted a second opinion so he took the idea to former Aberdeen midfielder Chris Clark. He wanted to canvas his opinion and to see if he would like to get involved. “I had got to know Chris from doing coaching badges along with him. I liked his approach in that he just wanted to help kids get better. After getting all the information from Juventus. I took it to Chris. I wanted to hear his thoughts and really respected his opinion. He took it away and came back a week later. He thought it was amazing because it was neutral and it was all about the kids.”

They said they wanted kids to dream big

“We signed up to do one camp, just so both sides could see how we all worked. There was a debate about hosting it in Glasgow or Edinburgh. Although they are the biggest cities, we opted for Aberdeen. Some people here knew us and that they could trust us. We spoke to the Scottish FA who were brilliant and really supportive and they understood why we were doing it. They said they want kids to dream big and have an outward view in terms of their footballing future. They want Scotland to develop the best young players it can.”

The first Scottish camp was a resounding success. The Italian coaches that had travelled over from Turin were impressed with the attitude of the Scottish youngsters.

“We got a huge response to the first Scottish camp, over 300 applications for 90 places. We had some coaches come over from Italy to help myself and Chris and few other coaches take the camp. The kids just loved it. The Italian coaches thought the passion and commitment to training and love for football amongst the kids here was world class. When Juventus started doing the camps they had engaged with UNESCO as they wanted to understand how kids were learning at school. Therefore, they believed that if the kids were being taught a certain way five days a week in school, then they should align how they teach football with that so they could deliver the training in the best way for the children to learn.”

A positivity not shared by every club

Paul and his colleagues successfully navigated the pandemic and started up the camps again. Ahead of an Inverness camp, Clelland met with representatives of Ross County and Inverness Caledonian Thistle. They were very positive about Juventus involvement in the area. A positivity not shared by every club in areas where camps have gone ahead.

“That hasn’t been the case with all football clubs in the areas we’ve worked. Some have been really defensive and have seen us a competition but it’s not about that for us. It’s about trying to do good stuff for the kids.

A cynical or suspicious view

A cynical or suspicious view is perhaps understandable to an extent. When asked what Juventus get out of the camps, Clelland explains that they aren’t simply in it for the money or to ‘steal’ our best young players.

“There are preconceptions going in to work alongside a big club so we had some little concerns. I have a friend who coaches for one of the big Premier League sides. He was coaching at a camp in China and was given a KPI in relation to how many shirts he could sell. There is none of that with Juve, it’s all about the kids, helping them grow up and get better.

If you look at Juventus approach in Italy, they believe that because the base is broader, the broader the top level is. The more kids you can reach, engage and improve at the base level means there is a stronger platform to broaden that top level of players. The opposite approach is having academies set up to produce one top player. If that’s the case the what is the point of all the other kids in that academy. Juventus have a proper philosophy for developing young people. They are not looking to develop one star player to sell on and keep their academy going. They want to improve everyone. Everyone is welcome. Bring everyone in as if we get more people in the system then everyone can improve rather than them all working towards improving one star player.”

Several Scottish players move to play in Italy

There has been a shift in recent years which has seen several Scottish players move to play in Italy. Scottish women’s internationals Lana Clelland and Christy Grimshaw ply their trade in the country. Euan Henderson, Lewis Ferguson, Josh Doig and Aaron Hickey have joined them in recent seasons. Does Clelland have any insight as to why this path has become more travelled of late?

“The tipping for that and I know this from an Italian scout, was Andy Robertson. His development to becoming one of the world’s best full-backs was a product of set-backs. He worked through the club system in Scotland rather than being the product of a Project Brave style way of identifying talent. His career went up and down in the early years. The Italians looked at that and saw that there must be value in players developing in Scotland. Young players are playing a huge number of games by the time they hit nineteen and twenty. Look at how many games Lewis Ferguson played at the top level in Scotland before he was twenty-one or twenty-two. Almost no player in England, Spain or Germany’s top leagues is getting that many appearances by that young an age.”

Kids want to be good kids

Clelland is a former East Stirlingshire captain. His father was one of those who partly inspired him into coaching along with those who trained him as a youngster. He continues to apply his own values in his training which he feels align with those of Juventus.

“My dad had played football in the sixties so I was always around football. I was also lucky to have some really good role models in addition to him. I had PE teachers and football coaches who put a lot of value on standards, working hard and being a good kid. That really sat with how I was being brought up so it resonated with me and I kept getting better.”

Kids want to be good kids and that’s the part that they buy into. Simple things like all wearing the same kit, tucking your shirt in, standing in a straight line and encouraging your teammates is enormous. Its self-fulfilling as the kids want to do it, it’s all about structure as kids want boundaries. The Italians love the fact the kids here are full of personality and they are fascinated but how different kids are depending what area of Scotland they are from. The coaches will take back names if they see a player with potential .But that isn’t why Juventus are doing it as they are a massive club. Above all, they don’t need to do that. It’s all about developing players to do their best and most importantly to be a good kid.”

This article previously appeared in Issue 28 of Nutmeg magazine – Nutmeg Issue 28