It’s 7.30am at the West Ham ‘Academy of Football’ and analyst Dylan Curnell has just scored a goal in the staff’s weekly game. Two hours later, footage of that strike is being used to kickstart the morning meeting with the club’s teenaged talents.
‘Right, tell us the Under 18 principles,’ Curnell tells the boys as they stare at a big screen. The group are all in agreement. Coach Mark Phillips was at fault. ‘Oh Mark, you’re s***!’ ‘You weren’t marking Dylan in the box!’ ‘That’s part of the Under 18s principles!’
There are laughs all around.