IT WAS fantastic to see some of our academy players given an exciting opportunity against Manchester United in the EFL Trophy on Tuesday.

While the result may not have been one which those in action wanted, the latter part of the game has provided everyone involved with vital experience. I’ve always emphasised to our academy players that, when they step onto the pitch in the first team environment, it’s their moment to impress, because these opportunities can be rare for young players.

We are in a competitive industry, and decisions can be made quickly by both fans and coaches, which is why I consistently challenge them. It helps them grow under pressure.

Some of our players have faced challenges in their pre-season preparations and, while this may have been reflected in performances, it is also part of the learning process.

The academy environment can feel comfortable at times, so I’ve always aimed to push our young players beyond their limits, to ready them for the demands of first team football.

This approach sets them up for the future, be it with Barnsley FC, or any or any other club in the footballing pyramid. It has been outstanding to see the progress of our academy players in first team games this season.

Vimal Yoganathan has had a fantastic impact so far in pre-season, the EFL Cup and the EFL Trophy – he is showing real potential and has a bright future ahead of him.

Fabio Jalo also looked sharp and electric throughout pre-season, and it was unfortunate that he picked up an injury in the process, but everyone at the club is confident he will come back even stronger.

We were thrilled to see 15-year old Oliver Wilkinson make history as Barnsley’s youngest ever senior starter on Tuesday evening. He displayed remarkable composure well beyond his years, and it is always important to remember the significance of age and experience when evaluating player performances. Oliver also has the incredible opportunity to represent England under 16s in Rome against Italy, and is the only player from a category two academy in the squad.

This is a fantastic achievement both for our academy and Oliver, and we are extremely proud. It was also nice to hear positive comments from senior members of staff at Manchester United, and their recently-appointed technical directors, about how well our academy has performed over the years, especially given the limited budget and resources available to us.

This is a testament to the excellent work done by staff within the academy, and our next steps are to continue making improvements with the limited resources we have.

To help us in that venture, I am delighted to announce the launch of the Barnsley FC Lottery.

Created with the purpose of ‘funding the future’, the lottery allows Barnsley fans to put forward a monthly contribution which will go a long way towards supporting the efforts of our academy, so that we can continue to build a highly-efficient academy environment that will support the efforts of our academy players as they look to become established Barnsley FC players in future years. In return, fans will be able to receive exclusive rewards such as early access to select first-team games, access to meet the players functions at Oakwell, and their very own membership pack.