Published: Thursday, 4th June, 2009 9:30am

Pars land Wright man for youth development

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STEPHEN Wright will draw on the experience of life at Rangers and visits to Manchester United"s youth academy to help him bring through the Pars" next generation.

After the manager, he"s taken on arguably the most important role at East End Park with the task of saving the club cash by unearthing the stars of the future.

Wright, the new head of youth development, said, 'It"s a big responsibility but I"ve got a wee bit of experience from my past job with Rangers and I"ve probably spent more time working with youth than first team players.

'I"ve worked with some good people and good coaches, I"ve been down south to look at the academy systems down there and I"ve spent time at Manchester United watching what they do.

'I feel I have a lot to offer in terms of working with youth players.

'If the structure is in place, from coaches and scouts through to the players, there"s a pathway to the top and a big opportunity for young players.'

Wright has to make sure he doesn"t miss out on talented Fifers like Scott Brown, who signed for Hibs as a youngster, while also guarding against bigger teams turning his young stars" heads.

'First of all we have to try and make sure the good kids that live locally are coming to Dunfermline rather than Hearts, Hibs, Rangers or Celtic,' he explained.

'It"s up to us to make that happen and I want to tap into Fife – it"s too big a place not to cover properly – and have a good relationship with boys clubs, schools and community programmes.

'We would get compensation if they were getting poached and at least we"d know we were doing a decent job if bigger teams were interested.'

Wright knows young talent will always be drawn to the Old Firm and leading lights in the SPL but believes smaller teams may have an ace up their sleeves which could ensure the player"s signature.

'If you look at James McCarthy, he"s played something like 150 top team games for Hamilton whereas kids the same age at Celtic or Rangers haven"t really had a chance,' he said.

'In this day and age there are more opportunities for young players to work their way into the first team at clubs like ours.

'Nick Phinn is another good example of someone who did just that.'

The youth systems at Hamilton and Hibs that helped McCarthy and Brown have long been hailed as leading the way, although Accies" system reputedly costs £250,000 a year.

Wright said, 'There"s money from different governing bodies but Hamilton also have the facilities there in terms of the astroturf. That"s something we have to try and organise.

'We"ve also got boys who train and play in different areas and it would be better if they were all based here.'

The Pars have kids of nine and 10 playing for them in their community programme while, in the youth academy, they have teams from under-11s up to under-19s. The boys are from Edinburgh, Glasgow and all over Fife and Wright said he"ll take time to assess the whole system.

Wright said, 'It"s a blank canvas, I"m looking forward and I"ll be doing what"s best for Dunfermline. I"ll be in charge of the under-19s to the under-11s.

'These teams are attached to the club and we"ve met the criteria for them to play in the SFA performance league. This means that, apart from the under-19s, they"ll play against the top sides from the SPL clubs.

'Hamish French is going to take the 19s part-time and I"m delighted with that as he"s a great coach and a good guy.'

l The Pars are looking to add new coaching talent and anyone interested, who has the SFA Youth Licence up to level 4, or who has level 3 and is working towards 4, can contact the club by emailing enquiries@dafc.co.uk