The Nottingham Forest academy prospect on life as an academy footballer, his journey and sacrifices, and his next steps.
Every club needs their youth prospects: the players who point the way forward, who portend better times ahead. From a young age, they are nurtured to perfection, inhabiting a world that runs on rhythms and routines, all setting them up to reach that one goal: playing for their boyhood club. Josh Barnes, 19, on Forest’s books since the age of eight, has impressed at both the foundation and youth development phase, and now finds himself embracing the pressure that is part of professional development. Despite not playing for the senior team yet, Barnes is still dreaming about the possibility of representing his beloved club.
For now, however, Barnes is staying grounded, sticking to the plan. “I’ve had a full season with the Under-23s now and they’ll be pushing me to find a loan move next season. Players tend to follow similar paths, and it’s a vital experience – just look at the likes of Cash, Worrall and Yates, they all excelled in the lower leagues,” he says. A loan move, with several League Two clubs interested, would be an ideal learning curve for Barnes: a chance to hone and develop his game in the harsh glare of the professional game.
Can Barnes grow in the same way others have? Eight of the current 25-man first team squad are Nigel Doughty Academy graduates. It’s not a process we should assume youth players can undertake on their own: footballers do not simply develop automatically, like house plants left in a sunny window. Barnes owes his development over the years not only to his ferocious work rate, but to the support and guidance of his family.
His parents have always sought opportunity, always been driven. “When I was younger my parents drove me to every away game, whether it be Newcastle or Southampton. My dream was always to play football, and it’s my parents who’ve helped me get here. Even now, my dad still travels to every game. He’s always telling me how I can improve. It’s great having him there.”
Barnes is keen to emulate his team-mate Brennan Johnson, who made his debut on the first day of the season, after quickly making inroads to the fringes of the first team. “The manager clearly has faith in the academy and seeing Brennan play is amazing. It’s such a big squad but I’m training at least twice a week with the first team now. The first time I joined in was intense, but I’m more comfortable now. The difference in quality is huge. The gaffer is always saying, just look at the others who’ve been through this process, making sacrifices to get to where they are now.”
So has Barnes. Academies can be the point at which the unfettered ambition of youth collides head-on with the severe reality of making sacrifices in your childhood and social life. Not least those delicate secondary school years, where players have to balance training and studying. “I got on with my schoolwork. It was both my parents pushing me and personal pride. I always asked myself, what if I don’t become a professional footballer? That was my motivation. You need a back-up; in case you get released or a career ending injury.”
At youth academies, strong scouting strategies are in place, using the skill of talented scouts to spot thrilling promise in players no older than six or seven, using data as well as instinct to winnow players from talent pools of thousands. Barnes was scouted playing for West Bridgford Colts, one of the largest grassroots clubs in the UK with 73 teams. “I was approached at a tournament and then invited on trials. Thankfully I only played one game and I was in the academy. You have to be tough and prove you will give it everything.”
From then on, he has never looked back. Throughout his development years he has had access to all the underlying metrics he could possibly need: tactical plans, fitness data, opposition scouting. But the video analyst cannot tell you what it would feel like for Barnes, growing up within a mile of the City Ground, to make his first team debut. The sports scientist cannot tell you how it feels to celebrate in front of the Trent End.
Since Forest were relegated from the Premier League in 1999, the club has ploughed through 24 managers, including caretakers. In fluctuating times, amid unprecedented turbulence, Nottingham Forest’s academy has been a constant: a talent pipeline and modern facilities to boast, and a club stalwart in Chris Cohen managing the Under-23s. “Why is he so good? He’s just a very technical coach, and when he speaks, you listen,” Barnes says. “It’s amazing having an ex-pro as your manager, especially because he spent so many years at this club. With Andy Reid as well, the two just bounce off each other and bring great energy to training. Hopefully it stays that way when we return to training.”
When that return is, however, remains unclear, with the possibility that a Covid-torched summer is merely the prelude to an annihilated autumn. “It’s tough because it’s hard to stay motivated. We’re used to competing, training and travelling: 25 of us, all the time. Next thing you know, you’re on your own,” Barnes says. But in the jaws of football’s worst crisis of its generation, clubs may now turn to their youth. “Hopefully the pandemic doesn’t affect my progress. I’m staying fit, training hard. When it’s all over I might get my chance, that’s when I could say it was all worth it. I’ve dedicated my whole life for that one moment.”
Perhaps, in a way, Barnes’ biggest challenge yet. To do justice to the romance he represents: the lifelong Forest fan, the decade of commitment spent working towards that one goal, to shackle the expectations on his shoulders. What will it feel like to make his professional debut for the club he has supported since he was born? Some things you just have to find out for yourself.
Alex's Sports Column 