Stockport is the largest city located within the county of Cheshire. Home to 136,920 people, it has a strong working-class culture. Stockport’s predominant industries of the 19th century were the cotton and allied industries. It was also at the centre of the country’s hatting industry which by 1884 was exporting more than six million hats a year, hence the Club’s nickname – the Hatters.
Whilst we have all experienced challenging times over the last few years, it is with great optimism and excitement that we can look towards a bright future at the Club under the current ownership and leadership team. Our historic football club now has strong foundations to build upon. We will strive to have a community Club that plays football at the highest sustainable level, whilst attaining the highest level of professionalism and integrity. The Academy will play a pivotal role in this overall vision, ensuring we create a long-term sustainable model that is committed to holistic player development. We aim to ensure that our players become well-rounded individuals, with the opportunity to progress through our Academy programme into our first-team, or into alternative playing and educational pathways.
We will also ensure that the environment provided is inclusive and respectful. The Academy will aim to teach all its players to be positive, disciplined, hardworking, and committed – all key values at Stockport County Football Club. We encourage all our players to take full advantage of the outstanding resources and support available. Players’ overall success is contingent upon their effort in everything they do here. It is important we are all mindful of our personal responsibility to the greater good: you, your team, the staff, and Stockport County FC. Everyone’s decisions and personal behaviour affect the whole. We expect all our players and staff to represent the Academy in an exemplary manner.
Vision
‘A launchpad for new lives in football’
- To be renowned as a leading learning and development programme for young people and staff.
- Delivering an elite performance environment and provision for players
- Maximizing staff potential with high support, high challenge, and high performance
- Primarily the main points regarding the outcomes of the football Vision are:
- Producing young players to progress to play in the 1st team
- Producing young players to play in the 1st team, who then progress to a higher level and gain the Football Club transfer revenue to reinvest in strengthening the structure of the Club
- Develop players who act as guardians to Stockport County FC culture, spirit, values and playing style
- Providing our very own top class fit for purpose training facilities
- To develop a fit for purpose staffing structure
- To be financially sustainable
