What it means to be an academy graduate is up for debate, especially at a club that spent so many years in non-league and only having twenty or so years of ‘professional’ players to choose from. Anywhere from forty to sixty players have had some role in the academy and then gone on to either graduate or play for the first team. The likes of Andy Williams and Owen Ovens both spent a small amount of time with the academy, the latter of which only trained, and then played first team football for the robins. There are many players involved with the club who have gone on to a higher level, for example 2019 loanee Cameron Pring was at Cheltenham before joining Bristol City.
Our metrics are this: play in the academy, play for the first team. So without further ado, here are Up The Duff’s best academy players.
10: WILL ARMITAGE
Starting us out is the club’s youngest ever player and a potentially controversial pick as we are yet to see what the youngster is truly capable of, but you picked him, not us. At the time of writing, Armitage had 65% of the vote in our poll of the best players to come through in 2021, beating out Zac Guinan, Joe Hunt and Connor Jakeways who have all featured in the EFL Trophy this season. This seems to have all been proven right as Premier League Southampton put £200,000 on the table to bring the defender to the south coast. One to keep our eyes on for sure.
9: LUKE THOMAS
Luke Thomas departed the club in 2015, signed as an U17 by Derby County who helped to continue the academy’s player conveyor belt with an undisclosed fee in a transfer that continues to bring money into the club to this day. Thomas played once for the club, in an FA Trophy game versus Chelmsford in 2015, something which poses the question of did Thomas make a professional appearance if he only played in an amatuer tournament…we say yes. Thomas now finds himself below his former club, plying his trade at Bristol Rovers and having faced the robins in the EFL Cup and EFL Trophy this season.
8: CAMERON PRING
Cameron Pring was at Cheltenham Town’s academy for two years on non-contract forms, before being signed by Bristol City and heading on loan to Cheltenham in 2019. The defender was coached by current Academy Manager Antoine Thompson and Cheltenham icon Jamie Victory, starting with the development programme and moving to the club's under 18s. Pring only played eight times for Cheltenham, having made his debut three years after he left.
7: ANDY GALLINAGH
Having started out at Coventry City, then Stratford Town, Gallinagh joined Cheltenham’s Centre of Excellence in 2003 and signed a professional deal a year later. The defender’s full debut came in a 5-0 win over Mansfield in the 2005/06 season and he’d go on to make one hundred and thirty league appearances over nine years at the robins. The 2007/08 Young Player of the Year broke into Stratford first team at just 17, almost forcing Cheltenham’s hand to sign the gifted youngster who later returned to that same club in 2017 after spells with Bath City, Worcester and Hereford United.
6: ANDY WILLIAMS
Does this really count, well it’s up to us and we say yes. Williams didn’t spend long at the academy but he was there and that’s what matters. Williams spent most of his development phase with Hereford United, having spent some time with Birmingham and Aston Villa, and represented seven senior sides before returning to Cheltenham in 2020. The striker scored eight goals as his side sealed their first ever Football League title and he’s since bagged two in the higher league.
5: GEORGE LLOYD
That boy George Lloyd, he’s one of our own…but not everyone agrees on how good he is. The striker is clearly talented, with an eye for goal and great positioning, but his goal record doesn’t add up with eight in all competitions for the club. Anyone who’s watched Lloyd can see the talent and potential but with injury setbacks and less than brilliant loans, it’s up to Lloyd to kick on, climb this list, and be the player we know he can be. Promotion chasing Port Vale were clearly impressed enough with the attacker to take him on loan for the current season, but injuries have seen him recalled and potentially miss out on a second League Two promotion in a row.
4: MARLEY WATKINS
Originally at Swansea, Watkins moved to Cheltenham in 2008 and became the club’s youngest player to appear in a league game as he came on the the last ten minutes of a 4-2 loss to Northampton, the first of twenty six games for the club. Unlike others on the list, the bulk of Watkin’s playing experience came away from the robins, he spent six season in the Championship with Barnsley, Norwich, Bristol City and Cardiff and played three seasons in the Scottish Premiership with Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Aberdeen, where he resides today.
3: SHANE DUFF
The first of the Duff’s on the list, and a strange part in a butterfly effect leading to Up The Duff’s creation, Michael’s brother played almost two hundred times for the robins after spending a year in the youth set up and going pro in 2000. The 2004/05 Player of the Year and play off winner retired in 2012 due to injury after two years at Bradford City but made a lasting impact on the Gloucestershire side and played a huge role in prior achievements, cementing himself as one of the best academy products.
2: DAVE BIRD
Just the two-hundred and eighty-nine league games over ten years for our next entry as David Bird enters the Fray. The midfielder holds the record for the most Football League appearances for the club and made the bench for the 2006 play off final before becoming a regular in 2007/08, finding the net four times in the third tier. His efforts won him the Fan’s Player of the Season on two occasions, in 2007/08 and 2008/09, solidifying his place in our top ten.
1: MICHAEL DUFF
Who else but the gaffer? Since joining as a ‘gangly’ teenager back in 1996, joining the Under-18s after being discovered by former Hertha Berlin goalkeeper Derek Bragg while playing for Carterton Town. Four promotions, including two league titles, later and Duff is guiding the club to mid-table safety in League One. With only the three hundred appearances as a player, and a potential promotion sealing header, Michael Duff is without doubt the greatest academy player, if not outright player, in club history.
Spare a thought for some honourable mentions, youngster Felix Miles has been in and around the first team for two seasons now, having had a move to Derby fall through due to their situation and has even found the net in the EFL Trophy versus Exeter. Another who didn’t play for the first team but deserves recognition is Pete Haynes who was at the academy as a player before becoming Under-18s manager and bringing through so many potential first teamers.
If it were a top twelve, Grant Horton would have made the list with the young defender a regular on the first team bench and playing in a season-defining win over Cambridge last season. The likes of Callum Ebanks, Aaron Evans-Harriott and Archie Brennan could all feel aggrieved to not be mentioned.
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