The records for Academy products begin in the year 2000 on ctfc.com, with a section showcasing each player to have played for the first team or graduated from the academy, with 42 names listed starting with David Bird and ending with Felix Miles. In reality, there are far more players to have represented both academy and first team with some links more tenuous than others while some came before the youth set up was officially the academy (with one very famous name).
Cast your minds back to 1996, Cheltenham were plying their trade in the Southern League and, with the help of Derek Bragg, Cheltenham saw the first player from their newly established youth set up take to the pitch…a certain Michael Duff. Fast forward to the present day and Zac Guinan is the most recent player to appear for Michael Duff’s first team while playing regularly for Pete Haynes’ Under-18s side, so what’s happened in between those two? Good question, and you’re in the right place, as we go through every (even vague) academy product at Cheltenham Town.
THE PRE ACADEMY ERA
With Michael Duff as #1, it’s only fair to include three other players who came through at a similar time as Duff and played alongside him before our ascension to the Football League. Ross Casey, Simon Teague and Christy Fenwick all came through a youth set up of sorts at Cheltenham and went on to represent the red and white in non-league, never playing in the EFL. These four are our very first ‘graduates’ (graduates used loosely here) and pathed the way for every player who followed. Michael Jackson made his non-league debut in the 1997/98 season and went on to make his Football League debut in 2000.
2000
#6 through the doors is David Bird who graduated in the year 2000 but wouldn’t make his debut until 2003 when he took to the pitch against Huddersfield in the second division. Bird went on to play almost 300 league games for the robins in a stint that lasted a decade and is one of the finest academy graduates to date. Another part of the 2000 group and it’s another Duff as Michael’s brother Shane broke through as #7 on our list. Like Bird, Duff would spend a decade at the club, racking up almost 200 games before departing for Bradford in 2010. Players 8 and 9 never made an appearance for the first team with Steve Benbow playing some games for the reserves and Lee Burby having played in the Gloucestershire Senior Cup which hasn’t counted as a senior game since our promotion in 1999. #10 is Marc Richards, another graduate only, and is followed by Gareth Hopkins (11) who made his debut against Watford in the EFL Cup in September. Rounding out the millennium group is Stuart Mitchinson (12), another graduate.
2001/2002
Richard Kear was the only player to graduate in 2001, only making reserve team appearances for the club, the same stands for Luke Buttery who never played a senior game, giving us 13 and 14.
2003
Luke Corbett made his first team debut against York City in the third division in November 2003, becoming player 15 on the list and the ninth to play a senior game. Corbett would only play once for Cheltenham and would go on a bit of a non-league tour as he represented the likes of Bishops Cleeve, Gloucester City, Evesham United, Worcester City and Weston-Super-Mare. Andy Gallinagh would also graduate in 2003 but not play until 2006 when he pulled on the red and white against Mansfield in League Two.
2005/2006/2007
Another couple of quiet years, 2005 and 2006 saw a player each as Adam Conelly (17) played against Boston United in League Two and Michael Wydle (18) would face Carlisle United in the same competition. 2007 saw another graduate who never played a senior game as Sam Foley (19) adds his name to the list.
2008
Things start to liven up as we reach the turn of the decade, with Marley Watkins making his debut against Northampton in League One. Watkins would head on loan to Bath City before joining Hereford then heading to Scotland to play for Inverness Caledonian Thistle and representing Wales in 2017. Watkins was the only man to add his name in 2008 with 2009 adding a fair few more….
2009
Jack Durant became player 21 with his January FA Cup appearance against Doncaster before Kyle Haynes (22), Theo Lewis (23), Jake Lee (24), Will Puddy (25) and Josh Emery (26) went on to make a senior appearance. To this date Will Puddy is the only goalkeeper to represent the academy and first team (or is he…stay tuned…) having joined the youth set up following his departure from Bristol City and later Bath City.
2012
2012 only saw one name added to the list as Joe Hanks made his debut against Exeter City in League Two. Hanks would play 37 times for the robins, scoring twice, in his three years at the club which included loan spells at Bishops Cleeve and Gloucester City. He’d go on to join the latter permanently before joining Chippenham in 2020.
2013
Another busy year started with Edward Williams adding his name to the graduates, becoming the eight player to graduate but not play, before Zack Kotwica (28) made his EFL debut against Burton Albion, becoming the 20th player to play for the first team. Kotwica was followed by Bobbie Dale who would play just over a week later against Plymouth before Harry Williams played five days later against Morecambe.
2014/2015
2014 saw the graduation of Adam Powell as well as the debut of James Bowen who would take to the pitch against Stevenage in November. Bowen would play 10 times in four years at Cheltenham, being loaned to Bishops Cleeve, Gloucester City and Hereford, among others, before joining Hereford permanently in 2017. Prior to our relegation to the National League, Jamal Lawrence would play against AFC Wimbledon in May 2015 to become player 24 and name 33.
NON-LEAGUE PART TWO
This is where it gets controversial. Those who made their debuts prior to promotion in 1999 aren’t counted as graduates or academy products, so would players who make their debut in our bounce back season count either? The main difference here is that these are part of an actual academy but would come in a competition the club didn’t treat seriously.
Luke Thomas, who was later sold to Derby County, made his Cheltenham debut in the FA Trophy against Chelmsford City, becoming the 25th person to play for the first team. He would be joined in the next round by Niall Rowe, Sam Mendes, James McCarthy and Lewis Thompson who would play in the FA Trophy against Oxford City after Gary Johnson decided he wasn’t interested. These have not been considered first team appearances.
Matt Bower and Jordan Lymn would also appear in these games but go on to play a senior game following Cheltenham’s promotion back to the EFL, leaving us with 31 players to represent the academy and first team (of sorts). Why are we so sure about including them? Here’s what the gaffer had to say after the game:
“A great experience anyway representing the first team in a first team competition” - Gary Johnson on the performances of the young players following the loss to Oxford City.
2017
Back in the EFL and back with the debuts, Josh Thomas and George Lloyd made their competitive debut in the EFL Trophy against Swansea City (wonder what the second one got up to…) after Adam Page played against Oxford United in the EFL Cup five days earlier. Of course George Lloyd would go on to pick up a fair few appearances, and a League Title, for Cheltenham and is one of the best academy products of recent years.
2018
Cameron Pring joined Cheltenham on loan from Bristol City in 2018, you’re probably wondering what he’s doing on this list. Pring was a player at Cheltenham’s development centre before going on to join the academy and play under Antione Thompson (the current academy manager) in the Under-18s before joining Bristol City and heading back on loan to become player 35 and another of our notable academy products given his Championship pedigree.
2019
2019 saw four more debuts as the club continued to take advantage of the EFL Trophy group stage to give youngsters their opportunity to show what they can do. Archie Brennan (45th overall) and Tom Chamberlain (46) would take to the pitch against Exeter City while Aaron Evans-Harriott would play against West Ham and Grant Horton would play in League Two against Mansfield in December. Like Lloyd, Horton would go on to play a plethora of games for the first team and pick up a League Two title in Gloucestershire.
2020
Callum Ebanks would get 13 minutes against Norwich City in a 1-0 EFL Trophy win having earned his way up the age groups to graduate from the academy, but he wasn’t the first player with academy links to play for Cheltenham that year. Owen Evans, Cheltenham’s current number one, joined the club on loan from Wigan Athletic at the end of the 2019/20 season. You’re wandering again, why is he here? After leaving Hereford and before joining Wigan, Evans spent some time training with the academy and that’s enough to add him to our list. The same goes for Andy Williams who enjoyed a brief spell at the academy and would return many years later to make his first team debut in an EFL Cup win over Peterborough. Evans, coming in at #40, helps to bring the total number of academy players to make a first team appearance up to 42 as well as bringing the overall number up to 51.
Felix Miles, who has since had trials with Southampton and Birmingham, also made his debut in 2020 in an EFL Trophy loss to Portsmouth.
2021
The most recent year to see academy products take to the pitch, 2021 adds five to the list. Joe Hunt, Connor Jakeways and Will Taylor all played in the EFL Trophy against Bristol Rovers, taking us up to 46 players and 55 products. Will Armitage, who has since been sold to Southampton, played against Exeter City, becoming our youngest ever player in the process, before Zac Guinan (son of Steve) would make his debut against Chelsea in the same competition, making a grand total of 57.
And there we have it, all the players to play for (and train with) both the academy and first team with us at Up The Duff slightly disagreeing with the club on some aspects but we thought it only fair to share and highlight the great work the academy has done to provide youngsters for the first team as well as showcasing each and every player to have achieved what we all dream of, whether it be non-league or League One.
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