A new ground-breaking three-part radio and podcast documentary series ‘It Was All A Dream – The Football Academy Journey’ dives into the system that has produced some of the best Premiere League and England team’s most talented stars.
Produced by award winning production company Unedited, the series looks at the emotional journey of the sometimes disappointing and unpredictable nature of the national sport, and examines the industrialised Football Academy system as young trainee footballers try to make the grade, with the hope of a career as a professional player after the academy.
Hosted and narrated by Troy Townsend, episode one concentrates on the start of the journeys of boys and girls in the English Football Academy system, and will explain how it works, in both the men’s and women’s game. In this episode you will hear from players, such as Everton’s Andros Townsend, Troy’s son, also Crystal Palace’s Eberichi Eze, who both speak about the sacrifices made from a very young age to ensure they are successful in the ‘career before the career’, to get to the level as professionals.
Troy says: “I have a story to tell, and I’m joined by an amazing cast with such captivating insight. Massive thanks to Unedited for making this dream reality.”
The first episode also features contributions from Director of Football at QPR Les Ferdinand, Chris Ramsey, Aston Villa & England International Anita Asante, Mike Calvin and representatives from football’s main governing bodies Premier League, EFL and WSL.
Co-owner of Unedited Andrew Spence revealed: “This is such an exciting project to work on, with untold stories that looks at another side of football, rarely spoken about.”
It Was All A Dream – The Football Academy Journey first episode is available now on all podcast and social media streaming platforms.
The three-part documentary series is also being broadcast on talkSPORT at 8pm on Sunday nights.
