FOCUSING on the youth team and planning for the future is not the top priority of most Football League managers these days.

Getting the first team right and achieving short-term success understandably dominates their thinking, considering the latest statistics from the League Managers Association show bosses spend an average of only 1.8 seasons in a job.

That was the situation Bury’s head of youth, Ian Kendall, inherited when he was appointed a director following chairman Stewart Day’s takeover of the club in the summer of 2013.

He said there was “no communication whatsoever” between previous manager Kevin Blackwell and the youth department.

However, Day and his fellow directors have put developing their own young players at the heart of a five-year plan to get into the Championship.

And with youth coach Ryan Kidd working wonders with the Under-18s and first team manager David Flitcroft taking a direct role in the whole process, Kendall believes Shakers fans will soon see the benefit.

“I think we have made an awful lot of progress,” he said.

“When we first arrived the gaffer (Kevin Blackwell) wasn’t talking to the youth at all, there was no communication whatsoever.

“We moved that on and when he moved we made quite a big change in terms of staff and personnel.

“As part of that process we have ended up in a situation where everyone within the club is now talking to each other and it is all connected.

“The gaffer (David Flitcroft) is very heavily involved in it.

“He is determined to get the youth transmitted through into the first team and I think we have come a long way.”

Bringing youth players through into the first team is clearly the barometer of a successful youth set-up, and Flitcroft is already reaping the rewards of that policy.

U18s striker Anthony Dudley, who scored his 19th goal of the season in a 2-1 win for the youth at Shrewsbury on Saturday, made his second substitute appearance for the first team at Dagenham earlier this month.

Midfielder Sam Burgess and goalkeeper Jack Ruddy have also been rewarded with a place on the first-team bench over the past month.

They have all shone in a successful season for the U18s, who are challenging for the title in the Football League Youth Alliance North West and recently pushed Manchester United all the way in the FA Youth Cup before losing 1-0 at Old Trafford.

But while Flitcroft is happy to stake his reputation and success on these young teenagers, the Bury manager’s input into the youth set-up goes even deeper than that.

“He (Flitcroft) trains the Under-13s on a Monday night and Thursday night whenever he can. He then coaches that team (during matches) on a Sunday,” said Kendall.

“So he is involved. He has seen the level of coaches that we have got and we have changed a few of our coaches within the system as a result of his observations

“What we have got now is like a Barcelona model.

“All the teams, from the Under-8s right the way through (to the first team) are starting to play the same style of football that the manager wants to see.

“That has had some remarkable results.

“The other week we had to stop a game because one of our sides was winning so easily.

“We have got some tremendous kids in the system. Watching the U9s is just like watching Barcelona. They are probably our strongest team we have got, but the U13s are also very strong.

“The youth (U18s) team are also doing exceptionally well – there is some great talent in there.”

While Bury fans may soon be able to cheer on a raft of homegrown talent every weekend, it is hoped the club’s coffers may also be boosted by the new youth policy.

Kendall revealed the club recently turned down a considerable cash offer from a Premier League outfit for a member of their U13s side.

He accepts Bury will not always be able to deflect interest from the top sides for their young players and it is hoped it will become a profitable side of the business, but, for now, they are in no rush to bank their fledgling assets.

“We know people are watching our youth team,” he said.

“At this moment in time we don’t have to be a selling club. We have had an offer recently from a Premier League club for one of our youth team squad and we rejected it.

“We don’t particularly need the money at that level. We would rather help them develop and nurture them.

“We are going to have to do some difficult things going forward but in the middle of it all it is about trying to build for the future and take this club forward.

“Our aim is to get players through into the first team. If they have to be sold initially then they have to be sold. Every club has to go through that side of things.

“But at the moment it is more about trying to get that group going, let’s try to get people promoted from the youth into the first team.

“I think you will find that before the end of the season we will have some of the youth lads playing regularly in the first team, which would be the first time for six or seven years, I believe.”