UK Edition
Tony Carr - the best developer of young talent in English football - keen to rebuild bridges at West Ham
Scan the walls of Tony Carr’s impressive home in rural Essex, and you would be forgiven for thinking you had wandered into football’s equivalent of the National Gallery. On one wall, you can find Carr pictured with an immaculate Bobby Moore; nearby, there he is smiling alongside Rio Ferdinand and Frank Lampard.
They are testament not just to a life spent immersed in football, but the esteem in which he is held. And not simply at West Ham United, the club he served for more than 40 years: the English game as a whole owes him a debt, as the man who helped shape the stellar careers of Lampard, Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick, Glen Johnson and Jermain Defoe – a golden generation whose CVs bear comparison with any English players since 1966.
Carr is 68 – three years younger than Roy Hodgson, the evergreen manager of Crystal Palace – and hardly looks it. So why is arguably the best developer of young talent English football has seen in the past three decades now in semi-retirement, limited to occasional work helping develop young coaches for the Premier League?
The answer lies partly in Carr’s departure from West Ham after 43 years of service in 2016. He had been moved into an ambassadorial role in 2014, making way for Terry Westley to take over the club’s famed academy, and relations with board members Karren Brady, David Gold and David Sullivan had broken down. He left shortly after, and labelled his treatment “disrespectful” in a newspaper interview.
Despite continued friendships with current captain Mark Noble and club legend Sir Trevor Brooking, in the absence of an official link to the club Carr now attends matches only with friends and family who have spare tickets.
Carr would be forgiven for feeling bitter, and yet there is no trace of it as we sit down to talk. He has no interest in dragging up the past or creating any new ill feeling, even if there is a twinge of regret in his voice as he reflects on the ending of his association with West Ham, whose old Boleyn Ground stadium was just four miles from his childhood home in Bow.
“The club decided they wanted a clean break and I just got the impression I had to leave,” he says. “I’ve got no animosity towards anyone there, everyone moves on with their lives and I see things a lot differently now to how I did two years ago. A lot of water goes under the bridge, so you reflect and look back and I suppose my anger at the time was the disappointment at the situation.”
Carr would rather talk about his lifelong passion – the development of young footballers. Happily, the topic is back in fashion: England’s national age-group sides have been stacking up titles in the past two years, and even Germany are being forced to recognise their old enemy has forged ahead when it comes to producing youth talent, with some of the Bundesliga’s biggest clubs looking to plunder the ranks of their Premier League rivals.
Carr is enthused by the idea of youngsters such as Jadon Sancho, Reece Oxford – and possibly Callum Hudson-Odoi – expanding their horizons with moves abroad.
“It sounds a bit sexier going to Germany rather than Barnet or Lincoln City and they might look at the Bundesliga and say, ‘Maybe it’s better than playing in the Championship or League One’,” he says, with a chuckle. “But it’s great experience for them. If you crack the Bundesliga, you can enhance and develop your reputation.
“Ultimately, it’s tougher to get into Premier League teams now. There are not too many managers around who believe in blooding youngsters any more, because they see their tenure as very short and they want more experienced and reliable players.
“It can also be club policy to enhance the players’ reputation abroad so their transfer value is increased. The game now is a massive business and the money from TV rights is astronomical. The butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker don’t own football clubs any more: it becomes a business model as much as a development model.”
That is not the only aspect of football that has changed since Carr began his work as a youth-team coach at West Ham in 1973. Then, academies had a touch of the boot camp about them, and squad hierarchy was untouchable. As Cole revealed in a recent interview with The Daily Telegraph, rough treatment and intimidation from senior first-team pros were all part of the steep learning curve.
Carr is adamant bullying has no place in the game, but acknowledges there can be no room for indulgence.
“I think it’s a balance at the end of the day,” he says. “The game doesn’t change. You’ve still got to run, chase, put your foot in, tackle, track back, put your head in where it hurts and try to be first to the ball.
“Traits like determination and desire need to be instilled in players and a winning mentality is part and parcel of becoming a footballer. If you’re going to survive at the very top you’ve got to have a real commitment and will to win. Those factors have to be developed in young players if it’s not already there.”
He pauses before offering an example from his own experience at West Ham.
“[Former manager] John Lyall once said to me, ‘When developing young players you should give them a tough day at least once a week to make them aware the game is not just about kicking a ball around and playing five a side’.
“He was right. You’ve got to be able to run, you’ve got to be fit and strong and when it’s tough you’ve got to get through it.”
Carr’s philosophy yielded huge rewards at West Ham, not just for the players themselves, but for the club, who earned more than £60 million in transfer fees accrued from stars he had developed. The production line may have slowed in recent years, but Carr’s influence is still in evidence throughout the top flight – from James Tomkins, a linchpin at Crystal Palace, to Noble and Declan Rice at West Ham.
“Mark was always going to be a captain,” Carr says. “Even when he was a kid, he wouldn’t take an ounce of sloppiness from people. He is a natural leader, but he also had an enthusiasm and love of football that I think is still in his game now.”
Carr insists he cannot claim much credit for Rice, who joined West Ham in 2014 after being released by Chelsea. Still, he insists the 20-year-old – who recently pledged his international allegiance to England over Ireland – always exhibited the desire, commitment and drive to establish himself at the elite level, and credits Manuel Pellegrini for placing such trust in him.
“The manager needs a lot of credit for keeping him in the team. He has been put in and has not played brilliantly every game, but the manager stuck with him. That’s because he believes in him and he’s gone from strength to strength.”
Rice’s future at the highest level seems assured, but what of Carr himself? He is midway through his West Ham memoirs and insists his football fix is sated through his Premier League work, but the twinkle in his eye suggests he still has plenty more to give. So, could there be a way back at West Ham?
“They have always been and will always be my club and if there was any way in the future I could go back and be of some value somewhere I would be happy to do that,” he says. “If there were any bridges broken then I’d like to rebuild them. My phone number is still the same.”