Jon Goodman: 'Kevin Nolan very supportive of young player development'

Notts County academy manager Jon Goodman says first-team boss Kevin Nolan is supportive of the project that Goodman will be undertaking with the club's youngsters.

The former Nike Academy head arrived at Meadow Lane last month tasked with revamping the Magpies academy and ensuring the young players can prosper to the point of being first-teamers.

Flanked by assistant manager Richard Thomas, Goodman is now able to get to work with the academy players, now they've reported back to the club for pre-season.

He told the official site: "Our remit is to develop first-team players for Notts County.

"Richard will be a big help to us because he's got great experience as an academy manager at Leyton Orient and a wonderful relationship with Kevin Nolan, who is also very supportive of everything we're trying to achieve.

"The manager's eyes are on the first team but he is very aware of everything that's happening underneath.

"Over the years sports science has evolved enormously and I've been lucky to work with some really good support teams.

"If we look at every aspect of player development, there's a scientific rationale behind the best practices. That's what we're trying to implement while remembering there's a human factor.

"These are young men trying to find their way in life so everything we add to the programme is to empower them to make good decisions, have successful careers and be good people."

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