Albion Under-18s can look back on their 2025/26 with pride after securing the club’s best-ever finish in the Premier League South division.
The young Baggies managed to hoist themselves to a record league position with plenty of promising performances, including notable victories against Chelsea, Aston Villa, Arsenal and Crystal Palace - in addition to a valiant FA Youth Cup run.
As well as going toe-to-toe with some of the country's best young talents, plenty of first and second-year scholars earned themselves opportunities with U21s boss Leigh Downing; facing international, senior, and Premier League academy sides in various competitions.
All of those experiences have led to professional contracts being awarded to a number of promising products, standing them in good stead ahead of the 2026/27 campaign - something which Lead U18 PDP Coach Chay Thompson looked ahead to, while also reflecting on an exciting season for Albion’s young hopefuls.
Chay, tell us how proud you are of the team’s season?
We focused on being more competitive and the lads have got some good results from it. We’ve had some games where we performed at a really high level. We just wanted to finish as high as we could in the league and get the lads to push their games on, with some of them earning professional contracts. We’ve got a lot of players over the line in that respect, and are incredibly proud of our staff and players.
We’ve had plenty of players achieve those professional contracts, even in their first years as scholars. Does that show how much potential this group has?
They’ve worked really hard, especially the first years. In the U17 Premier League Cup, they were very unfortunate to go out of that competition in the semi-finals after a really good run. We had some great times, especially beating Liverpool along the way. We’ve also had the second years playing with the U21s and it’s great to see them pushing up to the next level. That group did especially well, too, particularly in the Premier League Cup and getting to the semi-finals in that. Everyone’s performed really well and I’ve enjoyed working with the group.
You touched on the PL U17 Cup there, but there was also the disappointment of the FA Youth Cup - which you’ll have wanted to progress further in?
Looking back at that and the prospect of losing on penalties, we still did really well to get to that stage. We played a good side and, ultimately, still managed to have some great experiences this year. We played at some wonderful stadiums and the lads are better for the things they’ve learned. Whether they go on to play in the first team, U21s or out on loan, we’re so proud of the group and the performances we’ve put in this term.
When we progress in those cup competitions, does it make the players appreciate how much they’re developing as footballers, but also as characters?
Winning isn’t everything in development football, but it’s a part of it. If they’re going to have successful playing careers, they’ve got to go into changing rooms knowing what it takes to win. We emphasise that we’re not too emotional when we lose, and we’re not too high when we win, we try to stay humble and hardworking. Even in those big wins, there’s always factors to work on and analyse.
As far as first campaigns go for a new coaching team, you and Dan Bryson (U18s Assistant) must be pleased with such a great finish?
We have a great club philosophy and academy philosophy that we all stick to. We want to play through the thirds, attractive football and be high energy - which I feel we’ve managed to do this year. We’ve instilled a belief in the lads that they can go to these harder places and win games and that’s part of the reason why we’ve been to some of these top teams and got results. It just gives them a platform to move on in their own careers. Dan Bryson has been a great addition to the group too in that respect because he knows the players and has been with them from a young age and, most importantly, he really cares about this football club. We challenge each other to be better every day and he brings so much to the programme.
Do you sense the club is really invested in its younger players, especially when considering the contracts being rewarded?
We’ve got some amazing talent at this football club. There are players pushing on, with the likes of Harry Whitwell, Ollie Bostock, Eseosa Sule and Souleyman Mandey in and around the first team. There are even more coming through in this academy and with the right pathway and guidance, they can go far. There’s a lot of communication with the club, Head Coach James Morrison knows these young players having worked in the academy, and we know the club are watching who’s doing well and impressing, which is great to have.
In academy football, sometimes you only get a few who stay on here and excite people, but it feels like you’ve got many more than that right now?
Over the years, we may not have had those deeper runs in competitions which we would’ve liked. But this time around, you can see the players are competing at the top level internationally, domestically, and we’ve got so many building strong futures in the game.
Looking at the end of this campaign and beyond, we’ll have a new intake of players. They’ll have the chance to look up to this group now?
We don’t want this to be a one-off season now; we want to keep pushing, and being competitive at our level really helps us do that. The players coming in will have great potential and the programme will give them time to develop that as people and as footballers too.
