Thane City FC to announce partnership with Southampton

Thane City FC are all set to announce a three-year partnership with Premier League giants Southampton FC later today. For Thane City, the partnership is in keeping with their goal of youth development in the coming years, given the reputation of the English club’s famed academy.

The agreement will see the Thane-based outfit share a curriculum for a youth development program with the Saints. Thane City co-founder Prashant J Singh believes Southampton are the “perfect partners” given their immediate goals and aspirations. He had the following to say in an exclusive chat with Sportskeeda:

“We have been really looking at developing youth. And that’s why we don’t foresee having a senior squad anytime soon. We’ll be focusing on youth development for at least the next 2-3 years. Keeping that in mind and also keeping a residential set-up in mind for the youth, Southampton were the perfect partners, the perfect club to tie up with.”

Prashant, who also currently serves as the technical director at the club, also emphasized the program as being more than just a social media exercise. He also informed us that the club will be bringing in a new technical director to oversee the program going forward.

“We would be seeing a lot of substantial presence of Southampton within Thane and it won’t be just for the sake of social media where they just come once a year. There will be more to it and also we will be appointing a new technical director, who will make sure that all the technical aspects that we together build along with Southampton are well-implemented at all our centres.”

Tackling external factors at Thane

Prashant J Singh says the curriculum will account for socio-cultural issues and external factors.

Along with the club’s footballing ambitions, Prashant is certain this collaboration will also look at the socio-cultural challenges that come in a place like Thane, rather than following a curriculum set entirely by Southampton. Prashant added:

“And most importantly, it is not going to be (something) where Southampton give us a curriculum and we just copy-paste and follow it. What is going to be different is that Thane City FC and Southampton FC will together design a curriculum for Thane City keeping our socio-cultural issues and other external factors in mind.”

For Southampton FC, the arrangement represents its latest in a range of partnerships as part of their portfolio of International Academy Partners - their first in India.

The agreement will see Thane City staff, players and parents gain access to Southampton’s coach and player development programs, including the club’s curriculum, online resource library and the Coach Education webinar series. Academy staff from the club will also travel to Thane every year to work with both coaches and players.

In a press release, Southampton’s Director of Business & Community Development Mark Abrahams said:

“Our International Academy Partnerships are built on a shared value in coach and player development. We’re delighted to welcome Thane City to the programme and look forward to working with their coaching team and the Thane community over the coming years.”

In the long run, Thane City may have their eyes set on senior men’s and women’s teams that will play at the highest level in the country. But for now, they seem to be doing all they can to ensure that they develop their talent the right way.