Norwich City Under-15's returned from this week's Nike Cup on Thursday without a victory but with masses of newly gained experience. In the competition, which was staged at Warwick University, City lost games 1-0 to Chelsea, Aston Villa and Southampton, followed by a 2-0 defeat against Middlesbrough. Despite the results, Academy Manager Ricky Martin was very upbeat on his return from the Midlands. "Firstly it was one of the best tournaments that I have been to travelling around Europe. Credit must go to Nike for hosting a great tournament which consisted of 20 top academy sides from around the country playing at a high standard." "Although we lost games, they were all close results and the matches were refereed by Premier League officials, enabling the players to experience an environment controlled by these top referees. There were certainly many positives. Several players can come back and take credit from good performances" added Ricky.

Ricky Martin

Asked for his main lessons learned from the event, the Academy Manager responded: "Academy football is of a high standard and although we are already achieving a high standard, we need to continue to work hard to compete in a team competition like the Nike Cup. However, should just one player go on to progress through the ranks and play for the 1st team, that is what success will be measured upon."

Nicky Howell in Action

26.03.05 - HOWELL TRIES OUT AT YEOVIL Another third-year scholar was trying his luck on trial this week. It was Nicky Howell's turn to appear for Yeovil Town Reserves in their 2-0 victory against Bournemouth Reserves on Wednesday in a team which included several trialists. Like the other third-years, we wish Nicky all the best as he continues his search for another club.

23.03.05 - DANES TO VISIT COLNEY Asmat El Ouargui's home town club, Hvidovre, will visit Colney after Easter for an Under-16 friendly. The visit continues the good relationship with the Danish club following Asmat's move to Norwich earlier this season. The match is on Wednesday April 6th with a 1pm kick-off.

Adam Smith in Action

23.03.05 - ADAM TRIALS WITH THE COBBLERS Third-year scholar Adam Smith is currently with Northampton Town for a trial and featured in yesterday's 2-0 reserve team win for the Cobblers in a fixture with Peterborough at Sixfields. Smith joined Danny Crow in the Northampton line-up. Although Crow went off after 30 minutes, it seems as a precaution following an injury problem, Smith had a good 75 minute stint. We wish Adam all the best in his search for a professional contract.

15.03.05 - SUPER FAN RICHARD HITS THE 230 BARRIER

Norwich City Super Fan and FONCY committee member Richard Bland has reach another milestone in his support of The Canaries, and we are not talking about his 50th birthday late last month. Richard keeps a count on all the venues he has visited to see Norwich play during the time he has supported the Canaries. This is, of course, is not confined to first team games, but reserves, youth/ academy and even schoolboy tournaments. The 230 point was reached at Millwall's training ground last Saturday when he was on hand to witness the Under-18's come away with a slender victory. Although the season is almost at an end, Richard is still looking to add to his tally this season, with the U14/15's appearance in the Nike Cup at Warwick University later this month his next target.

Richard Bland at Millwall

13.03.05 - MARTIN TAMES LIONS City's Under-18 side continued their good run of form with a 1-0 win at Millwall on Saturday. Schoolboy striker Chris Martin was again on target with the winner only three minutes from time. For the full report with photos click here or on the picture left.

13.03.05 - MILLWALL UNDER-16's 1 NORWICH CITY UNDER-16's 1 Bally Smart celebrated his recently announced scholarship with The Canaries when he fired Gary Butchers side into the lead at Millwall. However a disputed penalty for the home side spoilt what would have been an Academy double for Norwich.

09.03.05 - NEW FONCY BADGES FONCY are pleased to announce the release of a new set of souvenir badges. The traditional FONCY logo is presented in a total of five different designs (see illustration). They are available at £2.50 each or £10 for the set of five and are sure to become collectors items. All profits of course go to FONCY funds for the Academy. To secure your badges contact John Landamore by e-mail at john@foncy.co.uk or telephone on 01603 419302.

09.03.05 - JARVIS GETS ENGLAND CALL

Ryan Jarvis has received a timely call-up to the England Under-19 squad for the European Championship qualifying group to be played in North-West England of Easter (the F.A. website reports). Assuming his recovery from a knee injury continues well, Jarvis looks set to join up for games against Sweden, Denmark and Moldova from March 26th - 30th. The venues for the games are Crewe, Bury and Blackpool respectively. The finals are due to be staged in Northern Ireland in July.

07.03.05 - PLAYER PROFILE: ASMAT EL OUARGUI Asmat El Ouargui has made his mark after arriving at Colney towards the end of last year. Reason enough for John Landamore to pick the Danish striker for his latest player profile. To read what John has to say, comments from David Williams and the obligatory Q+A with the player click here or on the picture right.

06.03.05 - ACADEMY WINTER ACTIVITY

Bally Smart

Because of the bad weather across Norfolk it may have been a weekend of inactivity as far as City's Academy sides were concerned; however there has been plenty of off-field activity for us to report on. New First-Year Scholars Announced Ricky Martin has informed FONCY that there will be a further two scholars joining The Academy in July. After playing in a couple of trial games for the Canaries, Alvin Quaye has been offered a scholarship. Alvin has played as a schoolboy for West Ham but was not offered a scholarship by The Hammers. He has however done enough to impress the coaching staff at Colney and is all set to join The Academy on a full time basis at the start of next season.

Joining Alvin will be striker Bally Smart. Bally, who comes from South Africa, has been in this country for a number of years and has impressed Ricky Martin and David Williams of late with good performances at Burnley in the F.A.Youth Cup and in the league encounter against Charlton. Bally and Alvin now join Patrick Bexfield, Seb Muddel, Chris Martin and Michael Spillane as first year scholars next season. Andrew Howell To Join QPR Norwich Under-16 player Andrew Howell looks set to join QPR at the start of next season as a first year trainee. Andrew who can play either as a left sided central defender or at left back is all set to join the Loftus Road side at the start of next season. Everyone at FONCY wishes Andrew all the very best for the future.

Academy Players In Action Several ex-Academy players have been in the news this weekend. Former FONCY Player of the Year Jason Shackell was in the thick of the action for the first team against Chelsea on Saturday. Third year scholar Danny Crow is certainly making a name for himself during his loan period at Northampton Town. After scoring the equalising goal against league leaders Yeovil in midweek Danny scored the only goal of the game against Macclesfield at Sixfields on Saturday. Although Canary supporters will have noticed that Iwan Roberts was on the scoresheet for Cambridge United on Saturday, what one or two of them will have missed is that former Canary scholar Lee Blackburn came on as substitute for the U's.

Lee Blackburn in action

Tournament Plans Although the season is drawing to a close the Academy will be sending various teams to tournaments over the next two or three months. All these events will be supported by FONCY. March 21st - 25th will see the U14/U15's compete in The Nike Cup in an all Premiership competition, this takes place at Warwick University. May 4th - 9th will see two teams - the U12's and U13's - fly out to Denmark to compete in the Norhalne Cup. One week later, May 13th - 16th a combine team of U13's / U14's will be competing in France. We will of course bring you details on all the tournaments.

01.03.05 - PLAYER PROFILE: ANDREW FISK Andrew Fisk has been missing from Academy action in recents weeks, but this was no reason for John Landamore to forget the Diss youngster and Andrew is his latest target for a player profile. To read what John has to say, comments from David Williams and the obligatory Q+A with the player click here or on the picture right.