Martin Hunter believes it was important that both the academy and first team were accommodated on the same site when Staplewood was redeveloped.

The club’s technical director was always keen that the philosophy of the club, to keep youngsters systematically working to towards the first team, was maintained.

He said: “As Les (Reed) mentioned in his presentation the amount of thought and detail is very important.

“We don’t have a split site, we don’t believe in split sites, so the under-8s are rubbing shoulders with their own peers and see the older boys and so on and so forth.

“There is a smell, there is an environment, that breeds confidence.

“It’s a bit hard to explain, but when you’ve been round the facility and what the club stands for, that is very very important for us.”

He added: “The job of the coaches is to prepare the boys to go onwards and upwards.

“When Ronald (Koeman) comes into the club he will have a way of playing and might change the system of play.

“If the other coaches are doing their job properly that is irrelevant.

“A good example would be Jack Stephens and Jordan Turnbull who are on loan at Swindon.

“Swindon play with a back three. We don’t play with a back three. But because they understand the game and the principles of play, that’s not an issue and the best players have that understanding.

“Added to that we want our players to be self-driven.

“We would say it’s 95 per cent the player and five per cent the support, which includes the facility and the expertise of the various disciplines that we’ve got, but the best players are self-driven.

The facility helps us drive that forward.”