JACK Bycroft has seen a lot change at Staplewood after spending over a decade at the club – with the goalkeeper recounting the improvements to Saints’ training base.
The 20-year-old came through the ranks at Saints to sign a professional deal last summer, extending his association with his boyhood club until the end of the 2023/24 season.
In an interview with the club’s website, Bycroft was asked how Staplewood used to look.
He told Saints’ website: “When I first joined here? Actually from where the middle car park is and the bottom car park, they didn’t actually own this land, it was just fields.
“All I remember was there being a long white building up the top, where the first team are now.
“And then just walking up and down there to the Dome where it used to be on the 3G, and watching the first team there.
“There wasn't very many pitches, maybe three or four pitches when I first came here. So it's nuts to see what's down here now.”
Saints’ academy is famed for developing players that go on to make an impact in the first team or make a name for themselves elsewhere, with Bycroft believing that the layout of Staplewood reflects the pathway players can take at the club.
“I definitely do like how they've done it in terms of being like a pathway, right from the bottom, all the way to the top,” continued Bycroft.
“I do like that. Especially with this club, everyone says it all the time – it is a clear vision and clear pathway that you can achieve.
“You see players, just like Cammy Doyle, going straight from one pitch, straight up to the top, training with the first team at 16, 17.”
A fan turned player, Bycroft, who is currently on loan at Southern Premier League Dorchester Town, believes that the club is well on its way to challenging for Europe again.
“Obviously, coming from just down the road and watching them all the time, going to the games with me Dad, with the family.
“It’s just brilliant, you know, seeing where the club has come from. Watching them in the Championship, watching them in the (Premier) League.
“And then seeing all the big names like signing Virgil Van Dijk, players like that and playing in the Europa League. It’s crazy thinking of where we came from and where we could go.
“And I think that we’re on a path where we could easily get back to that.”
With all four of Saints first-team goalkeepers’ contracts expiring this summer, a strong spell on loan at Dorchester could catapult Bycroft into the first team picture.
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