“Small five v five, three v three games. Indoors, cordon it off, no referees. ‘There’s the ball, there’s the goal – go.’ Proper street footy, no instruction, no drills.”
For the five to eight-year-olds working under Ian Barrigan, Liverpool’s head of pre-Academy recruitment, life at the club is less about strict regimes or scientific monitoring, and more about nicknames and running jokes.
About having Liverpool songs sang at you until you join in – whether you support the club or not.
And about breathless small-sided games played schoolyard-style in what Ian terms ‘the best playground in Europe’.