Playground to Premiership was the idea of Wayne Thomas, former professional footballer at Walsall FC and owner of ACE Academy in Walsall, West Midlands. Wayne wanted to share his own experiences in developing youth talent with guests that have achieved big things in the game and are now in the position of bringing the next generations of talent through.
The show is filmed and edited by Pete Evans of The Circle Media.
Wayne Thomas was a promising young player for Walsall, Shrewsbury Town who also played For Mansfield and Kidderminster whilst representing Wales at U18 level. Sadly his career was cut short by injury.
Wayne’s passion has now become ACE, a football academy in the West Midlands that gives children the best possible start and a pathway into football.
After 10 years in youth development and over 20,000 hours in the game Wayne has experience and contacts across the game of football, and wanted to bring this to life in the Playgound to Premiership podcast to give insight, inspiration and guidance to coaches, parents and players.
The pathway and journey is very diverse and varied and we hope we can give balance and advice to help everyone navigate and enjoy it.
Subscribe to Playground to Premiership on your podcast platform of choice and YouTube for the video edition.
