Liverpool F.C. Under 23s is the reserve & senior youth team of

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in ...

It is the most senior level of the Liverpool academy beneath the first team. In the summer of 2012, the whole English reserve football system was overhauled and replaced with an Under 21 league system, the Professional Development League. Liverpool's reserve team became the Liverpool under 23 team and competes in the Professional Development League 1 which is also known by its sponsorship name of Barclays under 21 Premier League and Premier League 2. The team generally consists of Under-21 players at the club but at times senior players also play for the reserves when they are recuperating from injury. Following the introduction of new regulations from the 2012–13 season, only three outfield players and one goalkeeper over the age of 21 can play for the reserves regularly. Liverpool F.C. Academy is the youth set up Liverpool Football Club. It trains players from the U6 age group up to the U21 squad. The academy has separate head coaches in charge of development in the U6-U9, U10-U11, U12-U14 and U15-U16 age groups. At U21 and U18 level there are dedicated coaching teams managed by Michael Beale with the U21 position vacant as of 2 March 2020. Alex Inglethorpe was promoted from U21 manager to Academy Director in the summer of 2014 and holds overall responsibility for operation of the academy. The academy has won the FA Youth Cup, a competition for players of age 15 to 18, four times in 1996, 2006, 2007 and 2019. Liverpool F.C. Academy is considered to be one of the most productive

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

academies of the richer clubs both in England and in the world. Various current and past Liverpool players have graduated through the academy, including Billy Liddell, Ronnie Moran, Ian Callaghan, Phil Thompson, Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman,

Michael Owen Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker for Liverpool F.C., Liverpool, Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid, Newcastle United ...

, Jamie Carragher,

Reserve team (Under 23s)

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Under 23s played in Premier League 2. The Reserves won the regional division title in 2000 and again 2008 winning also the national league that year. It competed in the Lancashire Combination from 1896 to 1911, with the exception of the 1898–99 season, in which it joined The Combination. From 1911 on, it took part in the

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

until becoming inaugural members of the Premier Reserve League North in 1999. The team also participated in the

Liverpool Senior Cup The Liverpool County Football Association Senior Cup, commonly known as the Liverpool Senior Cup, is a Football (soccer), football knockout tournament involving teams from the city of Liverpool, England and surrounding areas. It is the County cu ...

and the Lancashire Senior Cup; the last time it took part in them was the 2009–10 season when it also won both competitions. The last reserve team manager was Rodolfo Borrell, who was appointed in July 2011 and led the reserve team during its final season before taking over the newly formed under-21 side in July 2012. The reserves last played their home games at

Prenton Park Prenton Park is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Prenton, Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It is the home ground of Tranmere Rovers F.C., Tranmere Rovers Football Club since opening in 1912, and formerly the home ground ...

(the home of Tranmere Rovers); in previous seasons the team has also played at the club's academy, the Halliwell Jones Stadium (home of

Warrington Wolves Warrington Wolves are a professional rugby league club based in Warrington, England. They play home games at the Halliwell Jones Stadium and compete in Super League, the top tier of British rugby league system, British rugby league. Warringto ...

), Haig Avenue (the home of

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

Totally Wicked Stadium Totally Wicked Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in St Helens, Merseyside, St Helens, Merseyside, England. Known as Langtree Park until 2017, it has a capacity of over 18,000 and is the home ground of rugby league club St Helens R.F.C. and foo ...

(the home of St Helens R.F.C.) and the

Racecourse Ground The Racecourse Ground (), is a football stadium in Wrexham, Wales. It is the home of Wrexham A.F.C., Wrexham AFC. It is the largest stadium in North Wales and the List of football stadiums in Wales, fifth-largest in Wales. It is the world's o ...

(home of

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

). The most successful Liverpool Reserves manager was

Roy Evans Roy Quentin Echlin Evans (born 4 October 1948) is an English former footballer who played as a defender for Liverpool, where he also had a spell as manager. Aside from his time at Liverpool, he had a short spell in the United States; and also ...

. Evans spent most of his playing career as a reserve team player, making only 11 appearances for the first team. After an injury ended his career in 1974, he was appointed manager of the reserves by

Bob Paisley Robert Paisley (23 January 1919 – 14 February 1996) was an English professional football manager and player who played as a wing-half. He spent almost 50 years with Liverpool and is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time. ...

. Evans subsequently led the reserves to victory in a series of Central League championships, including three in his first three seasons, a four in a row sequence from 1978, and two more in the early 1980s. Throughout the history of Liverpool FC, many of the club's best known players have progressed through the reserve team. These include people who at one point were first team squad members including Trent Alexander-Arnold,

, Steve McManaman, Jamie Carragher and Raheem Sterling.

The Academy

In 1998, a new state-of-the-art Youth Academy was opened in

Kirkby Kirkby ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The town, Historic counties of England, historically in Lancashire, has a size of is north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2016 wa ...

Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley The Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley is a metropolitan borough in Merseyside, North West England. It covers several towns and villages, including Kirkby, Prescot, Huyton, Whiston, Halewood, Cronton and Stockbridge Village; Kirkby, Huyton, a ...

. It replaced the older, more informal youth system, and enables the club to focus their youth development and scouting, employing new techniques and FA standards. Scouts attend many local youth matches looking for talented boys. A boy will then be invited to attend training sessions at the Academy. They are currently taken in as young as the age of six. Former England International player Jamie Carragher started at Liverpool when he was aged just nine, with

joining at eleven, and

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard MBE (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and a former player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players, Academy director Alex Inglethorpe has said the remit of the academy is to produce physically, technically, tactically and mentally elite players with enough quality to represent the senior side in the Champions League. Liverpool won the 2005 Champions league with two locally born academy graduates starting in the final.

Academy partnerships

The Academy has a long-lasting affiliation with

MTK Budapest Magyar Testgyakorlók Köre (Hungarian for "Hungarian Circle of Physical Practitioners") is a multi-sports club from Budapest, founded in 1888. It has sections for football, handball, basketball, volleyball, futsal, ice hockey, water polo, cycl ...

's Sándor Károly Football Academy and maintains a number of football schools worldwide through partnerships with football clubs and commercial and sports organisations. LFC International Football Academy currently has branches in Scandinavia (Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, and Gran Canaria during winter), America (Texas and Plymouth, the latter through an affiliate with CS United Soccer Club), Egypt (Cairo), South Africa (Durban and Johannesburg), China (Guilin), India (Pune, in cooperation with DSK Shivajians), and Japan (Tokyo). Previously schools were also run in Abuja, Belfast, Boston, Charlotte, Cyprus, Dublin, Hong Kong, Iceland, Jakarta, Katwijk, Lisbon, Madrid, Malta, Mumbai, Manila, Nairobi, Saint Vincent, and Singapore.

Academy squad

''Players listed in bold have made at least one senior first-team appearance.''

Out on loan

Staff

Current coaching and medical staff

* Academy director: Alex Inglethorpe * Head of Academy business: Andrew Powlesland * Head of Academy football operations: Nick Marshall * Education manager: Caitlin Hawkins * Academy player care manager: Marek Szmid * Under 18 Education Officer: Ted Smith * U23s manager: Vacant * U23s goalkeeping coach: Mark Morris * U18s manager: Vacant * U18s and Academy goalkeeping coach: Neil Edwards * U23s physiotherapist: Scott McAuley * Head Academy physiotherapist & U23s head physio: Paul Kelly * Head of Academy medical services: Bevin McCartan * Performance coach: Yvie Ryan * U18 assistant physiotherapist: Gregg Blundell * U18 Lead physiotherapist: Phil Bolland * Academy kit manager: Aubrey Rodgers * U21 and loans physiotherapist: Tony Jones * Head of pre-Academy recruitment: Steve Gorst * Pre-Academy co-ordinator: Ricky Heywood * Assistant Academy recruitment co-ordinator: Frederico Paciencia * Academy U15 head coach : Lewis Nightingale * Academy U14 head coach: Anthony Ryan * Academy U12 head coach: Phil Charnock * Academy U11 head coach: John Miles * Academy U10 head coach: Josh Wesselby * Academy U9 head coach: Gephte Mbolokele * Head of coaching for foundation stage: John Thompson * Assistant head of pre-Academy coach: Roy Smith * Goalkeeping coach: Ian Dunbavin * Lead pre-Academy coach: James Williams * Academy advanced coaching centre co-ordinator: Jon Newby ''In addition, the Academy employ staff from the first-team.''

Reserve team manager history

(1954–1957) * Joe Fagan (1957–1974) *

(1975–1984) * Chris Lawler (1984–1986) * Phil Thompson (1986–1992) * Sammy Lee (1993–1998) * Joe Corrigan (1998–2002) * Hughie McAuley (2003–2006) * Gary Ablett (2006–2009) * John McMahon (2009–2011) * José Segura (caretaker) (2011) * Rodolfo Borrell (2011–2012) * Alex Inglethorpe (2012–2014) * Michael Beale (2014–2016) * Mike Garrity (caretaker) (2016–2017) * Neil Critchley (2017–2020) * Barry Lewtas (2020–''present'')

Awards

Liverpool Academy Players' Player of the Year

''Players in bold are still playing for Liverpool.''

Honours

Reserves

;;League Champions * The Central League: 16
(1956–57, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1989–90, * Premier Reserve League National: 1
( 2007–08) * Premier Reserve League North: 2
(1999–2000, 2007–08) * Lancashire Combination: 2
(1896–97, 1899–1900) ;;Cup Winners *

: 40
(1893, 1901, 1902, 1903, 1905, 1907, 1909, 1910*, 1912*, 1913, 1915, 1920, 1925, 1927, 1929, 1930, 1934*, 1936*, 1937, 1939, 1942, 1943, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1951, 1952, 1962, 1964*, 1968, 1977, 1980, 1981, 1982*, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2009, 2010) * Lancashire Senior Cup: 13
(1919, 1920*, 1924, 1931, 1933, 1944, 1947, 1956, 1959, 1973, 2010, 2017, 2022) * Liverpool Challenge Cup: 4
(1954, 1959, 1960, 1961)

Youth

;;League Champions * Lancashire League Division One: 6
(1965–66, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1971–72, 1977–78, 1982–83) * Lancashire League Division Two: 7
(1961–62, 1965–66, 1967–68, 1972–73, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1992–93) * Lancashire League Division Three: 1
(1960–61) ;;Cup Winners * FA Youth Cup: 4
(1996, 2006, 2007, 2019) * Liverpool Youth Cup: 3
(1954, 1956, 1958) * Lancashire Division One League Cup: 3
(1960, 1966, 1967) * Lancashire Division Two League Cup: 5
(1962, 1966, 1967, 1973, 1980) * Lancashire Division Three League Cup: 1
(1961) ''*Asterisk denotes a shared title.''

Noted graduates

Established at Liverpool

Liverpool's youth system has only seen moderate success over the years; with only a few players who have come through it have gone on to feature in the first-team. The following players have gone on to play over ten competitive matches for the first team. Pre-WW2 * Harold Barton * Cyril Done * Alf Hanson * Jack Parkinson * Syd Roberts 1940s * Bill Jones * Billy Liddell * Jimmy Payne * Eddie Spicer 1950s * Alan A'Court * Eric Anderson * Gerry Byrne * Bobby Campbell * Don Campbell * Jimmy Melia * Ronnie Moran * Roy Saunders 1960s * Alf Arrowsmith * Phil Boersma * Ian Callaghan * Bobby Graham * Chris Lawler * Ian Ross * Tommy Smith * Phil Thompson 1970s *

Jimmy Case James Robert Case (born 18 May 1954) is an English retired professional association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He gained national prominence with Liverpool F.C., Liverpool in the 1970s and early 1980s. Early life Case wa ...

* David Fairclough * Colin Irwin * Sammy Lee * John McLaughlin 1980s * Gary Ablett * Mike Marsh * Steve Staunton * Ronnie Whelan 1990s * Jamie Carragher * Robbie Fowler *

Steven Gerrard Steven George Gerrard MBE (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and a former player. Widely regarded as one of the greatest midfielders of all time and one of Liverpool's greatest ever players,Dominic Matteo Dominic Matteo (born 28 April 1974) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a defender and midfielder in a 17-year professional career from 1992 to 2009. He made a total of 366 league and cup appearances, of which 276 were ...

* Steve McManaman *

* David Thompson * Stephen Wright 2000s *

Dani Pacheco Daniel Pacheco Lobato (born 5 January 1991) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a winger or an attacking midfielder for Polish club Wisła Płock. He joined Liverpool in 2007 having previously been in the youth ranks at Barcelon ...

* Darren Potter * Emiliano Insúa * Jay Spearing * Martin Kelly * Neil Mellor * Stephen Warnock 2010s * Andre Wisdom * Brad Smith * Jack Robinson * Jon Flanagan * Jordon Ibe * Pedro Chirivella * Raheem Sterling * Suso * Sheyi Ojo * Trent Alexander-Arnold * Ben Woodburn * Curtis Jones * Neco Williams * Caoimhín Kelleher 2020s * Nathaniel Phillips * Rhys Williams * Conor Bradley * Stefan Bajcetic * Bobby Clark * James McConnell * Jarell Quansah * Tyler Morton

Established elsewhere

Many of the former Liverpool youth and reserve team players have found success with other clubs. None of these players became established members of the Liverpool first team. 1950s * Joe Maloney * Keith Burkinshaw 1960s * Ted MacDougall 1970s * John Gidman * Tommy Tynan 1980s * Alan Harper * Colin Russell * Craig Hignett * Dave Watson * Howard Gayle * John Durnin *

Mark Seagraves Mark Seagraves (born 22 October 1966) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a defender (association football), defender for Liverpool F.C., Liverpool, Norwich City F.C., Norwich City, Manchester City F. ...

* Mike Newell * Nigel Adkins * Paul Jewell * Brian Mooney * Ken DeMange * Kevin Sheedy 1990s * Nicky Rizzo * Alex Watson * Phil Charnock * Ryan Lowe * Jim Magilton *

Paul Dalglish Paul Kenneth Dalglish (born 18 February 1977) is a Scottish former professional footballer. Playing career Dalglish, son of former Scotland international Kenny Dalglish, was born in Glasgow though spent his childhood in Liverpool where his fa ...

* Tony Warner * Danny Williams * Gareth Roberts * Jason Koumas 2000s * Besian Idrizaj * Adam Hammill * Alan Navarro * Calum Woods * Charlie Barnett * Craig Lindfield * Danny Guthrie * Danny O'Donnell * David Mannix * David Raven * Ian Dawes * Jack Hobbs * James Smith * Jon Newby * Jon Otsemobor * Lee Peltier * Max Harrop * Michael Burns * Paul Anderson * Ray Putterill * Ryan Crowther * Sean Highdale * Steven Gillespie * Steven Irwin * Antonio Barragán * Daniel Ayala * Francisco Manuel Duran * Godwin Antwi * Miki Roqué * Daniel Sjölund * Christopher Buchtmann * Marvin Pourié * Jimmy Ryan * Richie Partridge * Shane O'Connor * Ronald Huth * Ryan Flynn * Astrit Ajdarević * Zak Whitbread * Layton Maxwell 2010s * Gerardo Bruna * Dean Bouzanis * Jake Brimmer * Nikolay Mihaylov * Jakub Sokolík * Martin Hansen * Nikola Saric * Henoc Mukendi * Adam Morgan * Adam Phillips * Alex Whittle * Andy Firth * Anthony Glennon * Cameron Brannagan * Connor Randall * Conor Coady * Craig Roddan * Daniel Trickett-Smith * David Amoo * Herbie Kane * Isaac Christie-Davies * Jack Dunn * Jason Banton * Jerome Sinclair * Joe Maguire * Jordan Lussey * Jordan Rossiter * Lloyd Jones * Matty Virtue * Michael Ihiekwe * Michael Ngoo * Nathan Eccleston * Ovie Ejaria * Robbie Threlfall * Ryan Kent * Sam Hart * Shamal George * Stephen Darby * Tom Brewitt * Tom Ince * Tyrell Belford * Yan Dhanda * Emmanuel Mendy * Madger Gomes * Mikel San José * Rafael Páez * Sergi Canós * Lauri Dalla Valle * Stephen Sama * Toni Silva * Yalany Baio * Andras Simon * Kristóf Polgár * Krisztián Adorján * Krisztián Németh * Patrik Poór * Péter Gulácsi * Zsolt Poloskei * Alex O'Hanlon * Conor Masterson * Corey Whelan *

Daniel Cleary Daniel Michael Cleary (born December 18, 1978) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Chicago Blackhawks, Edmonton Oilers, Phoenix Coyotes and Detroit Red Wings. He currently ...

* Joseph Rafferty * Kristján Emilsson * Victor Pálsson * Bobby Adekanye * Emeka Obi * Edvard Tagseth * Ryan McLaughlin * João Carlos Teixeira * Paulo Alves * Rafael Camacho * Toni Gomes * Alex Cooper * Gary Mackay-Steven * George Johnston * Ryan Fulton * Alexander Kačaniklić * Kristoffer Peterson * Yusuf Mersin * Brooks Lennon * Marc Pelosi * Villyan Bijev * Danny Ward * Harry Wilson * Jordan Williams 2020s * Yasser Larouci * Dal Varešanović * Adam Lewis * Harvey Blair * Herbie Kane * Jack Bearne * Jake Cain * Layton Stewart * Leighton Clarkson * Liam Coyle * Luis Longstaff * Oludare Olufunwa * Paul Glatzel * Remi Savage * Tom Clayton * Billy Koumetio * Ki-Jana Hoever * Morgan Boyes

Notes

References

Sources

* ''Who's Who of Liverpool'' (2006): Tony Matthews
LFCHistory.net