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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Amy Denman

Football Dreams: The Academy dad told to step back from son's training over 'pressure'

Football Dreams: The Academy has been following a group of young boys following their dreams of becoming professional footballers, at the prestigious Crystal Palace Football Club Academy.

Millions of children dream of becoming the next David Beckham but only a small percentage get to make that a reality.

The road can be a a lengthy one, with some journeys made trickier by the very people who want them to succeed the most; their parents.

And in the latest episode of the six-part documentary series, which airs on Channel 4 at 9pm, viewers will see Crystal Palace Football Club Academy's advisors tell one parent, Mo, to take a step back.

Mo has been watching his talented son Shy flourish over the years through playing with local football clubs.

Football Dreams: The Academy follows young boys pursuing their dream of becoming a professional footballer (Channel 4)

And now 11-year-old Shy has a shot at becoming one of the first Asian Premier League superstars through the academy, based at Crystal Palace FC's south London grounds.

Mo tells the camera of his son: "He went to a number of local football clubs, that's when I started to see he had something good about him."

Proud dad Mo cheers and coaches his son from the sidelines of matches – but Shy admits this can sometimes be more of a hinderance than a help.

Shy says: "On the sideline dad, when he starts getting into the game, he's like the second manager telling the team where to go, telling me where to go," before letting out a big sigh.

In later scenes, Mo meets with Crystal Palace Football Club Academy coaches who have the task of gently telling Mo his tactics may be affecting his son's performance.

A coach tells Mo: "So there's a couple things we've noticed from you that we'd like to change a little bit to support Shy.

"In terms of when Shy's playing and training – I know you like to watch and I know you like to see what's going on I think, sometimes, from the sideline there's some information coming in that directly goes against what we're saying."

Crystal Palace Football Academy staff share some advice to Mo (Channel 4)

Mo responds: "I think I'm trying as much as I can from my core not to do it.

"I think, psychologically, since grass roots I've been a bit of a ranter and raver on the sideline but I think that's come form insecurity."

Following the conversation, Mo decides it's best for him not to attend Shy's training sessions in a bid for his son to perform the best he can.

Mo explains to his son he'll be taking a step back from his training sessions (Channel 4)

He's later seen explaining to 11-year-old Shy: "So basically I've got to stop behaving like a madman, I'm gonna let you play.

"I think sometimes on the pitch I give you information and they don't like it, it's not helping. So my commitment is I'm not going to watch you during training.

"What happens is the moment I come in you're looking up at the balcony, I'm getting frustrated and, you know what Shy we've gotta just trust them."

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