Short, sharp and Leeds music
Perhaps the first thing you will clock when you turn on the first episode of Academy Dreams: Leeds United is its length. Episodes come in below a binge-friendly 30 minutes rather than the 40 to 45 minutes you would spend with each chapter of its predecessor, Take Us Home: Leeds United.
It’s also clear from the start there will be better access than we saw in the original series, which focused on Marcelo Bielsa’s first team in the Championship. With the Argentine, the dressing room was out of bounds, but it’s clear from the outset Mark Jackson’s team talks will be front and centre through this six-parter.
There’s also a nod to the city’s music scene and a former player on the books at the academy. Rapper Graft (Jovanni Sterling), who was born in Leeds and played for the club as a teenager, has recorded an original track for the documentary’s intro and outro.
READ MORE: 'Academy Dreams' documentary ready to air as Leeds United fans prepare for rare insight
Academy success in the spotlight
Arguably the two finest academy exports out of Thorp Arch in the last 25 years are held up as role models from the outset. James Milner, still playing at 36-years-old with one of the world’s biggest football clubs, makes himself available for a short piece to camera on his formative years in West Yorkshire.
Kalvin Phillips is the other, now departed, big name to feature in the opening episode. The England international appears on more than one occasion as filming went on last season with him still around at Thorp Arch.
Phillips discusses his early days with the academy and how he now tries to help the next generation coming through in Academy Dreams. The likes of Charlie Cresswell and Sam Greenwood also talk up Phillips as a role model for them who proves what can be done coming through the ranks at Leeds.
Lighter side of football life
As you might expect with a group of men in their late teens and early 20s, there are some lighter moments of comic relief. Personal camera footage is used from dressing rooms, hotel rooms and the team bus to underline what goes on away from the pitch.
Max Dean draws some laughter with a tale about his birthday treat on the sunbeds, before he is later seen taking the kind of football-related corporal punishment many of you will be familiar with from your years down the park.
Then there are the real questions fans want the answers to: best finisher, gym king, most skilful and worst haircut. It’s the off-pitch content few of us get a chance to see in the modern game.
Gelhardt goes back to his roots
One of the excellent set-pieces the producers put together takes Joe Gelhardt, who’s likely to be the star of the series based on the way last season finished, back to his roots in Liverpool. Mother Lynne, well-known to many fans on social media, is on camera at the family home along with the makeshift pitch her son used to play on until dark every night as a child.
The striker recounts his move to Leeds, how United reached out to his agent and his early years as a rising star in the game. He’s the down-to-earth character many expect him to be, despite that wondrous talent in his feet.
Jackson’s carrot-and-stick routine
The under-23 head coach memorably ended last season in Jesse Marsch’s backroom staff, but his campaign began in Premier League 2 Division One, off the back of 2021’s promotion. The former Whites player is seen playing good cop and bad cop in the opening half an hour.
There is a training ground game with Amari Miller, the positive half-time talk at Selhurst Park with a match there to be won and then a rollicking at Derby County away where his defence disintegrated before his eyes.
You can watch all six episodes of Academy Dreams: Leeds United on Amazon Prime Video from Friday.
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