There have been few tougher acts to follow as Cardiff City Under-23s manager in recent years than Steve Morison, but Darren Purse is now the man tasked with carrying the baton.
Following years of inefficiency and poor yield, Cardiff's academy is now viewed as a fit-for-purpose, fully-functioning machine with Purse tasked with shooing through the very best players into the first team, now managed by his predecessor Morison, of course.
There is a far greater emphasis placed on the work being done in the academy. A relatively small transfer and wage budget has played a large part in that being the case, but perhaps in many ways that is a good thing. The long-term sustainability of the football operation is now considered paramount and Purse, along with David Hughes, the head of the academy, and every other member of staff below the first team, have a part to play in that plan becoming reality.
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On a personal level, though, former Bluebirds captain Purse is relishing being back in a city where he enjoyed so many good times as a player. The fact he now has a big role to play in driving the club forward is a source of personal pride for him.
"I'm loving every minute of it," Purse told WalesOnline. "Me, my wife and my son have moved down to south Wales and are looking to buy somewhere, which is tough at the minute! But I am looking to get my roots down here.
"I loved playing for the club all that time ago and hopefully I'll enjoy my stint in the coaching and management side over the next few years.
"That rapport I've got with the fans. I just try my best for the football club. It's all I've done at every football club I've been at. Whatever you do, you've got to give your best and make the right decisions for the best of the football club. If you look at the club now it's in a really good position.
"The manager has got a vision of where he wants to take the football club. The youngsters he is trying to bring through and young players he is trying to bring into the club, the future really does look bright. It'll be a development year and probably a transitional year, with the number of players we are looking to bring in, but it's an exciting time to be a Cardiff fan, just be patient and enjoy watching the youngsters grow over the next year or few years."
The buzz word around Cardiff at the minute is 'alignment'. There is a real desire to get everyone singing off the same hymn sheet and that is to be drip-fed right from the very top down to the under-9s.
It hasn't always been the case, of course, but this renewed focus on the academy, kickstarted during Neil Harris' reign at the club, is slowly beginning to produce results. The under-23s training next to the first team has helped no end, a coherent playing philosophy throughout the programme and the constant dialogue between Morison and Purse over who the next kid is who deserves a chance in the first team is providing a healthy environment to facilitate the production line.
"We like to play good football, we like to play with pace and energy in the forward areas and we like to excite people. I think we are quite aligned from that point of view," Purse added.
"We talk every day. That's the good thing about training at the same venue. We might sit down at breakfast, he might just ask me who did well in training yesterday and half an hour later he will come in with his squad of players who he wants to work with that day and there will be two or three of our lads stepping up. There is that reward for the under-23s. One little injury, one suspension, as an under-23s player you are only that away from making your debut and making a career in the game."
The all-conquering under-23s team at the beginning of the season bore little resemblance to the one which finished the campaign with two straight victories. That side was picked apart and the players sent on different paths to better themselves. Isaak Davies, Eli King and Oliver Denham moved up to the first team, while Chanka Zimba, Kieron Evans and James Connolly were all sent out on loan.
It meant Purse was forced to field far younger players than he typically would have, but it helped to bring through more young players who took their opportunities, such as 18-year-old duo James Crole, who scored six goals, and Tom Davies, who featured 15 times. The next step for those two, Purse thinks, is a loan away to test themselves at a more competitive level - and he's not been short of enquiries about them.
"You've got James Crole and Tom Davies. They were two under-18s scholars last year and they went and played 25 games for the under-23s. To do that at under-18 age is excellent. They will be first-year pros next year," he added.
"The experience they've had, the path is probably for them to go out on loan somewhere. Whether that's the first six months or second six months of the season. I've already had a few clubs ask, not just about those two, but other players."
The same, too, can be said for 18-year-old right-back Jai Semenyo, who was plucked from non-League Mangotsfield United less than a year ago before making his debut against Liverpool at Anfield in January. The plan is for him to be sent out on loan next term, too, and Purse has been fielding a number of calls for his services.
"Look at someone like Jai Semenyo, who has made his debut for the first team. He's probably not ready [for first-team football] from a growing-up point of view just because he hasn't been in the system, he came in as an 18-year-old. He's only been in an academy system for a year. He has got a load of stuff to work on but you can really see a bright future for him because he has so many good attributes," the under-23s boss said.
"You want the players to play at the highest level they can, but there's other ways to look at it. Sometimes people want to play a level below if it's the right club. At Cardiff, we have made mistakes sending people out on loan to the wrong club, but the more we build relationships out by sending lads on loan then the more we will know they are the right clubs.
"Jai is one that a few Conference South or National League clubs have enquired about. It's about picking the right club for him."
You just have to look at the likes of James Connolly. The 20-year-old centre-back had captained City's under-23s at the beginning of the campaign and finished it by winning promotion to League One with Bristol Rovers and earning his first Wales under-21 call-up this week.
Purse admitted, though, that even he thought a move to League Two might be too much for Connolly, but is more than happy to concede that the Bluebirds youngster proved him wrong and then some.
He added: "James Connolly's loan to Bristol Rovers. We looked at that and wondered whether it was quite right for him, for his first loan at that level. But he has stepped into that, played every game, I watched him three or four times, and he had an unbelievable second half of the season. Wow.
"That's the level he's stepped into and he's improved since he has been there. I thought League Two might be a bit too much for him, if you send him out and he doesn't get the game time. But he has proved himself and fair play to him. He has come back and he will be an even better player for it next season."
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A player many ardent followers of the club's age-grade sides were eager to see at under-23s level last season was Cian Ashford, a player the club rate highly who has drawn interest from the likes of Leeds United and Manchester United.
While it has been an injury-hit few months for the 17-year-old playmaker, Purse said he is excited by the younger's potential and is looking forward to seeing him back in full flight next term.
"You can see clearly he has got tonnes of ability," Purse said of Ashford. "His ability in possession of the ball you can't doubt. At times he has shown his inexperience, his youth, he is only a first-year scholar.
"He has stepped into an under-23s environment, I don't know if that was the right thing or not at the start of the season, but he is a player who really excites me and I'm really looking forward to working with him in his second season. He is still young, the same age as Joel Colwill, Morgan Wigley, Isaac Jefferies.
"Cian excites me, he is a very good young footballer. Hopefully he is over his injuries now and he has had a couple of training sessions and games at the end of the season. I know now he is with the Wales under-18s over the close season. I hope he comes back in pre-season and hope he proves he is worthy of playing for the under-23s and it will be an exciting season for him and the fans watching him."
Purse is not only encouraged by Ashford, but his contemporaries and even the players below that. Just because the club has had debuts in recent years, the former defender insisted the work is only just beginning. He wants Cardiff's production line to be relentless for years to come.
"Players like Joel Colwill, Rubin's brother, and Isaac Jefferies, who are first-year scholars and played six or eight games in the second half of last year, so they are coming through. Even the under-16s and under-15s, the number of Welsh international players we have at Cardiff at the minute is really exciting. The next few years are going to be bright," Purse said.
"It'll be challenging at times, because we will have a young side. But that's our remit. I am really excited about the players we have got in the building and I'm really excited to see how the group will develop and how many more players we can get into the first team.
"We are relentless. As soon as Ollie Denham and Eli King played against Liverpool, it wasn't 'Job done, we can rest and relax'. It was, 'Who is the next one coming through?'
"That's it, it's relentless. We have to go and find the next one to play for the first team. For me, it's not about making debuts. Debuts are great, but I want them to play 500 games in league football. I want careers in the game rather than debuts.
"Someone like Mark Harris, made his debut, not rested on it and now he has played more than 50 games for the football club. Isaak Davies is another one who will be very similar to that, Joel Bagan as well. We want the boys to make careers for themselves."
"Our first team next year will probably be made up of 12 academy graduates. It's a great football club. It's exciting times. I think we have got a really good group of 17, 18, 19-year-olds, we are looking to bring a couple in over the summer and I'm really excited about it."
