Summary: Phil is joined by NextGen Series co-creator and Brentford sporting director Mark Warburton to have a discussion about this groundbreaking competition now in its second year, perhaps the most exciting European football club cup competition for under-19 footballers. NextGen was designed to provide players with an opportunity to match themselves up against other elite footballers of their age group in a competitive environment that shares many of the same characteristics of the larger continental tournaments today. Some massive club names in world football including the likes of Barcelona, PSV Eindhoven, Internazionale, Ajax, Marseilles, Liverpool and Juventus - among many others - are now affiliated with this tournament after a hugely successful first year. We examine the goals and objectives of NextGen, some of the challenges it faces, future plans to expand the competing clubs and how fans in Europe and the United States can access these matches. We also examine how this tournament might just be the best pound for pound entertainment in football for fans as the quality and standard are very high while the cost to attend is entirely affordable. This episode also explains how NextGen fulfills a very important role in youth development whereby young players are given more exposure to a like-for-like experience that may see at the top level by simply duplicating the match day process of the Champions League, raising exposure to many different continental standards and providing real growth for that class of player in a professional academy who needs elite exposure to reach the next rung in his playing career. This process also helps first team managers see youth prospects in real game situations as well, and serves to help the scouting and evaluation process in real situations, further enhancing the potential for solid growth in youth prospects. For football fans the tournament is a great chance to watch young players in the making and to see new football stars of the future, and the tournament is catching on as one more must competition to follow throughout the season.
