“There are a lot of highly skilled young players out there that just don’t get the opportunity to show off their talent to the right people. Pro FC is about giving players with a passion for football the chance to trial and train at pro clubs.”

Next week will see a brand new reality TV competition hit our screens with the launch of Pro FC on Sky Sports News. The concept is simple. Take a group of talented but as yet undiscovered footballers who have not had the right opportunities to be spotted, put them through some intense coaching and then pick the best two at the end of the week and send them off to a professional club. Simple eh?

“Pro FC is about finding real football potential and raw talent and providing opportunities for young players.”

The two men behind the concept on paper share little in common. Martin Allen, ex-West Ham United legend and former manager of Brentford, Leciester City and Milton Keynes Dons amongst others and DJ Campbell, currently doing the business in the Premier League for Blackpool. Sure they are both involved in football but so are thousands of others.

You need to dig a bit deeper to see the link, and the whole concept of Pro FC. DJ Campbell was scoring for fun in the Isthmian League for Yeading when Allen signed him for Brentford, seeing potential in the young striker who was working as a van driver back then. Whilst he had started his career as a trainee at Aston Villa he had been released before he had an opportunity to shine. Allen oversaw his development as a professional and after just eight months with the Bees he got a dream move to Birmingham City. Five years after making the move from non league obscurity, DJ Campbell helped Blackpool to promotion at Wembley Stadium in the play-off final. A school boy’s dream? The journey of less than 6 miles along the A40 had taken five years but he had made it. However, the frustration is that there are literally hundreds of other players in the Non Leagues who simply do not get spotted and thus will never make that journey.

And this is what Pro FC is going to try to change. Unfortunately most footballers who make it through clubs’ academies are those who develop early. They are taken on under scholarship programmes at the age of 16, and clubs decide whether to keep them or not, normally after 18 months. The number that get retained is tiny. For the chosen few the fight to play football does not end there as they have to try and displace the increasing number of foreign imports that litter squads up and down the country. Many clubs today do not have reserve sides so opportunities for players who have reached 18 are limited to trial games and friendlies.

Look at the tactics used in the past by Arsenal and Manchester United in the Carling Cup. “Wenger’s kids” the papers would remark as a group of youngsters progressed through the tournament. Five years ago the Independent reported on “Highbury’s class of ’05” dazzling in the competition. That would include those stars of today such as Arturo Lupoli, Quincy Owusu-Abeyie and Kerrea Gilbert then. What about the Manchester United “stars of the future” such as Kieron Richardson, Mark Howard and Adam Eckersely?

The clubs need to have a “greenhouse”, a place where these players can develop mentally and physically. More often than not it is Non League sides nowadays who take the risk on these players, hoping that one day they can get a leg back up into the league. Chris Smalling, once of Maidstone United and now of Manchester United, Ben Foster, ex-Cafe Rouge chef playing for Racing Club Warwick and now an England regular and Paul Benson, discovered playing park football and now at Charlton Athletic, so the dream can still be achieved.

So how will Pro FC actually work? Martin Allen explains the concept.

“I love X-Factor, I love Britain’s Got Talent and I love the story of the underdog having its day, living the dream like DJ Campbell. We aim to find not just one player, but many players, to set them off on their journey that will one day see them playing in the Premier League”

Martin Allen is one of our footballing heroes. He was a player who always gave 100% and played under the nickname “Mad Dog”. However, people often under estimated his talent and he was unlucky not to receive a call up for England. He also came from great footballing stock. In fact, has there ever been a greater footballing dynasty than the Allens? Father Denis played for Reading and Charlton Athletic, Uncle Les played for Spurs and QPR, as did cousin Clive. Then of course was ex-West Ham and Spurs star Paul, who was the youngest player to play in an FA Cup Final and finally Bradley, who played for QPR and Charlton Athletic, both cousins of Martin. If anyone knows about football, then surely he is best placed to advise?

Since coming up with the concept, Allen has been working 7 days a week to set up the competition which will start on the 21st February. After spending 17 years as a professional footballer and then 13 years as a manager/coach, gaining the prestigious UEFA Pro License, Allen has had to adapt to running a business rather than a football club. The first camp in February will see two players get a chance to train with and be assessed by Tottenham Hotspur, but there will also be an educational part to this. Whilst the players will be put through their paces by the coaches during the day, in the evenings, they will also receive guidance on how they could follow a career in football in other ways.

Prozone, the official match analysis partners of the FA and the Football League will be on hand to give the players some idea of how they could follow a career as one of their analysts. The FA will provide information on coaching and refereeing, and Scout7, one of the biggest football scouting networks in Europe, will be on hand to give tips on potential careers in this area. And of course each of the players will be tutored in the importance of diet and nutrition in their daily life.

“Every player will work with a pro coach and will be trained, coached and managed by them, providing them with a full pro footballer experience. They will also gain insight into the ‘team behind the team’ and alternative careers in football available to them.”

The players will go through their paces Monday to Thursday, with Sky Sports News filming the best of the training sessions to be held at Warwick University, then on the Thursday night the coaches will announce their starting XI’s for the big game on the Friday. This game will be videoed and analysed by Prozone, and two players will be chosen to join Tottenham Hotspur for a two day trial. “Bring ’em to Spurs and we will have a look at them” were the words used by Harry Redknapp when Allen approached him about the first Pro FC camp. Support has also been positive from many Football League clubs agreeing to take some of the players on trial after the other sessions later in the year.

“The Pro FC concept is about ensuring everyone takes something positive away with them, they get to experience life as a pro footballer in all its pain and glory – this includes ice baths! But as a realist, I know that only a small percentage will succeed as a pro footballer, so Pro FC provides further insight on how to live and work in football – through managing and coaching, refereeing, scouting, medical and commercial routes, in other words, the team behind the team.”

We will be getting fully behind Pro FC in February, bringing reports to you every day as well as featuring one of our own Non League stars on a daily basis. We know that there is so much talent in the Non Leagues who will never have a look in, but that is one of the reasons why we love the game at this level, and this is why we will wear our Pro FC badge with pride.