Lincoln City have announced that Jon Pepper has been appointed as the new Academy and Women’s technical director, in a move announced on the club’s website.
Pepper is no stranger to the Imps having been the Head of Academy for the past two seasons, which has seen youth prospects such as Oisin Gallagher and Freddie Draper graduate into first-team environments. The former Burnley Head of Academy also has strong pedigree within the football world, having helped the Clarets progress from a Category Three to a Category One academy.
However, This restructure sees him take a more prominent role in the women’s pathway as they will now sit under the academy structure, creating a closer synergy between the two sides of the football club.
Speaking to club media, Jon expressed his excitement on the plans.
“There will be a real pathway for talented girls, mirroring what we already have in place for boys, which has seen players come through into the first team. This is an area I, and everyone else at the club, is passionate about – and now anyone growing up in the area has an opportunity to join us as a child and progress all the way through to senior football without leaving the club.”
The 50-year-old was not the only member of the hierarchy at the LNER stadium to be excited about the plans of the football club’s academy and women’s projects with Director of Football Jez George also expressing his passion for there to be a change for the better in this area of the club.
“After a thorough review of the Lincoln City Women’s football operation, it is clear that for us to progress at the rate we desire we need to create a structure alongside the Elite Player Performance Pathway (EPPP) for the boys, with a seamless transition between each programme. Jon, with his vast experience and knowledge, is absolutely the right person to design, lead and oversee this exciting development.”
City’s Chief Executive also added “I am looking forward to working alongside Jon and Jez in order to grow all aspects of our sporting operation.”
“This is about ensuring additional capacity into the Academy and women’s programme, and is a really exciting development for the club. We have been proud to have Lincoln City Women as part of the club for the past two years and recognise this and other changes to come are needed to fulfil their potential.”
That is not the only piece of movement within the club’s academy that was announced however, as the club also confirmed that current coach Calum Oakenfold has been promoted to Head of Academy and Coaching to fill the role that Pepper had previously held in a bid to drive forward the work already being done within the boy’s youth structure.
Talking about Calum’s promotion, George heaped praise on the contribution he was already giving to the setup.
“Calum has already made a huge contribution, alongside Jon’s leadership, to the Academy since his appointment as head of coaching and this role will now provide him with the scope and bandwidth to develop our provision at every age group even further. He is a high calibre individual and our next generation of players, girls and boys, are in good hands with Jon and Calum in these new roles.”
Writer’s View
Something that Lincoln as a club are so often praised for is their constant want to strive for improvements in their off-the-field endeavours and this is seemingly no different. Not only have the club clearly laid out plans to create stronger and clearer pathways into women’s football for young girls, they are also doing it whilst making improvements to their current academy set-up too.
When the Imps’ backroom staff confirm they have undertaken a lengthy review, that is often exactly what they have done and therefore a decision like this seems like it can only be another positive.