The football academy that rose from the London riots

It is a scorching afternoon in the Buckinghamshire countryside and, in a behind-closed-doors friendly at Wycombe Wanderers’ training ground, a Wycombe development squad are taking on a team from the Kinetic Academy in south London.

The fixture has been arranged by the League One club to allow manager Gareth Ainsworth and his staff to assess a group of young Wycombe trialists, but it is also an opportunity to run the rule over the latest crop of Kinetic graduates. There is talent among them.

Kinetic emerge 2-1 winners, dominating much of the game and scoring a goal in each half before Wycombe net a late consolation. More important than the result itself, though, is what comes from it.

“Success for me today is them asking us, ‘Who’s he? Who’s he?'” says Eddie Munnelly, Kinetic’s head of coaching, as he gives a team talk to the group by the side of the pitch. The idea, Munnelly adds, is to “put the players in the shop window”.

The exposure pays off.