Things we loved | WHU Academy
Academy

Five things we loved from the Academy's 2024/25 season

1. Premier League debuts

The ultimate objective of any academy outweighs any other - getting young players into the first team. And this season, despite mixed results on the pitch, that mission stayed firmly on course.

Starting the season with the U21s and signing long-term contract extensions, FA Youth Cup winning teammates Ollie Scarles and Lewis Orford joined an illustrious list of West Ham United Academy players to have worn the famous Claret and Blue in England’s top division.

Scarles, who had made his senior debut at 16 in West Ham United’s UEFA Europa Conference League winning season against FCSB, enjoyed a great year of development, making his Premier League bow against Bournemouth in December before delivering Man of the Match performances in both his FA Cup full debut at Aston Villa in January and his Premier League full debut in a 1-0 away win at Arsenal in February.

Having joined the Academy at the age of six, Orford continued his rise through the ranks by making his senior debut for his boyhood Club, in the Premier League no less. After making 12 senior matchday squads over the previous two-and-a-half seasons, Orford’s time finally came against Crystal Palace in January, making a half-an-hour cameo, becoming the 1,007th player to make a senior appearance for the Club. Following that up with another appearance against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge a couple of weeks later, Orford finished the season strongly with the U21s, picking up the April Premier League 2 Player of the Month award and receiving a nomination for the PL2 Player of the Season award, alongside teammate and goalkeeper Finlay Herrick.

 

2. Premier League Cup glory

Two years on from lifting the FA Youth Cup, another generation of young Hammers brought silverware back to east London.

Lauris Coggin’s U18s became just the fifth side to win the U18 Premier League Cup, joining a select group of clubs including Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.

West Ham topped a tough Group D, which included Nottingham Forest, Premier League South runners-up Southampton, and Premier League North third-placed Everton. In the knockouts, they beat defending Premier League and Cup champions Manchester United, breezed past Derby County in the semi-finals, and faced Reading in the final.

In front of 2,000 fans at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, and against a Reading side boasting several players with senior experience, Josh Ajala’s brace sealed a 2-1 win, making this U18s cohort the first in Club history to win the U18 Premier League Cup.

3. Five scholars stepping up

As well as becoming the first West Ham United U18s age group to win the Premier League Cup, five members of that history-making squad made the full-time transition to Rush Green into the U21s set-up.

Since the beginning of the season, Ezra Mayers, Josh Ajala and Emeka Adiele have all made the jump to Mark Robson’s development squad. Mayers started all but one of the U21s’ league matches, while Ajala, even as a second-year scholar, ended the campaign as the team’s top goalscorer. Adiele, meanwhile, racked up 13 direct goal contributions from left wing-back across both squads.

At the turn of the year, first-year scholar Airidas Golambeckis and U18s captain Preston Fearon also earned their place in the U21s group, although this season’s Scholar of the Year winner Fearon sadly missed the Premier League Cup final and the Premier League 2 play-offs through injury.

U18s celebrations
From the Premier League Cup winning squad, Mayers, Ajala, Adiele, Golambeckis and Fearon all featured regularly for the U21s this season

4. Young Hammers making their mark on loan

It wasn’t just within the Club that our Academy prospects were making waves. Across the Football League, young Hammers impressed during their loan spells in senior football, with several scooping end-of-season awards.

Callum Marshall was named Huddersfield Town’s Player of the Season during his first full term out on loan. Scoring nine goals and providing three assists in 43 league games, Marshall led the Terriers’ scoring charts and ranked third for goals among U21 players in the top three divisions, behind only Millwall’s Mihailo Ivanović and Crawley Town’s Kamari Doyle.

Announcing the award on the Huddersfield Town website, the article read:

"Twenty-year-old Marshall’s committed performances, positive attitude and dedication to the cause won over the Huddersfield Town support, with his work ethic resulting in 14 goal contributions in 46 appearances across all competitions this season.

"Showing an adaptability in his time in HD1, his game time has come both through the middle in attack as centre forward, but also off the right in a more fluid frontline, with goals and assists following regardless of where he was asked to play."

George Earthy, meanwhile, earned the Young Player of the Year award at Bristol City. Featuring 37 times in the Championship, Earthy helped the Robins reach the play-offs for the first time since 2008, chipping in with three goals, including a brace in a 2-1 win over play-off contenders Middlesbrough.

Goalkeeper Mason Terry also received recognition, winning Hornchurch’s Supporters’ Player of the Season after keeping 17 clean sheets in 53 appearances. It was his second consecutive fans' award after a standout year with Concord Rangers in 2023/24.

Elsewhere, Patrick Kelly celebrated promotion to League One with a League Two title at Doncaster Rovers, while Freddie Potts played a huge role in Portsmouth's Championship survival, making 38 appearances in his first full campaign at that level.

5. Seven wins on the bounce

Despite missing two of their best players, Scarles and Orford, due to commitments with the first team, the U21s showed the depth of talent at the West Ham Academy by going on a seven-game winning streak in Premier League 2 between January and February.

During their streak, Mark Robson’s young Hammers scored eleven goals and let in just two as they surged up the Premier League 2 standings from 13th, just inside the play-off places to third.

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