LAST year, we were very moved by an Open Evening speech by the Head Boy at St Mark’s West Catholic School, where he praised the school for all the support he received when he was released by his football academy.

A few weeks ago, we were interviewing a headteacher of a Harlow primary school, who told us of his experience being released, at the age of 14, by Aston Villa.

Indeed, many headteachers, teachers, parents and football coaches in Harlow tell us that for many young players it can be a devastating experience to feel you are on the “scrap heap” at such a tender age.

So we were pleased to see a news article from the University of Stirling where one of their lecturers had ‘added his voice to calls for every professional football club in Scotland to have mandatory psychological support for their academy players”.

Our editor, Michael Casey, is a graduate from University of Stirling and has retained close links with his university. He has conducted on line seminars with their journalism students.

So, we interviewed Dr Alban Dickson, a lecturer in Sport Psychology, to find out more about the campaign and how it could help young Harlow footballers.