James Collins believes the 2025/26 campaign will provide some fantastic opportunities and challenges for his Wolves under-21 side as they prepare to kick-off their season this evening.
The under-21s get the new term underway with a game on the road at Wealdstone in the National League Cup from 7pm tonight – one of five competitions Collins’ team are entering this year.
Alongside Premier League 2, Premier League Cup, Premier League International Cup and the Vertu Trophy, the head coach knows his small group are going to be well tested with the variety of opposition ranging from men’s non-league teams to some of the best young players in world football to battle against once again this year.
On having a mix of competitions this season
“What the Premier League do now for the under-21s’ fixtures is fantastic because we have such a wonderful breadth of competition now which gives us different types of challenges
“We have the National League Cup, which is against first-teams, we have the Vertu Trophy, which is against league teams and is always a massive challenge, the International Cup gives us four games against European opposition and then there are the league games against the Manchester Uniteds, the Chelseas and the Liverpools.”
On working with a smaller group
“We’ve got a smaller group this year, which will test us injury-wise and we’ll have to be really careful with our boys and maybe prioritise certain games over others as regards to team selection, but it gives us a great opportunity to develop and improve the players.
“What happens with a smaller group is there are more opportunities for the boys that are here, whether that’s a younger player who maybe would have been blocked a little bit in the past, they have an opportunity to play up.
“Last year, we had the likes of Wes Okoduwa and Luke Rawlings at 16 playing for us, which maybe three or four years ago wouldn’t have happened, but because of us going with a slightly smaller group, opportunities are going to come around even more often.”
On merging with the under-18s in pre-season
“Looking at pre-season, we’ve regularly had seven or eight players in the starting 11 who are actually scholars. It comes with its own stresses and its own problems, but it also brings great development opportunities for the younger players.
“It’s something we’ve done very well over the last couple of years because the PDP – the under-18s and the 21s – work together in the same office at Compton. Last season, if all of the lads who were technically under-18 were available to play for Rich every week, he’d have had a very strong team – but that’s not how we work.
“We work at hopefully giving them the right challenge at the right time, which means players playing up. We discuss that on a regular basis, and think about what individuals need, what challenges they need this week or next week or this month or next month that will help them in their future careers. It’s all about being on the same page and that is a big help for both groups this year.”
On what success in 2025/26 looks like
“A successful season to me would be players improving and players developing, which isn’t always about results on the pitch. I’ve got a lot of friends who are Wolves supporters, and obviously the first thing everybody asks me is ‘what was the scoreline?’ But to me, although the scoreline is not immaterial, it’s not far off.
“I’m more concerned about if the players are improving, are there learning opportunities? Are the players getting better? If our players do well, they go out on loan and they get loan opportunities in January, which can also affect results after Christmas.
“Under-21 football isn’t about winning leagues, it isn’t about winning cups – obviously we want to do well in the competitions, because we’re all football people, we all want to win football matches, but that isn’t what you’re in development football for. It’s about developing players, improving players and getting players opportunities to play at higher levels all the time.”
