Departing AFC Sudbury coach David Cannon names his greatest Yellows academy XI ahead of club’s first alumni match
In his role as one of the two founding coaches of AFC Sudbury’s revered academy operation, David Cannon has helped bring a wealth of talented players through the ranks at the Yellows.
With his departure, after 10 successful years, looming large, SuffolkNews and sister publication the Suffolk Free Press challenged him to name his best starting XI from all the players he has coached, across both the boys’ and girls’ academies, excluding this year’s intake.
It came after the club’s head of football, Danny Laws, had provided his, after much deliberation, during the Covid-19 pandemic when non-league football joined the country in locking down to stop the spread of the deadly virus.
Our latest coaches’ all-star XI comes off the back of the Brundon Lane club revealing part of Cannon’s departure gift, ahead of moving full-time into his previous sideline of property project managing, will be the first of an annual AFC Sudbury Academy Alumni Match on December 22 (1pm).
It will be interesting to see how many of Cannon’s all-time XI will be involved on that day.
Without further ado, here is his team, which would line up in a 4-3-3 formation:
GK: Josh Blunkell (St Albans City): Fabulous distribution and comfortable with the ball at his feet he would be perfect for this team.
DEF: Kyran Clements (Leiston): Can play anywhere across the back three. He’s great in both boxes, one of the many leaders in this group but would be my skipper.
DEF: Joe Grimwood (Barnet): Literally a brick wall, another one for thunderous tackles and headers.
DEF: Lewis O’Malley (Bury Town): Whilst the opposition worry about the other two at corners, this lad scores his fair share of headed goals. He loves defending and has maturity beyond his years.
MID: Rueben Swann (Portsmouth): Would probably be in the top three of all-time academy midfielders across no4, no8 or no10! Blasts past players and hits the ball hard.
MID: Ben Hunter (Needham Market): A throwback footballer, technically great and scored a lot of goals as an U18. Box-to-box energy!
MID: Josh Stokes (Bristol City – Cambridge Utd loan): A wonderful goalscorer, a match winner. A great receiver in tight areas.
MID: Liam Pearce (AFC Sudbury): Worked hard on his finishing to become a huge goal threat, great in both boxes and has a long throw.
ATT: Dylan Kirk (Ipswich Wanderers): Brutal pace and an eye for goal. A real team player and much better than he thinks.
ATT: Shane Temple (Cambridge City): Probably the most natural goalscorer the academy has had, he’d score a lot of goals in this team.
ATT: Holly Kennard (Norwich City): An amazing dribbler, a real maverick who could turn a game on its head all by themselves. She loved training with the boys and could cut it technically with the best of them.
