Ashford United partner up with Gillingham Football Club for their Post-16 Football Academy under Alan Walker and Barry Fuller

Ashford United are hoping a partnership with Gillingham Football Club helps turn their football academy into an elite model.

Alan Walker and Barry Fuller - both former Priestfield captains - are running Ashford United’s post-16 academy and the club have signed a partnership with the Gillingham FC Foundation.

It will mean the Nuts & Bolts can lean on the Football League side to give their young academy players a real insight into life within the game.

For Walker - who captained the Gills and played over 150 games for the club between 1988 an 1992 - it’s a brilliant opportunity for those youngsters.

Walker, director of football at Ashford, said: “Because we’re partnering with a professional football club, it gives us a unique opportunity where we can take the kids up to Gillingham and see the people working in the game, the physios, the analysts, media, all the different careers within the game. They can see what they do.”

The Ashford academy will be based at their Homelands Stadium where kids can play football under the watchful eye of lead coach Barry Fuller - who also captained the Gills and led them to play-off promotion in 2009 - and get their education through a partnership with the Knights Training Academy.

A link-up with the Gills means they can also get an insight into a pro outfit, with occasional coaching from the Football League club’s staff, while also visiting Priestfield to get a taste of life in the full-time game.

Walker is a UEFA pro licenced coach who worked for 20 years as the Kent FA’s lead coach, putting many of the managers and coaches in the county through their own coaching badges. He’s also worked as a coach for UEFA.

When his football career ended he managed at Sittingbourne, Fisher, Tonbridge