With Gavin having talked to John Lawrence, in the programme a couple of Saturdays ago, Hamlet Pitchero chatted to him about his ASPIRE Academy instead.

So you had another interview with John Lawrence in the programme, there's no need to go over old ground that we had already covered on here, anyway. Let's talk about your Acadamy. When did it all begin and what does ASPIRE stand for?

"ASPIRE stands for 'Academic and Sporting Prowess Inpired Routes to Excellence'. We started the Academy over ten years ago, myself & Junior Kadi. We had some help from Southwark Council, & one of their workers Michael Charalambous. A lot of the boys were not offered YTS scholarships at professional clubs, so we wanted to offer them something different. If they didn't play football they would end up hanging about on the streets, and we wanted to do something educational, that amalgamated their football with college work, to help them off the field too."

How many boys do you have under your wing now, you have had a new younger age group, at Under Sixteens, this season.

" In total we have 55 boys, they're all local from South-East London. We hope to give them the opportunity to progress through the Acadamy & the Club. Obviously not all will progress to the First Team or higher to the professional game. We just want to open up the opportunities for them to further their footballing ambitions, hand in hand with their education."

Your scheme is very much linked to improving the player as a person, as well as a footballer. How does the academic link work, and how much of their week is actual football?

" They train three days a week. Each player will have the opportunity to play at least one game a week, of competitive football. The grounding of a player, or person, you can see through football, they might not have a natural desire to get an education, so we help them there. Some boys don't know where to will see themselves, other than on a football pitch, so we try to open their eyes up & try to get them to be successful as they grow in stature in life, generally."

How many of your former prodigies have gone on to the professional game, and do you still keep in touch with them?

"To be honest I can't tell you the exact number, around thirty, but about fifteen or so currently. Yes, I keep in touch with them, and follow their progress, some more than others. I have a good relationship with them, & always look out for them. The same for the boys who are playing in the non-league game. I'm equally as proud of them as the other lads who are professional."

Talking of professionals, you are a very good friend of Rio Ferdinand. Has he ever helped you at training, or even financially?

" Yes, I've known him since we grew up in Peckham together. He's given boys kit, gifted from Nike, as part of his continued charity work. Other stuff like boots as well. He runs the Rio Ferdinand Foundation, which helps inner city kids get the opportunity in all aspects of sport, media, drama, as well as other things. He now includes our ASPIRE Acadaemy as an ambassador for his Foundation, a sort of flagship if you like, as we are so successful. Over the years he's been at a few games, when he could, but obviously he's very busy with his own career at Manchester United. He's taken the occassional training session, when time as has allowed."

What happens to those who don't make the step up? Clearly you develop the better players to come through our ranks. Are there many others at our level, or higher, in non league?

"yes, definately. A lot of lads a eighteen might not be ready physically, so they won't have a pathway to develop with us, the list of them is endless. Some have gone on to Conference, & others play in Conference South, later. It's a strong argument for our Reserve Team, if we want to continue to delvelop them as players into adulthood. There is so much benefit in playing another year in the Reserves, against men, to make the step up easier for them."

You always maintain that the development of the player is more important than the actual results.But it must have been disappointing to get knocked out of the FA Youth Cup, for the first time in several years, at the qualifying round stage, this season?

" Yes, but to be honest it's more disappointing for the young men themselves, more than for me, Junior [Kadi] & Kevin [James]. We've been involved in FA Youth Cup runs, before, but it's only the one chance for the boys, maybe two years. This year we could have progressed further, but on the night we didn't perform as well as we could have."

Speaking hypothetically for yourself, if you could get one of the 'big guns' in the FA Youth Cup one year, who would you like?

"It would be a toss-up between Manchester United or Liverpool, for me. Manchester United, because of my pal Rio, I've seen how they develop their youngsters, & visited their youth set up. Liverpool..I supported them as a boy, so that would be a dream draw. But it would just be great to be able to pit your wits against anyone from the top level."

It's said by some that your Academy ignores the well established Dulwich Hamlet Junior Football Club. How fair is this?

"I think the Junior Football Club is run as its own entity. I don't think there's really been a willingness of it to be part of the Seniors. To be honest I've never really seen real enthusiasm, if you like, from them. The Acadamy has always had players from the Juniors, in fact our highest amount of players referred to us comes from the Junior Club. For me, it doesn't matter where any player comes from, they are all welcome."

The next question is hypothetical, hopefully; but what happens when the day comes when you move on from Champion Hill, we all hope not for a few years yet. Would your Academy go with you?

" That would totally depend on what the job was. As you said, it's hypothetical. I wouldn't want to go to a lower level non league club; if I were to move on I would want it to ne a significant club, which I would presume would have it's own academy set up already in place. So the Academy might even be based at Dulwich, even if I moved on. Who knows, as you say it's all hypotehtical. You never know how the lands lies."

And so, with the final stages of the season drawing in, what are you looking for in recruiting players, for your next crop, and how would they go about it?

" A number are already trialling for our Under Sixteens, so that would be current Under Fifteens, we try to identify some good players for next years current Under Sixteens. In the last few games some of our Sixteens have played for the Under eighteens. So we're already identifying some of them, but the door is always open for young players who will get released by professional clubs. Everyone will be treated equally, wherever they come from, and anyone who doesn't know how to get a trial should send their football CV to us at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. We always reply to them."