Jimmy Shan targeting FA Youth Cup glory with Aston Villa - six years after almost scuppering the club's Premier League dream

On Monday afternoon, he will be attempting to mastermind their second FA Youth Cup triumph in the space of four years.

Villa host Manchester City in the final and Shan will be in the home dugout at Villa Park, hoping for a glorious end to his first year as the club’s lead under-18s coach.

“It’s been a mad journey, to say the least,” smiles the former Albion interim boss who came a penalty shoot-out away from knocking Villa out of the play-offs and completely changing the course of recent history.

He adds: “I only came to Villa because I thought I might get a bonus!”

The road from that semi-final second leg at The Hawthorns to now has not always been smooth for Shan. But the experiences, both good and bad, first as a manager at Kidderminster Harriers and Solihull Moors and then as an assistant at Rochdale, Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield, have been valuable.

Neither have they diminished an enthusiasm for coaching which burns brightly as ever. When he received a call last summer from Villa’s academy chief Mark Harrison, previously his boss at Albion’s academy, offering him the role with the under-18s he did not hesitate.

“It just felt the perfect fit,” he explains. “I have known Mark for years. He is my friend as well as my boss.

“It was also an opportunity to lead again. I had done that all my career at Albion’s academy before stepping into Darren Moore’s backroom team.

“Coupled with that, the facilities here are world-class. To work here every day really is a privilege.”

That privilege brings pressure is one of the core messages Shan looks to impart on Villa’s youngsters, along with his own experiences of how brutal the sport can be.

“I have had a whole heap of experience over the last six years, being away from academy football,” he says. “Hopefully those experiences I can utilise and stress the importance of the seriousness of the industry. 

“I can drip-feed that to the younger players and make them understand how hard the industry is.”

There is no attempt at sugar coating. Villa’s investment in its youth set-up under Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens has been colossal.

But as Shan explains: “It means there is no excuse. The resources are massive. 

“The first three weeks I was here Mark came and did a talk with the under-18s and the phrase he used was brilliant: ‘It is almost impossible to become a Premier League player.’ 

“That is the reality. That is not shattering dreams. It is saying you have to focus, you have to make the necessary sacrifices and be so selfish, really, in how you are going to achieve it. “That is utilising everything. It might mean stepping over people, in the right manner, the right fashion. You can’t switch it on and off. It is a cliche but you have to be a 24/7 athlete. You have to be obsessed with it. You have to.”

In a system which is all about producing individual players, the Youth Cup offers the chance for team glory.

A picture of Villa’s victorious team from four years ago, which included the likes of current first-teamer Lamare Bogarde in the line-up, along with Aaron Ramsey and Carney Chukwuemeka, both sold in big money deals, has been used as a source of motivation.

Players have also been sent video messages from former Villa players Barry Bannan and Gareth Barry, the Premier League's all-time record appearance holder, who spoke about their own experiences in the competition.

“When a lot of the senior pros I have worked with over the past few years found out my background was in academies, they would automatically talk about their FA Youth Cup run,” says Shan. 

“This is something which is going to stay with these lads forever. 

“Gareth and Baz (Bannan) have both done messages. It is just about their experiences of coming through the system at this club and then their careers. Gareth’s obviously was second to none and Baz is still churning it out at 35. 

“They are utilising their experience and memories of the competition, how important it is and what it can lead to.”

Villa will be backed by a crowd which may well top 20,000, a totally new experience for players used to playing in front of several hundred.

“It goes one of two ways,” says Shan. “You either get excited by it and utilise the energy and atmosphere that is going to be in the stadium to enhance your performance. 

“Or unfortunately, some players go inwards.

“You speak to a lot of athletes and they talk about being in the zone. I can only talk from a coaching perspective and I have done that. 

“I was assistant to Darren with Albion at Leeds and in the first few minutes we were a goal down. I got lost in the atmosphere that night. It did me. I got lost in it. 

“The atmosphere at Villa Park and then at The Hawthorns for those play-off games, it was as loud as it could possibly be. But that phrase of being ‘in the zone’ I did it. 

“You zone out and you just see the pitch and the players. What is my job, what is my task?

“As good as the atmosphere is going to be - and it is going to be a huge benefit to our players - some of them hopefully will experience what it is like to be in the zone. Just zone out and do your job. It is going to be a fantastic occasion for them.”