For Cat 1, 2 & 3 Academy Players · You Are Not Alone

This Isn't the End. It's Your Next Chapter.

If you've just been released from a professional academy, we know how that feels. Abandoned. Angry. Lost. That feeling is valid, and it doesn't have to be where your story stops.

Best Pathway is building something for players exactly like you: a dedicated app with guidance, support and a clear pathway forward. Register now for early access when it launches.

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Release Support Program Beach.io SeventyTwo Sports Group

We Hear You

Release Day Is Brutal. You're Allowed to Feel It.

Every year, Category 1, 2 and 3 academies release hundreds of talented young players. Often with little notice, minimal support, and no clear plan for what comes next.

You gave years to a system that wasn't built to carry everyone through. You trained, sacrificed, and believed. And now you're standing at a crossroads wondering if it was all for nothing.

It wasn't. Some of the best careers in football started after an academy release. This moment can become the turning point if you have the right support and direction.

Feeling abandoned?

One conversation, a letter, and then silence. The club moves on. You're left to figure it out alone.

Feeling angry or betrayed?

You did everything they asked. The system told you to trust the process, then the process ended without you.

Feeling directionless?

No roadmap. No one explaining your options. Just a gap where your daily structure and identity used to be.

Ready to reframe?

Release is not rejection of your potential. It's a redirect, and with the right guidance, your next step can be stronger than your last.

A Different Lens

Reframe Release as the Start of Something New

The players who come back strongest aren't the ones who never got released. They're the ones who found a new pathway, rebuilt with purpose, and proved the system wrong. See how Reyes Cleary did it.

Clarity

Understand your options (non-league, scholarships, trials, IDP pathways) without the noise and confusion.

Support

Guidance from people who understand elite youth football, not generic advice, but pathway-specific help.

Momentum

A structured plan so you're moving forward within days, not months of drifting and doubting yourself.

App Preview

The Best Pathway App Built for This Moment

A dedicated app for released academy players: your pocket guide to the next step. Register now and be first in when it launches.

Personal mentor video from Leon Best: You're not done, not by a long shot
Mentor welcome video
The next 90 days: your head, your habits and your reps
Next 90 days plan
Knowledge hub articles on mental health, career management and recovery
Knowledge hub
Starter development plan with technical, mental and tactical goals
Starter development plan
App home screen with today's focus, mentors and knowledge picks
App home dashboard
What's included on the pathway: mentor, development plan, workshops and more
What's included

Clear pathway options tailored to your age and level

Individual development support from elite football specialists

Community of players who've been through the same thing

Trial alerts, opportunities and next-step guidance

Who This Is For

Players recently released, or facing release, from Category 1, 2 or 3 professional academies in England.

Whether you're U12 or U21, whether it happened yesterday or last month, if you're looking for direction, support and hope, this is your place.

Cat 1 Released Cat 2 Released Cat 3 Released Parents & Guardians Early Access

Release Support Program

Backed by People Who Build Pathways, Not Promises

The Best Pathway app is sponsored by two organisations committed to young players after academy release: one building the technology to analyse and develop talent, one representing and supporting it on the ground.

Beach.io

Beach.io is a tech innovation lab specialising in sport, with a focus on AI-native workflows for football analysis and insight through computer vision.

For released players trying to rebuild momentum, objective feedback matters. Beach.io builds the tools to turn match footage into clear, actionable development data: movement patterns, decision-making signals, and performance trends that help players and mentors work from evidence, not guesswork.

  • Computer vision and AI workflows for football performance analysis
  • Technology powering the Best Pathway app experience
  • Innovation lab focused on sport, not generic software
SeventyTwo Sports Group

SeventyTwo Sports Group is a sports agency whose football division identifies, signs and supports young talent through the most fragile stages of a career: release, loan moves, first senior contracts, and the step up through the pyramid.

Led by former Premier League striker Leon Best and FIFA-licensed agent Omid Arbabamin, the football arm combines playing experience at the highest level with professional representation. They work with players who need more than a trial email: structure, advocacy, development support, and a long-term plan.

  • Player identification, signing and career management for young talent
  • Mentorship from Leon Best alongside professional agency representation
  • Pathway support when academy football ends and senior football begins
Reyes Cleary, Barnsley FC winger
Pathway Proof Represented by SeventyTwo Sports Group

Reyes Cleary

Age 22 • Barnsley FC • Left winger • England U19

Cleary came through West Bromwich Albion's Category 1 academy, signed a professional contract in December 2021, and earned an England U19 cap. He made his senior debut in the FA Cup in January 2022 and was nominated for Premier League 2 Player of the Month that same season. But first-team opportunities at The Hawthorns never materialised: seven appearances across four seasons, and a pathway that had stalled.

The reset came lower down the pyramid. A loan to Walsall in 2024–25 was cut short. A half-season at Hartlepool United in the National League changed everything: six goals in 20 appearances, proof he could dominate at senior level. In June 2025, West Brom confirmed his departure to Barnsley on a permanent transfer. He signed a three-year deal at Oakwell with an option for a fourth.

The 2025–26 season has been transformative. Cleary has been one of League One's most productive wide players: seven goals and 13 assists in 42 league games, joint-leader for assists in the division. He was named EFL Young Player of the Month for November 2025 after five goal contributions in an unbeaten month. He scored a 60-yard strike against Bradford City that earned Goal of the Season recognition, and impressed on the national stage in the FA Cup at Anfield against Liverpool.

7
League One goals
13
League One assists
YPOTM
Nov 2025 (EFL)
42
League appearances

The next step is already taking shape

By spring 2026, multiple Championship clubs were linked with Cleary in the press, including Sheffield United, Blackburn Rovers, Bristol City and Derby County. Barnsley were reported to be preparing for summer interest after rejecting bids during the January window. The arc is the point: academy exit, rebuild on loan, free transfer, dominant senior season, and Championship clubs circling.

"Cleary was viewed as a top talent in the West Brom academy. Opportunities proved hard to come by. It was with Hartlepool that he announced himself on the senior stage, and duly earned a move to Barnsley."

Football League World, May 2026

Stats: 2025–26 League One season (Opta / EFL). Cleary's West Brom departure confirmed by the club, 30 June 2025. Transfer interest reported by BBC Sport and Football League World, spring 2026.

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"Being released doesn't define you. What you do next does."

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