The future is looking bright for Dumbarton Football Club — thanks to one of the most professional youth set-ups in Scotland.

Dumbarton’s YDI programme sees the club run teams from under-13 through to under-17 level as part of the Club Academy Scotland programme while the Sons’s under-20 team are currently flourishing in the SPFL youth league.

The Dumbarton system is headed up by Tony Gervaise who spent 10 years as a player with Clydebank, Hamilton, Queen of the South and Stranraer and has a glittering coaching career, having overseen football projects across Scotland. Gervaise has also spent time working with Arsene Wenger and some of the best in the business at English Premier League giants, Arsenal, and coaching in the US and across Europe, including a spell setting up a football academy in Kosovo.

However, the well-travelled coach, who took over the running of the Dumbarton youth system when Jim Chapman moved to Annan, is delighted with how the Sons youth set up has developed since he took charge.

Over the summer the youngsters took part in a seven week gruelling pre season programme with each of the teams training four times a week including a double session every Sunday.

Gervaise explained: “The boys all committed to a seven week pre season programme which was great to see, there was a great togetherness with the youth teams training beside the first team and under-20s.

“There is brilliant commitment from all of the boys some of them travel from really far away.

“We now have a good professional set up which is great for them and gives them a taste of a proper football club.

“The fitter the boys are and the better condition they are in, the better they will do this season and throughout the rest of their careers.

“The players are getting nutritional advice and we are helping them so they know what to eat and when to eat.

“The set up, extra training and nutritional advice all helps prevent injuries which is crucial for the boys in the future — obviously the group can still get injuries from bad tackles but the help we are giving them will prevent other sort of wear and tear problems.” But while the set-up, advice and organisation are all in place for the players to reach their potential, Gervaise says that the most important thing is the attitudes of the individual youngsters, he added: “We have started well but a lot of it is about redefining results and judging performances and progress.

“We are growing people not just footballers. The person is the player and the player is the person so it is important to have the right kind of people if we want to have the right kind of players.

“It is hard work and the boys appreciate that — everyone needs a wee bit of luck if they are to make it but there is certainly a lot of potential there and if you put a shift in you get a reward.

“Ability is redundant without effort — you need to be totally dedicated and then get a wee break.

“The youth team provides the players with the platform but it is all down to the indiviual and the work they put in.” The youth teams were taken to Ibrox for the first team’s recent clash with Rangers and Gervaise added: “It was a great experience for the boys to sample the first team experience and see what level they could play at if they keep working hard.” If the young Sons keep working in the system with Gervaise and his band of coaches there is a great chance they could form part of a Sons team to take on Rangers in the near future.