Oliver Reiss’ Under-18s beat our cross-city rivals Manchester United 2-1 in front of 7,000 fans at the Joie Stadium in May to see the young Blues lift the prestigious trophy for the fifth time in the Club’s history.
It means that in Kruecken’s three years as Academy Director, City have reached three successive finals and won two FA Youth Cup trophies in that time.
The German highlighted in his interview that our consistent success has been a result of years and years of hard work on and off the pitch alongside the ability to provide City’s young, aspiring players with the ideal environment to learn and develop whilst also creating unforgettable experiences for the squad on their journey towards senior football.
“To be three times in a final in three years is a statement and itself a story of success,” began Kruecken.
“To win two of the three finals is incredible and we are very proud about this. But silverware is not the main target for us, for us it’s just the result of great development work over years.
“So five trophies in the history of the Academy and to win two in the last three years is incredible.
“The campaign was quite tough for us,” Kruecken continued.
“We played Fulham, we played Arsenal, Chelsea, some of the best performances this season we showed in this competition.
“That’s why I think at the end we deserved the win but also credit to Man United, they were a really good opponent in the final.
“It was great to have the game in the Joie Stadium in front of 7,000. A great atmosphere for the boys and what an experience so we will definitely remember this day and [be] hungry for more. Four in a row would be great to achieve.”
Kruecken also discussed City’s latest cohort of senior debuts as well as the benefit of high-quality loan spells, Academy role model Nico O’Reilly and his standout season in City’s first-team and what is next for the Club’s Academy.
You can watch his end of season interview in full via the video above…
