Sheppey United are the inaugural winners of the Southern Counties East Development League - but trophies are only the icing on the cake for youth chairman Gary Seamark.

It’s eight years on from Mr Seamark’s decision to join his local club and start up an under-13 team. He now heads up a thriving youth section where the key aim is to give aspiring footballers a clear pathway to the Sheppey first team and potentially beyond.

A handful of youth players have featured for Sheppey’s Isthmian League side this season, including Bailey Catherick, who was part of that first under-13 side. Winning the Development League is a bonus for the Ites, who also saw their under-18 team make the Kent Cup final.

Mr Seamark said: “It is all about the development of the players. If there are trophies and cups that come with it then so be it, but that is not the aim.

“The aim is to provide those players with a position that when they finish with us at under-18 they are not going to just leave the club. We continue to offer a pathway for players to develop within their own club.

“We were lucky that we had (coaches) Ross Wiles and Simon Beard who were already coaching our under-18s. They wanted to take on the under-23s as well because it made sense.

“They knew which players were ready for the 23s physically, but also in ability, then that was working well. Jack (Midson, first team manager) and Jono (Richardson, assistant) were looking for an extra bit of support with training and they got involved with the first team as well.

“When I came to the club there was no youth structure, there was no youth team, that was eight years ago. I put an under-13 team into the Kent Youth League and half of the players were actually a year too young.

“To now see kids we have had from the age of 12 getting first team football at step four at the age of 17 or 18, it is a credit to everyone who is in that youth section, all the coaches and committee.

“We have a manager and a coaching staff that will give youth an opportunity. If you are good enough you are old enough, there isn’t this ‘let’s go and spend money and pay someone’. Let’s play the youth if they are good enough, that’s what they are here for. It is why players come here. There is a clear player pathway, an opportunity.”

While the pathway to the first team is clear, there are some who don’t make it that far, snapped up by league clubs, and that’s something Seamark is proud of. One of last year’s under-18s, Beaux Booth, was handed a contract with the Brentford B side. Gillingham signed a couple of under-15s while their strong under-10 side includes a youngster at Crystal Palace’s centre of excellence and another on their radar.

Two younger brothers of Sheppey-educated Jordan Zemura - who has recently joined Italian side Udinese from Bournemouth - are at the club. Names to keep an eye on include under-15 players Louis Way and Aston David, who represented Kent in the English Schools Final at the weekend, losing in extra-time.

“The most important thing we have managed to achieve in that period of time is the link between youth and seniors,” said Mr Seamark. “For me that is key. If you are running a youth section separately to the seniors and there is no clear link, what are we doing it for? Why have kids coming to the club with no opportunity to make it into the 23s or even the first team.

“A club linked to step four or five is different to other local teams, like Sheerness East, New Road and Range Rovers. They don’t have the senior men’s teams of that level, that is what I class as grassroots, football for all, everybody play, just have fun. It is not us saying we are better than the other clubs, we don’t have as many teams. They are fantastic at what they do.

“For those boys or girls who want to maybe earn a living from football or play the highest standard of football they can, then Sheppey is the main club on the island. If we are going to provide that then we have to provide what we say we will do, which is giving an opportunity at men’s football.

“It is nice to have titles and cups, that is what the lads enjoy and what creates memories, which is the most important thing. If players can move onto bigger and better things, then so be it, if not then there is a pathway to our first team.”

Sheppey’s under-23 development side play their final league game tonight (Wednesday) away to Snodland Town.