I THINK the changes are positive and the future is bright – now give us time to prove it.

That was the message from Shaun Brooks last night as he gave a wide-ranging interview to the Daily Echo on his plans for the future of Cherries’ youth system.

Following the controversial departure of long-serving youth boss Joe Roach last month, the main topic up for discussion with Cherries fans has been the area under Brooks’s control.

As Cherries’ head of youth, his task is to oversee the department from top to bottom.

And while Roach’s parting with the club by mutual consent was met with concern – and even anger – by some supporters, Brooks insists Cherries are moving in the right direction in their bid to produce as many homegrown players as possible for the senior set-up.

Along with fellow former Cherries midfielder Matty Holmes and newly appointed youth team manager Paul Groves, he says the club has an excellent staff to build for the future.

When asked about Roach’s exit, Brooks said: “He had a job and we wanted him to be part of the team to move things forward. He had slightly different ideas.

“He was a great servant for the club for 10 years. Things do change in football, things do move on and I think all the changes we are making at the football club are for the positive. Only time will tell.

“I know the players that have come out of the system so we will be judged in three to five years on how many players we get through.

“I think what we are trying to do – and the remit the chairman gave me – was to try to move it forward and raise the bar a little bit. That is what we have been striving to do for a year now.”

Raising the bar is unlikely to be straightforward, given the success Cherries have enjoyed in recent years. During Roach’s reign, Sam Vokes, Brett Pitman and Josh McQuoid were just some of the talents to emerge from the youth ranks to play important roles, before then earning the club well in excess of £1million in transfer fees.

But Brooks believes two factors are now in the club’s favour – their decision to join the League Football Education (LFE) programme and the switch to housing youth players at Seward Stadium.

Previously, Cherries’ apprentices had been located at Brockenhurst College, where they fulfilled the educational part of their two-year scholarship.

Brooks praised that partnership and confirmed that a link with the college had been maintained as they would still be providing tutors to cater for the players’ study requirements.

But he insisted the move would allow Cherries’ prospects to focus more on footballing matters.

Brooks explained: “We are now in the LFE scheme, where the players are contracted to our club, whereas before they were full-time students with registrations to play.

“They will be working on the training ground Monday to Friday and they will do their education three afternoons a week. Before, they were getting educated and playing their football out of Brockenhurst College, which has worked wonderfully well.

“But we wanted to get them more involved in the football side of it and to make them part of the fabric of the club. It will give them a little bit more of a taste of it – to be rubbing shoulders with the first team, which is where they are all aspiring to be.”

Key to ensuring players keep coming off the Cherries conveyor belt will be new youth team boss Groves, who is a vastly experienced coach having managed Grimsby Town and worked with Portsmouth and West Ham.

Brooks said: “I think it is a wonderful coup, not only for the boys but also for this football club. Paul will be absolutely wonderful for the club.”

He added: “We have got a really strong team at the club and are really looking to move the club forward.

“I think I have been given a wonderful opportunity and that we have got wonderful young talent at the club. We have got some terrific players and for me it is fantastic.

“There is a lot of good work being done at the club. From the under-18s all the way down to the younger age groups, there are a lot of good coaches and a lot of hard work has been put in.

“All we are trying to do now every day is to improve it slightly and make it even better for what I think are terrific young players.”

• Cherries boss Lee Bradbury is set to run the rule over two trialists next week.

Frenchman Sofiane Choubani, 21, will link up for training, as will 24-year-old former Dorchester Town winger Ivan Forbes.