It’s quite a step for a 16-year-old to go from being a top footballer for his age on the Isle of Man, where attendances at matches rarely top 100, to the English football league, the most competitive in the world, playing for Wigan Athletic whose average gates hover around the 9,000 mark. But this is exactly what Adam Long, from Douglas, is embarking upon. Julie Blackburn talked to his mum, Donna, about how her parental concerns about him leaving home so young have been addressed...

’I think it’s different from the old days. I think now they have to provide a duty of care and they need to be seen to be giving these boys a back-up plan not just firing them out at 18, saying "thanks but no thanks" - good luck with the rest of your life,’ Donna tells me as we sit in the garden of the family home in Quarterbridge Road.

When you listen to Donna describing her son’s footballing career so far it’s clear that even a raw talent needs some help, and a spot of luck, along the way.

Adam, who is the oldest of her four sons, started out playing for Union Mills when he was four. At the age of 10 he was playing at centre back for the island team for his age group. At Union Mills he was part of a group of talented youngsters working with coach Geoff Dobbin.

Donna paid tribute to Geoff saying: ’He was lucky in getting a group of boys who were all good and who all got on well But when it came to those difficult teenage years when it’s hard to get them to focus he just kept it all going and kept it all fun with activities outside football like raft-building.

’He kept it at a high level as well. When they were going to play in a tournament he would buy them all a new t-shirt so they felt good going into it - it was little things like that that made the difference.’

Last year all the boys were 15 and, through Geoff, they were all offered the chance to train with St George’s in the summer with a view to joining their combi or first team when they turned 16, if they were good enough. As it turned out, several members of St George’s first team were carrying injuries and all of the lads were good enough to go straight into the team and help fill the gaps.

They took full advantage of this by helping St George’s to win the Canada Life Premier League.

St George’s coach Lee Dixon spotted Adam’s talent and arranged for him to have trials with Everton and Wigan Athletic.

This was a bolt from the blue for his parents and Donna laughs as she recalls how stunned she was when she found out: ’I was on the beach with our dog, Bonnie, it was blowing a hoolie and my husband Rob phoned me and told me.

’I was like - "What? Adam - our Adam? For trials?"

’And that was it - that was Adam’s lucky break, moving to St George’s, Lee Dixon seeing him and his contacts with Wigan.’

Wigan had asked to see Adam first and initially he went to train with them for a day, a Thursday, so he had to get the day off school. They asked him back several times for weekend matches, culminating with one against Burnley.

’They beat them 6-3 and then they phoned Rob on the Monday night and said: "We’d like to offer him a two-year scholarship",’ says Donna.

While at Wigan, Adam, along with the eight other boys who make up this year’s intake, will be doing 15 hours of education a week, all on site in the club’s media centre which is kitted out with laptops and pull-down projectors.

It’s all very different from years gone by when football ’apprentices’ as they were known often spent their days cleaning the first team’s boots, as Donna explains.

’He’ll be doing a BTech in sports science so hopefully at the end of the two years he’ll have that qualification, which is equivalent to two A-levels, and his coaching badges,’ she said.

Rob and Donna have had several trips to Wigan to meet with club officials including their welfare and education officer.

Donna recalls: ’Adam is living with a host family so my first question at this meeting was: "I guess your host families are police checked" and he said; "Absolutely, they all have to go on nutrition courses and they are vetted inside out".

’The family that he’s gone to have been doing it for seven years; they’ve got a five-year-old and a one-year-old of their own and they’re really nice.

’People say: "Are you worried about him?"

’I’m not worried about him from that point of view. His meals are cooked, his washing’s done, the host families are a home from home.’

All the meetings culminated in a very special weekend at Wigan Athletic with a celebration in the boardroom as all the nine boys signed on together. This was followed by them running out on to the pitch before the match the following day and being introduced to the fans.

Adam officially started his new life at Wigan at the end of June and Donna says she doesn’t expect to see him again before Christmas.

’And I don’t want to see him before then because it would mean he’s got an injury or he’s homesick and I don’t want that,’ she adds.

In his phone calls home Adam has told his parents that it’s hard but he’s enjoying it.

Donna smiles: ’We didn’t think for one minute it wouldn’t be hard but he seems to be slotting in quite well and managing to do everything so far.’

Top level football can be a cut throat business but Adam apparently has the talent, the right attitude and the support of the club and his parents. For the future, we can only hope that the luck that has followed him so far stays with him too.