Aspire's aim is to reverse the idea that young players who are rejected by professional clubs cannot make it in the game. Ian Wright - who was 21 before he signed for Crystal Palace - Les Ferdinand, and, more recently, DJ Campbell of Birmingham and Leicester, proved that late developers can make it in the big leagues.

At Aspire, boys as young as 12 are selected through recommendations from schools and district and county teams as well as those already released by clubs, and those who make it through trials play competitive age-group football for Dulwich Hamlet FC, the Ryman club that the academy partners. What separates Aspire from other schemes is its combined emphasis on pastoral care and education. All boys must agree to attend college and study for a BTec. Some of the hopeful young pros enjoy settled backgrounds; others have little guidance from absent fathers or uninterested mothers. 

"At Ajax they have the school, the training facilities," says Gavin Rose. "Long term, it would be great to have one base."

A defining element of the scheme - whose full title is Academic and Sporting Prowess Inspired Routes to Excellence - is to provide other opportunities if its students cannot make it in the hazardous professional game. 

Rose hopes to show the boys that a career in football is not necessarily over if they have not signed a contract at 16. "Lads who have been released by professional clubs do find it difficult and think they might not want to continue any more," he says. Rose speaks from experience. He was a young midfielder at Wimbledon, Charlton, QPR and Southend before he played non-League football and began coaching youth soccer.

"I started coaching at Leyton Square adventure playground, close to where I live," says Rose, referring to the Peckham estate on which he grew up with Rio Ferdinand, a close friend and a patron of Aspire alongside brother Anton. "There were a lot of kids there going off the rails who were good at football. The ethos the play-leaders had was to take an interest with youngsters socially as well as professionally, which in turn built trust with the young attendees."

The experiences inspired him to open the Aspire academy in 2002. It has since prevented young talent from dropping out of the game by providing players for clubs including Chelsea, Spurs and Wolves.

George Elokobi, a 23-year-old left-back at Molineux, went straight into Mick McCarthy's team when he joined from Colchester United . Born in Cameroon, his family moved to south London six years ago and, while he attended school in Oval, his football education was acquired at Aspire. "Gavin and Junior spoke to me a lot," says Elokobi. "It helped me as an individual. The scheme is good to keep you off the streets and away from gangs - there's a lot of knife stabbings in London, and it taught us to stay away. It's a big brother thing."

There are similar schemes at other clubs, though Rose says: "Ours is a lot more community-based. We understand the dynamic with the kids coming through the door. Some of them have tough backgrounds and broken homes, so there's a lot more mentoring."

Rose hopes that with government funding and help from Rio's Live The Dream Foundation, the academy will secure its future. "I would never have thought I could ever play, even at this level," says Elokobi. Now he can consider the prospect that he might be a Premier League player next season, if Wolves win promotion. "That," he says, "would be a dream."