The development of youth

[jack the shrimper]

The Football League clubs voted for this by a significant majority; they only have themselves to blame as they allowed themselves to be railroaded by the Premiership. Only 22 League clubs voted against and I am still not sure which way we voted.

I'm sure I read somewhere that the Premier League had hinted at drastically cutting back on funding for Football League clubs, had the vote not been passed.

 

[Napster]

I'm sure I read somewhere that the Premier League had hinted at drastically cutting back on funding for Football League clubs, had the vote not been passed.

yes, this is true.

BBC Sport understands the Football League reluctantly advised its members to vote in favour at Thursday's meeting at the Bescot Stadium in Walsall. If clubs had opted against the proposals, the annual funding they receive from the Premier League for youth development - over £5m-per-season - would have been withheld.

 

[Mick]

I'm sure I read somewhere that the Premier League had hinted at drastically cutting back on funding for Football League clubs, had the vote not been passed.

That is correct, the Football League showed no stomach for this particular battle.

 

[hockleyeast1964]

unbelievable:sad: . The old saying the rich get richer couldn't be more apt.

 

[EastStandBlue]

I'm sure I read somewhere that the Premier League had hinted at drastically cutting back on funding for Football League clubs, had the vote not been passed.

They didn't hint it, they threatened to withhold a significant portion of the solidarity payments Football League clubs are eligible for. They claimed that this was earmarked for youth development programmes and, in order to be eligible for it, they'd have to accept the changes.

That isn't to say I don't agree with Mick to a certain extent, though. Football League clubs should've showed a bit of backbone and protested against what is a shameless attempt at blackmail. It's understandable that most FL clubs, particularly those in League One and Two, could ill afford to miss out on income they'd probably already budgeted for, and the Football League should've made more of a stand to protect its members from such a ploy.

It wasn't so much a case of the turkeys voting for Christmas as it was a case of the turkeys voting between either Christmas or Easter.

 

[DTS]

Do we still have Marlon Agagananagwahamwhananahagfaa and if so what happended as I thought he was with the first team?

 

[Yorkshire Blue]

"Academy Status" as such is abolished as of next season as clubs are re-categorised as per the Elite Player Performance Plan. The old Academy status roughly translates as Category 2 of 4, which requires a specific amount of investment. Category 1, for instance, requires an operational budget of £2.5m p/a and 18 full-time staff. As it stands, I think only 16 Premier League clubs qualify for Category One, with Southampton likely to qualify also.

Category 2 requires an operational budget of circa £950k p/a and an indoor training facility, something which very few clubs have (most will merely rent one when necessary, like we've done in the past when the weather's stopped us from training). I don't think a single League One/Two club will qualify for Category 2, as the clubs expected to qualify for this are of the Ipswich, Hull, Wigan size.

Category 3, roughly equivalent to the old Centre of Excellence status, still requires an annual operational budget of £315k, something I think we just fall short of. We plough around £250k per year into the youth development programme (at least that was the figure last quoted, I strongly suspect it may have come down by now), which means we'll be left in the last category. We won't be able to approach youngsters until they're 16 years old and we'll have to give access to any youngsters that impress to Category 1-3 clubs, with a pre-set amount of compensation awarded to us, doing away with the tribunal process.

Without significant outside investment or an upturn in our fortunes on the pitch, we won't be qualifying for Category 3 any time soon. Any player who has impressed for us under the age of 16 is likely to be poached by any one of the Cat 1/2/3 clubs. I wouldn't be at all surprised if there's a serious re-think as to our youth development policy over the summer.

This is why it's been thoroughly important for us to develop close links with Premier League clubs in our area. Through cooperating with them, we're far more likely to be tipped off or recommended to 16 year olds who don't quite cut the grade at Premier League level and, as such, will become available to Category 4 clubs upon their release.

Now Category 3

 

[OldBlueLady]

Now Category 3

Which is great news and the best we could hope for without an indoor training facility. Well done to Ricky Duncan and all the boys involved on their efforts in achieving this.

 

[Beefy]

Great news.

I said at the time that I didn't think that the new setup would be the death of youth football at small clubs. Clubs with good setups who invest in youth development will be rewarded and recognised and if standards of training are improved all around then everyone benefits.

 

[SS3]

Which is great news and the best we could hope for without an indoor training facility. Well done to Ricky Duncan and all the boys involved on their efforts in achieving this.

I read today on the OS that we passed category 3 with flying colours and not to far ways from category 2......

 

[OldBlueLady]

I read today on the OS that we passed category 3 with flying colours and not to far ways from category 2......

No, but having an indoor facility is part of Cat 2 requirements. When you consider some of the clubs who have failed to make the grade for this, it really is a fabulous achievement.

 

[EastStandBlue]

Great stuff, and something of a surprise considering the annual investment required to attain such status. Hopefully this'll keep some of the wolves at the door, so to speak. It's important we're able to at least keep parity with the likes of what Colchester and Gillingham achieve to stop them from being able to poach youngsters for peanuts.

Don't quite get how the club can say we were almost awarded Category 2, though. We don't have an indoor facility and won't until the stadium relocation is complete (Arf!) and we sure as hell won't be allocating circa £900k to the academy any time soon.

 

[Jam_Man]

Is there an indoor facility planned for FF then? Dont remember seeing one?

 

[EastStandBlue]

Is there an indoor facility planned for FF then? Dont remember seeing one?

Vaguely remember there being scope for one in the new training ground plans? May well have gotten that completely wrong though. From what I gather they don't have to be anything extravagant, just an all-weather surface with one of those dome structures around it like the old David Beckham Academy in Greenwich.

 

[Beefy]

I think I remember that as well. At the time it was being spoken about as a necessity in the move towards Academy status.

 

[SS3]

No, but having an indoor facility is part of Cat 2 requirements. When you consider some of the clubs who have failed to make the grade for this, it really is a fabulous achievement.

No - What??

Yes it is a great achievement and demonstrates the great work that is being done to invest in the future of the club.

This whole indoor training facility requirements, what type of indoor facility is required to fulfill the requirement? Also, would the club having the use of a facility such as the one over at Play Football at their disposal, and with short notice if required meet the requirement

 

[EastStandBlue]

No - What??

Yes it is a great achievement and demonstrates the great work that is being done to invest in the future of the club.

This whole indoor training facility requirements, what type of indoor facility is required to fulfill the requirement? Also, would the club having the use of a facility such as the one over at Play Football at their disposal, and with short notice if required meet the requirement

According to the FA's youth development rules related to indoor facilities:

Category One and Two clubs must have: One indoor pitch measuring a minimum of 60 yards by 40 yards which shall be owned by the Club (or alternatively the Club must have a legally enforceable agreement with the owner of the facility for its use by the Club, expiring not earlier than the end of the current Season) and which shall be for the exclusive use of the Academy at all times.

That last line is all-important. As the Play Football centre isn't exclusive to us, it wouldn't count towards what we'd need for Cat 2.

It's also worth bearing in mind that for Category 2 you need to have a room for match analysis large enough to host 20 people and all the necessary equipment, and a classroom large enough for 20 students and 20 computers with internet access. It's been a long, long time since I've been down to B&L but I'm fairly sure we don't have that luxury either.

 

[Mick]

Don't quite get how the club can say we were almost awarded Category 2, though.

Like we almost signed Egan and Sokolik and Appiah et al.

We must have been a long way from achieving Cat 2 for any number of reasons including those already mentioned.

Let that not detract from the achievement of passing the Cat 3 audit; the examiners are being quite picky in a number of areas and it would have been far from a rubber stamping exercise.

 

[Mick]

It's also worth bearing in mind that for Category 2 you need to have a room for match analysis large enough to host 20 people and all the necessary equipment, and a classroom large enough for 20 students and 20 computers with internet access. It's been a long, long time since I've been down to B&L but I'm fairly sure we don't have that luxury either.

If we have, don't tell anyone because they won't be there in the morning !

 

[SS3]

According to the FA's youth development rules related to indoor facilities:

Category One and Two clubs must have: One indoor pitch measuring a minimum of 60 yards by 40 yards which shall be owned by the Club (or alternatively the Club must have a legally enforceable agreement with the owner of the facility for its use by the Club, expiring not earlier than the end of the current Season) and which shall be for the exclusive use of the Academy at all times.

That last line is all-important. As the Play Football centre isn't exclusive to us, it wouldn't count towards what we'd need for Cat 2.

It's also worth bearing in mind that for Category 2 you need to have a room for match analysis large enough to host 20 people and all the necessary equipment,and a classroom large enough for 20 students and 20 computers with internet access. It's been a long, long time since I've been down to B&L but I'm fairly sure we don't have that luxury either.

Thanks for this. Have been having a look at the Facilities sections within ther Youth Development Ruls PDF document from the FA. and and the requirement mentioned aboove is also applicable to Cat 3&4......

269.11. Classrooms
Categories 3 & 4

Access for Academy Players and Trialists to a study area large enough to hold 20 people and which contains at least 20 computers with internet access.​

Note: in Category 3 and 4 Academies, this may also be used as the team meeting room provided that the timetabling of lessons in the classrooms allows​