Should we have our own Academy?

is it about time there was a serious discussion on the future of our youth teams and youth development programme? it may stir up some further heated debate but there’s a question of whether, due to the limited success in producing players, it is fit for purpose anymore.

the principles of having a plan where we become self-sufficient in financial terms are great, and again brentford is a fantastic example of how this can be acheived but they had to make some tough decisons regarding their youth policy. decisions that were derided at the time but ones that looking back were correct for the club and it’s plan to move forward.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.football.london/championship/brentford-rasmus-ankersen-transfer-plan-14136285.amp

it would be a difficult decision to make without doubt but when we consider the amount of talent, from not only the wider local area but the bradford area, that we miss out on and are still missing out on then we have to question its viability going forward.

 

i think it’s almost 100% the way we have to go now.

when was the last time we produced a player that came into the first team, did well over a prolonged period and we sold him to a bigger club for a decent amount of money? andy o’brien?

yes, we’ve sold players such as george green, tom cleverly, andre wisdom and oli mcburnie in recent years for decent amounts with decent sell-on clauses (i imagine) but the academy system has changed even since those times and now rather than £300k with decent clauses, we’d get £3000 per year of development and other minimal costs associated with first-team appearances, which they don’t make many because they are snatched up before that by clubs who can afford to stockpile talent.

it’s not financially sustainable to keep up unless the players are going to reach first team level and be able to develop there for a few years before being sold for good money.

barnsley are the best academy set-up in the yorkshire region right now and we’re at least 10 years behind them.

 

i’m not sure.. i’ve a close friend who does a lot of work through palace and player recruitment - i’ll ask if he knows anything.

 

whatever an academy is, it has to serve a purpose and has to be fit to serve that purpose. there also needs to be a clear pathway set for any player that enters that academy with a support structure in place for them when they leave, whether that be to another club or released - but in essence, it has to be financially viable and not a drain on resources. which unfortunately for a lot of lower league clubs it can be, unless the cost can be absorbed by either the owners, the club profits from competition or from the sale of academy graduates to bigger clubs.

at the moment we have category 3 status for the academy, held since 2014. category 1 clubs include the elite clubs such as man utd, man city, etc including some championship clubs such as derby, aston villa and 'boro. category 2 clubs range from crystal palace to colchester. category is dependent on a number of factors such as access to facilities and medical departments, coaching programmes and recruitment.

the changes to EPPP has effectively put a stranglehold on category 3 clubs by the elite clubs by bringing in 'tariffs' that are paid to the development club based on how many development years they were at the academy and how many first team games the player has played. these tariffs being £3000 per year for ages 9-11, and ranging from £12.5k-£40k for each year a player has been at an academy between 12-16; this dependant on what category the academy is. so the lower category of academy, the lower the cost for the purchasing club. this is the same for if the player has first team appearances; if a player makes up to 10 appearances in the premier league the club would receive £150k rather than £5k in league two.

whereas previously the selling club could negotiate on their terms based on the potential of the player and if no fee could be agreed it would go to an independent tribunal, now a category 1 academy can attend any training ground in the country and effectively buy the best prospects for as little as £3k.

let's us the example of 'player X' ; if he came to the club aged 9, was showing fantastic promise and was to be 'the next big thing' and was 'bought' by a category 1 club at age 15 he would have only commanded a fee of around £46.5k. this would be set by the tariffs under EPPP rather than clubs being able to negotiate like we have been able to with the likes of andre wisdom, tom cleverly and george green etc in the past. the player could be here today and gone tomorrow and there is little that we can do about it.

this is copied from another source but uses the example of jermain defoe under previous rules:

"when jermain defoe moved from charlton athletic to west ham united aged 16 the award was £400,000 upfront with another £1.25m based on future club/international appearances and a 15% sell-on fee.

under EPPP the addicks might not have secured such (relatively) favourable terms. if mutual agreement on compensation cannot be reached the PFCC adjudication will run to a set formula based on the cost of training and the level of academy where they have been trained, without taking into account potential."

now which category 1 club is going to go into negotiations and negotiate properly if they know that under the new rules, if they can't reach an agreement then the tariffs calculate payment. i doubt many would or do. especially when they can use the lure of bigger name, better facilities, better coaching to tempt the player and family into pushing for a move.

it is suggested that a category 3 academy can cost up to £500,000 per year to run and during the 2016/17 season we were 69th out of the 86 clubs currently with academies in terms of players that have been through our academy making appearances in the top 5 tiers.

how long can clubs keep putting up to £500k per year into a system where they may only make 1/10th back each season if they are lucky enough to develop one decent player and sell at the age of 15? granted if the player signs professional forms and develops into a first team player, playing a number of games and eventually moving on to a bigger club for a hefty transfer fee it can be worth it but even then, if the player leaves on a free at the end of their contract the tariff fee to be paid can be minimal - if a league one player goes on to play 100 league one matches for their club and decides to leave then the development fee to be paid is an additional £100k on top up development fees up to the age of 16. if this happened in any other line of business, that branch of the business would be closed for not being financially viable.

why did lower league and football league clubs sign up to this? because the Premier League threatened to withhold the funding that they provide towards youth development in the country and setup their own development programme.