Saw this yesterday, probably most of you have already seen it but if not I'm sure most of you would like to sign up to it: http://www.twtd.co.uk/news.php?storyid=19911&title=trust_launches_academy_petition
I would simply urge people to sign this petition without delay. For the future of our club we must have Cat 1 Academy status!
Doesnt the new regulations mean that a club will be entitled to no more than £100k for each players sold whilst on academy forms anyway and the tribunal set transfer fees are going to tumble as well? if I am correct in these understandings then no matter how deeply I want us to produce our own youth then I cant see it being beneficial. Nearly £3m outlay to bring through 1 decent player every 5 years and this has mainly been done recently with Klug at the helm who is now nothing to do with us. Any true potential will be poached by the chelsea's of this world before a professional contract and we are left with yet another expensive thing to keep sending our debt spiralling. Under the current/ old system I would have no problems but If we do do it then we need total reform of our youth set up starting with the coaching staff.
801 ..... That's nearly as many as Town's average home attendance isn't it ? ......... I'll get my coat ........
I've copy/pasted my old response to this question because I still think it's valid. Of course I would love to see us as a Cat 1 academy but it might not happen until we are in the premiership. If the difference is that you need to spend approx 1.4 million a year to gain 15K a year on your academy products price I can see why ME might think twice about upgrading. Assuming the decision is not one for life and that you can change the status of your academy if you so wish I can see us sticking with the grade two until we (if ever) get promoted. The financial outlay compared with the return is not worth it. If we were to spend that extra 1.4 million on a player we can keep, as well as the cash we might save on staffing the academy at the top level it might mean we stay grade two. We already post on average 10M in losses every year that need paying somehow. Evans' money is the only thing keeping us solvent at the moment and if he decides to use the money on the team rather than the academy I could see his reasoning. We have always had a good academy and brought some good players through but are there enough to justify the extra outlay in the hope you produce another every one or two years?. ME's thinking may be to spend on the team and upgrade after promotion. Sure it puts us at the mercy of grade one academies for a while but if we concentrate more on the first team and gain promotion through this method and then upgrade it wouldn't be all bad. In all honesty, staying grade two doesn't change much for us, you still have the 90 minute rule which is currently being used to pick up youth players and just because grade one's can come in for your player does not mean they will always end up with said player, a deal still has to be agreed with all parties. We will always be at the mercy of bigger clubs anyway, regardless of our academy status. It may only be a temporary situation, it doesn't have to spell the end of our academy for good. If the cash goes into building a promotion winning side then I'm all for staying grade two. #843
I can't figure out really what I think about this. I'd be pleased if we did sign up to it but at the same time I could understand why we wouldn't. What I'm most annoyed about is the football league for actually agreeing to do this, I'm pleased that we were one of the clubs who voted against it, shame a few more didn't have more balls!!
