Category one status denied for the academy

http://www.nufcblog.com/2012/08/01/big-blow-for-newcastles-youth-academy/

Bad ****...

 

What we have in place now seems to be working for the foreign recruits...

What I will say is that Sunderland and Boro are ten times better at bringing through local youth and have been for ages. It would be nice for us to get there as well and not have to buy back our own fecking talent

 

I am wondering a bit about this, why if it is so important have none of the big clubs in the league gone for it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_Player_Performance_Plan

The biggest confirmed are Sunderland tbf, with a couple of other mid table premier league teams in there but no Manu / Arsenal etc. - wouldn't these clubs have jumped at the chance if it was something that could be beneficial to them ?

I must admit I don't fully understand the benefits myself though reading that wikipedia article seems to suggest it is a mechanism to help lower league clubs from having their players poached and also a way for the PL to give a bit more back to those clubs in the form of funding for better academy facilities if they put the initial effort in.

 

Obviously we knew this was coming a few months back, but nows its been confirmed we need to get it up to scratch asap. Otherwise we can kiss goodbye to the top young talent coming. Well some of it anyway. The youngsters in the area will end up at Boro or Blunderland.

 

Chelsea, Man Utd and Man City are all rumoured to have been awarded Category 1 status, but have yet to announce it.
Spurs, Arsenal and Liverpool are yet to be audited, apparently.

 

The categorisation thing is where they've gone really wrong with this EPPP thing. Crewe Alex have a fantastic academy and a great record of producing talent, but because they don't have much money they aren't category 1. Chelsea's academy is category 1 because they've thrown money at it. Graduates include Scott Sinclair, Jack Cork, Ryan Bertrand and Josh McEachrane. The former two went on to make their names elsewhere and the latter two will probably do likewise when they get forced out by big signings. Despite those players suggesting that technically their academy isn't bad, it hasn't followed the model of bringing players through to the first team. To give Boro some credit, they do have a fantastic record of bringing youngsters through and probably deserve category 1.

 

I don't think its as good as most people make out.

 

They're obviously doing something right with all the good players coming out. Same goes for Watford, Palace, Wycome etc who aren't category 1 because they don't have the cash. Would be fairer if they assesed based on investment relative to intake rather than total investment. My point is that bigger doesn't always mean better.