Category Two status would be 'big first step' for Hull City Academy players
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WITH Premier League survival hanging by a thread and the suspension of Jake Livermore casting a shadow across the KC Stadium, it was easy to overlook what could end up as a landmark day in
Hull City's modern history.
On Thursday evening of last week came the news of a long-awaited promotion for the club's academy. Eighteen months had been spent overhauling City's youth set-up but the rewards will be seen when the 2015-16 season kicks off in August.
The recommendation to become a Category Two academy, finally shedding the ball and chain of Category Three status, promises to make a difference next year.
No longer will the Tigers' best youngsters have to hone their talents against Lincoln, Grimsby and Mansfield. Instead they will be tested against Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday, Birmingham and Nottingham Forest.
That final step towards Steve Bruce's first team remains enormous but after a decade spent falling behind, City's academy has now started to play catch up.
Tony Pennock was appointed the club's academy manager in February 2014 to oversee the start of the revival and he hopes last week's announcement will prove significant.
"This was always our goal and this is the big first step," said Pennock.
"Without meaning to be disrespectful to the teams we've been playing before, but our lads need to be tested against different types of players. Being a Category Two will give us that throughout the age groups.
"If you look at the regional games our under-9s to under-14s will play, they'll probably be in a group with Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Sunderland, all established Category One clubs.
"Our under-18s and under-21s will play more games and against teams in higher divisions than the ones we currently play against. That can only be beneficial.
"I learn more about a player when they're on the receiving end of a really tough game, even if you lose.
"If it's a young full-back playing against a winger two or three years older than him, who might have been out on loan somewhere in the Football League, then they will only learn from the experience. The better players you play against, the more you learn and the better you become."
As Bruce has lamented regularly, City have been in desperate need of this development at academy level.
At no stage in 2014-15 has a homegrown player featured for the first-team.
Rory Watson's appearances as an unused substitute keeper twice this term has been as good as it has got since Conor Townsend came on as a substitute in the Capital One Cup win at Leyton Orient in August 2013.
The gulf between first team and youth team has never been greater in City's history but bridges are slowly being built.
As well as leaving the club's former site at County Road North, which is now Hull FC's home at the former Ideal Standard grounds, for a move to Bishop Burton College last summer, the academy's staffing numbers have been trebled. Pennock is now flanked by an army of 27 in their new base.
The advent of EPPP (Elite Player Performance Plan) in 2011 had left City paddling in a pool of lower league clubs of similar budgets, but their successful audit has begun rectifying mistakes of the past.
City's under-18s and under-21s can now look forward to debut seasons in the Professional Development League Two, taking them as far as Swansea and Ipswich.
The under-18s and under-21s will mirror one another so will join the Category Two North Division, playing home and away, and then play all clubs in the South Division, half at home and half away. Both senior age groups will have 28 games in their season.
On a weekend, the under-16s will play the same games as the under-18s. They'll travel overnight together and play the same opposition. The under-21s will then play Monday and Tuesday nights.
Pennock added: "This is a big step but I'm extremely proud of what we've achieved in such a short period of time. We've worked hard to recruit staff and with the staff we've inherited and for us it's a big pat on the back after so much work we've put in. This is a reward for them."
However, obtaining the prized Category Two status has not been straightforward. Without an indoor 3G pitch needed to pass the audit, City controversially transformed the Airco Arena next to the KC, evicting several local community groups with just a month of notice.
Hull City Council have since threatened legal action against the club's owners Assem and Ehab Allam, insisting the changes made were a breach of the operating lease held by the Stadium Management Company (SMC).
The politics have left a sour taste for some observers, but Pennock maintains City's intentions have been noble.
He added: "The owner and Steve have made this a priority for a long time. Steve spent the majority of his career at the biggest club in the world and played with great players who came up through the club's academy.
"There are plenty of clubs in the country which produce their own players and the club felt they needed to invest more to stand a better chance.
"There's nothing better than having a local lad playing for the first team and that's what the owners and the manager want.
"It's important to know that without the move to Bishop Burton we wouldn't have got Category Two status. Our former home at Ideal Standard served a purpose but it couldn't do what we needed.
"There's plans to keep on improving here, both with the offices and in other parts of the campus. It's a great place to come and work and I believe the parents can see that."
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