An consequence of Category Two status I hadnt realised is that our young players won't be putting their wits against the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea anymore. Swansea is as testing as it'll get for our youngsters. I don't think it matters that they'll face long trips to play their games, in fact I think it'll do them good to be in a hotel overnight with their teammates occasionally. But now that we have a permanently second tier first team I'm not sure it's helpful for our youngsters to be competing amongst the second tier of U21 and U18 football.
Indeed it will do them good that they will face long trips, it'll get them used to 1st team football!!
Alot of this is down to money - we (Bristol City) are also a Category 2. You have to provide quite a bit of non-football stuff to be a Category 1. The other drawback of being Cat 2 is that you can only recruit players from within a 1 1/2 hour drive of your location whereas Cat 1's can be National.
young players will be drawn to glamour clubs anyway. Its nearly monthly news that some 14 year old hasnt left the likes of Luton to go to one of the big boys. I can also see it becoming the norm that we pick up 19 year olds who have had all their training done by the likes of Chelsea but will never get near their first team. Would prefere the old way but it seems to be the sign of progress.
Category 1 status is estimated to cost £2.5 million per season. Given that Marcus Evans already puts in up to £5m of his own money every seasopn, just to keep the club afloat, is it realistic to expect him to fork out half that amount again when the majority of football league clubs will be settling for cat 3 status? I really think we need a hefty dose of realism at ITFC. At the moment, we are a lower to mid table Championship side with declining attendances and FFP regulations looming on the horizon. We all know that Evans' initial investment into the club has been wasted through poor managerial choices, but there's nothing anyone can do to change that now and the sooner we accept our current position and the financial restrictions that go with it, the sooner we can all get behind the club and give the manager and the players 100% support to try to push it forward. We're lucky to have Marcus Evans. Let's not forget that we were in a shocking financial state before he bought the club and, regardless of the mistakes he has made, he has put his money on the line to try to achieve promotion to the promised land, and has pledged to continue supporting the club going forward. Given the lack of progress since he took over, I for one am relieved that he hasn't just cut his losses and pulled his cash out, like Gaydamak did at Portsmouth. Make no mistake, the consequences of ME losing interest in the club could be utterly disasterous for Town in our current situation. So, we don't have a shiny new category 1 academy. But, we do have an owner who is nevertheless investing heavily just to bring our current academy up to cat 2 status and give us a fighting chance of continuing the proud tradition of homegrown players coming through the ranks to represent the club at 1st team level. So, how about we give ME some credit for what he IS doing for our club, rather than constantly bemoaning the fact that he isn't doing even more? I repeat, we're lucky to have him and it's a shame that some of us might not realise just how lucky we are until he's gone.
Trevor I agree with most of that!! I think i've echoed the words be careful what you wish for on many occasions in recent years, whilst I'm not a fan of the fact we have a business man owning the club rather than a supporter, he certainly is one of the better benefactors, he has made pretty big mistakes though mainly on one managerial appointment IMO.
