Dropping an academy level

[phantom]

Interesting to see that teams are voluntarily stepping down a level

Assume this is down to costs?

So 3 clubs have dropped out of Cat 1 for next season following audits:

- Birmingham City
- Burnley
- Reading

 

[Bar BS3]

Seems odd to me, 

Catagory 1 status gives you a MASSIVE advantage in securing young talent - to give that up would be crazy! 

Has it been the clubs decision, or has it been forced on them, by some kind of "relegation"..? 

[RoystonFoote'snephew]

There'll have been some sort of pressure applied. There's a desire for Cat 1 status to be restricted to sides in the Premier League. 

[Harry]

I think it’s costs an extra £1m per year to be Cat 1. These teams have clearly made this decision based on their current financial situations. 

[Malago]

3 minutes ago, Harry said:

I think it’s costs an extra £1m per year to be Cat 1. These teams have clearly made this decision based on their current financial situations. 

£3-4 million according to Tins in an interview he gave at the end of last season.

[Harry]

2 minutes ago, Malago said:

£3-4 million according to Tins in an interview he gave at the end of last season.

I think that might refer to how much it would cost us to get there initially, but thereafter I thinks it’s basically about another £1m more per year. 

[East Londoner]

So Derby are retaining category one status?

[Monkeh]

5 hours ago, Bar BS3 said:

Seems odd to me, 

Catagory 1 status gives you a MASSIVE advantage in securing young talent - to give that up would be crazy! 

Has it been the clubs decision, or has it been forced on them, by some kind of "relegation"..? 

There is a massive cost involved which is probably why they are dropping down

[Lrrr]

4 hours ago, Harry said:

I think it’s costs an extra £1m per year to be Cat 1. These teams have clearly made this decision based on their current financial situations. 

Reading only found out they were being downgraded the day before it was announced,. They had already committed to the cost of running a cat 1 academy in terms of staff etc, so they've got a burning hole of about £400,000 committed spend that won't be covered by their loss of funding from the PL for being a cat 1 academy of around £800,000, so I think its around £1.2m

[Lrrr]

FWIW Forest and WBA also placed in 1 year review period, so could very easily find themselves in Cat 2 next season as well.

[Port Said Red]

Seems a short sighted view to me but not really a surprise. I suppose this is the football equivalent of "the training budget". As a Training Consultant (now retired) I was always battling against the idea that training is a cost rather than a benefit, and always the first thing to be dropped when times got tough or work got too busy to release people.

[Davefevs]

9 hours ago, Lrrr said:

FWIW Forest and WBA also placed in 1 year review period, so could very easily find themselves in Cat 2 next season as well.

Did I read somewhere that the PL are trying to make Cat 1 only for PL teams?

[Lrrr]

7 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Did I read somewhere that the PL are trying to make Cat 1 only for PL teams?

I hadn't read that anywhere, I have read that they're tightening/increasing requirements for cat 1 meaning it will cost more, a kick on could be that those who get the PL money will find it easier to fund it without relying on owners funding it.

[Davefevs]

24 minutes ago, Lrrr said:

I hadn't read that anywhere, I have read that they're tightening/increasing requirements for cat 1 meaning it will cost more, a kick on could be that those who get the PL money will find it easier to fund it without relying on owners funding it.

Yeah, that’s probably the gist of what I read…ta.

[GrahamC]

Definitely will be costs in Birmingham’s case & presumably Reading too.

Burnley seems a strange one.

[Barrs Court Red]

14 minutes ago, GrahamC said:

Definitely will be costs in Birmingham’s case & presumably Reading too.

Burnley seems a strange one.

Burnley are financially buggered, so it’s not a surprise. 

[Davefevs]

4 minutes ago, Barrs Court Red said:

Burnley are financially buggered, so it’s not a surprise. 

Im not sure they are.

Rumours if having to pay back their loan on relegation were exaggerated by the looks of it…although they did have to repay some of it.

But they’ve just sold Pope for £10m and Collins for £20m…think they’ll be fine

[GrahamC]

15 minutes ago, Davefevs said:

Im not sure they are.

Rumours if having to pay back their loan on relegation were exaggerated by the looks of it…although they did have to repay some of it.

But they’ve just sold Pope for £10m and Collins for £20m…think they’ll be fine

Plus their signings so far (surprise, surprise) 2 Anderlecht players & 3 ex Man City youngsters aren’t exactly what sides coming down usually do.

In contrast for instance Norwich spent £11m yesterday on some Brazilian midfielder.

I think they’ll be an interesting side to watch, they have lost a lot of their better players (Cornet is expected to leave next) so will be competing on a much more equal level than most ex Prem sides.

[Derby_Ram]

17 hours ago, East Londoner said:

So Derby are retaining category one status?

For next year at least. The original business plan was built around it being feasible if we bounced straight back up. Be interesting to see if Clowes changes that but his comments so far are that he wants us to remain cat one.

Ironically if we'd have sold the likes of Buchanan, Ebosele, Williams and Ebiowei who all left in either Jan or end of season for full value rather than just training compensation we'd have more than covered the costs for 1-2 years and brought the overall debt down.