AFC Bournemouth’s youth set-up has been awarded Category Two status, shifting the club upwards from its original Category Three status.
The decision was made official following an audit by the Professional Game Academy Audit Company (PGAAC).
The benefits of this are seen immediately as the step up in category sees the under-18s automatically moved into a different more competitive league and the development squad will also enter the Professional Development League.
AFC Bournemouth chief executive Neill Blake told afcb.co.uk…
“This exciting development is the latest positive step for us, with Bill continuing his plans to invest in and develop all aspects of the football club.
“Lots of hard work has been put into achieving Category Two status from staff in the academy and across the club, and is an example of what we are striving to achieve here.
“Following the integration of our women’s team, this is another crucial step for us in growing every area of AFC Bournemouth.
“We can now look ahead to continued success and development for the academy and the whole club.”
AFC Bournemouth Academy manager Sam Gisborne added…
“This is great news for the academy and the whole club; we are really looking forward to taking this next step.
“I’d just like to say a massive thank you to all academy staff, past and present, for their hard work.
“Also, a special mention to Joe Roach, who deserves a lot of credit.”
Your say…
kirsikka said…
Genuinely good news. Thanks to Max for getting the ball rolling and Bill for completing the job.
Now they’ve reopened Cat 1 to new entrants, I wonder if we have plans to aim for it and what else we would need to make it happen in terms of facilities?
I assume at Cat 2 we’re still a sitting duck to having our youth players swiped any time a Cat 1 team fancies so it’s a great step and will give better games to our youngsters but is still problematic given the way youth football has been engineered to benefit the few.
fred1407 added…
Great news for our lads in the academy. No disrespect to clubs like Exeter and Swindon who we usually have to play on a weekly basis, but we need the intensity of playing stronger sides to hopefully produce our own from an early age rather than just picking up players at 16 when they have been released from these Cat 1 clubs. Hopefully, this will also attract a better calibre of coaches too. – To join the conversation, click here.
