Written by kirsikka
We were all delighted at the news that AFC Bournemouth’s youth academy is now up to category 2, and some wondering if we might try and take that final step whilst the door is still open to new entrants. Hopefully, this will continue the recent good work in bringing players through for the first team, whether that’s those that join at a young age or the cast-offs picked up at 16 or 18.
Thinking about Foley’s vision, the academy should become an absolutely vital cog in the machine in more than one way. It isn’t only about providing players to play for us but as an important revenue stream.
FFP in the PL has tightened up in recent years and has started to bite numerous clubs. We’re currently in our honeymoon period but it will become a limiting factor in a couple of season’s time unless we are able to sell on a few players at a large profit.
This is where the academy can contribute. We aren’t likely to be selling players for huge sums that have never played for us, like Man City. If a youngster is that good, they’ll make our squad. However, look at how Man City have been using their academy. Any money invested there isn’t counted towards your FFP calculations so if you can collect a group of young players and sell some of them on, it’s pure profit that gives you extra wiggle room for your FFP calculations.
Last season Man City sold academy players to Southampton for about £25m. Already this season they look set to raise another £15m with a sale to West Ham.
We are never going to be pulling in the shirt manufacturer deals, training ground sponsorships, far east noodle partnerships, and so on that bring the biggest clubs extra hundreds of millions a year. We can certainly do better with our commercial revenue, and that seems to be a big focus, but we have to look at other ways to bring in the cash.
If we can get our academy producing a production line of youngsters that we don’t think will make the grade with us but can be sold to Championship clubs that’ll be invaluable for our FPP ticking time bomb.
You could say Man City’s academy is an overnight success fifteen years in the making. If we invest now, it likely won’t provide returns for a good number of years. However, seeing the investment that’s already been made and looks to continue being made is encouraging for our future. Not only with graduations to our first team in mind.
And yes, I recognise it sounds a bit like farming players but I’m not sure it’s in the Chelsea mould. If we’re set on a small group and trying to help them progress it isn’t in the same industrial farming area as having 64 players out on loan, and whole other groups at the club.
So, fingers crossed we’ve set our sights on Category 1.
Your say…
fred1407 wrote…
The biggest step to gaining Cat 1 or Cat 2 classification is mainly down to facilities at a club. Along with an audit of the club and the academy, they also require certain facilities including an indoor training pitch before you will be considered for Cat 2. At Cat 1 the club is also responsible for educating the players as they are on day release from their schools. This includes employing teachers and meeting the government’s required standards.
It doesn’t work that just because you have been in the PL for 8 or 80 years that you should automatically be Cat 1. It is up to the club to prioritise how seriously they take in producing their own players and this isn’t always on the agenda for a lot of clubs. Even at Cat 3 there is nothing stopping you from pushing on to try and produce players even though you don’t have the required facilities.
The work that has been carried out down at Canford, and the backing the club is getting from their new owners is very exciting, but I do still feel that the club’s mentality needs to change to get the right people in the right seats and also improve the quality of coaching to give the young lads any chance of progressing. As a snapshot, we are starting the season with at least 5 age groups not having a permanent coach which is confusing for the lads and very unprofessional as fixtures now start. – To join the conversation, click here.
