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Town Opt for Category Two
Town Opt for Category Two
Friday, 30th Mar 2012 06:01

Chief executive Simon Clegg has confirmed that the Blues will not be applying for Academy Category One status for next season. Town have opted for Category Two in the Elite Player Performance Programme (EPPP) reorganisation of youth football which comes into effect this summer, but as reported by TWTD earlier in the month, could look to upgrade after promotion to the Premier League.

Clegg is aware that the news that the Blues won't be applying for Category One before the end of the month deadline won’t be universally welcomed, but feels it’s the right decision for the club at this point in time: “It is a very emotive subject, I recognise that, but I think the most important thing is that we do the right thing for this football club and that has driven the entire process.

“I’ve spent a lot of time on this, it has been right at the top of my agenda for the last three or four months and we’ve employed another full-time member of staff and a part-time consultant to lead on this area.

“The manager is fully in the loop and is fully supportive of what we’re doing and where we’re going, as are the Academy staff.

“We believe that this is the right decision for this football club and I’m confident that through this process what we’re delivering can only be enhanced."

He admits that Category One would be the ideal but says it’s beyond Town at present at £2.35 million per annum - including a Premier League grant of £750,000 - and rising by £50,000 a season. Category Two costs at least £960,000 per season, including a grant of £480,000.

“Of course we would aspire to Category One but it’s just not viable at this moment in time,” he said. “I think we will also need to see what happens through the process of those clubs who are applying for Category One; how many get it, particularly how many clubs — if indeed any — from outside the Premier League.

“It’ll also be interesting to see how many Premier League clubs are not applying for Category One status.

“But all of that is a bit of a distraction because the entire process here has been driven by what is right for this football club and I’m convinced that going for Category Two at this moment in time is the right thing to do."

Clegg says that although spending on the club's Academy is outside the new Financial Fair Play rules, it still has an impact on Town's overall expenditure: “Marcus Evans is an incredibly generous individual in terms of the way that he supports this club, but he hasn’t got bottomless pockets.

“What we had to do was make the right decision for this football club and balance up the money that is available in terms of how we want to spend it and where youth development fits within the rest of the club and particularly where it fits against first team expenditure.”


Clegg says that Town, who voted against the EPPP reorganisation in October, can reassess their position and would consider doing so if they are promoted to the Premier League, although not necessarily in the first season: “If you want to apply for recategorisation, you can.

“But be very clear, we don’t have anywhere near some of the residential facilities that would be required for Category One. That would require massive extra additional investment on the part of the club.

“But if we got to the Premier League and thought we could justify an application, then we can make an application and clubs can be recategorised, both upwards and downwards.”

The chief executive says that even though the Blues will be applying for Category Two — that deadline is the end of next month - more money will be spent on the Academy than is the case at the moment with the Premier League minimum figures unrealistic: “Net, [the current annual cost is] about £900,000. I think there will be an increase in expenditure on a like-for-like basis, which is significantly more than [the figures quoted above].

“The additional staffing element is the first thing, but we’re still working that through because one of the frustrating things is that the goalposts have been changing through this entire process, which is why it’s taken us so long to get to a position where we’re announcing what we’re doing.

“Even the games programme isn’t sorted. It won’t be sorted until Thursday when there’s a meeting of the Premier League clubs to decide what it will be.”

The number of extra staff isn’t yet set but Clegg gave a rough idea: “I don’t want to split them down between full-time and part-time at the moment, but somewhere between six and eight. The current total of full-time staff is nine or 10.”

He says it’s not been decided whether current Academy manager Sammy Morgan will be in a similar position in the new set-up: “We’re still working through the entire staffing structure of the Academy. The staff are aware that we’re going to have a structure there that is right to support Category Two.

“People are excited about the opportunities and expecting people to move over into new positions, but it will be a new structure that will be in place and we’re yet to see where we’re going to get to on that.”

One of the major expenses and the challenge over the summer will be to get Playford Road up to Category Two standard, currently it's at Category Three level: “We are going to need another two classrooms up at the training ground. We’ll need additional offices to accommodate the additional staff.

“We’ll certainly need an analysts’ suite, we’ll need two analysts for working through all the video technology. We’ll require a head of sports science, a team meeting room and additional changing rooms as well.

“We will look to be as creative as we can, but the bottom line is that we are going to have to have additional facilities.”

With Norwich City and various London clubs having announced that they’re opting for Category One, there are fears that youngsters could decide to join those higher status set-ups rather than Town’s.

Clegg says he doesn’t feel this will be a problem with those based locally: “I’m sure that those players who come from our natural catchment area are still going to gravitate towards Ipswich Town.

“It would be a massive decision for any young aspiring footballer to effectively up sticks, lock, stock and barrel and move up to the North-East or the North-West or wherever.

“I think that we will continue to attract and compete for overseas players and I’m absolutely convinced that the wonderful set-up that we’ve got here at the training ground, coupled with the way that we can demonstrate our track record in developing talent and giving people first team football opportunities, will entice the right players to this club.”

Over the years, Town's Academy has brought in players from slightly further afield — Darren Bent, for example, was from Cambridge — who are a similar distance from other clubs and Clegg admits that the Blues might now be at a disadvantage in attracting players in that position: “If we find individuals on the cusp, who could be pulled in two directions, we’re going to have to work even harder to demonstrate why the set-up and the people that we’ve got at Ipswich and our track record gives their young son the best chance of making it as a professional footballer.”

Category One clubs are able to poach players from Category Two and below, which the former British Olympic Association chief says is a concern, although intimating that similar situations are not unknown under the current system anyway: “That’s always a danger.

“Obviously they can’t do that at the moment and part of the this new youth development system is that Category One clubs will be able to scout and potentially poach on a nationwide basis and those developing clubs will get lower levels of compensation than they are entitled to currently.

“But at the moment, let’s just say that it’s not been unknown for things to happen unofficially that involve players moving from one place to another.”

Those players who could potentially be poached are those who are yet to sign a full-time scholarship. Therefore someone such as 16-year-old Byron Lawrence, who has already put pen to paper to commit to spending the next two seasons at Playford Road, would not be subject to the somewhat less than generous new compensation scheme if wanted by a Category One club.

Despite being frustrated by changes which appear designed purely to benefit established Premier League clubs, the gradual drip feeding of information over the last six months, the hammer-to-crack-a-nut nature of the auditing tool and the process of writing a performance plan which will be more than 200 pages long by the time it's finished, Clegg is confident that there are good times ahead for the Blues’ youth set-up: “I’m very excited about the future for the Academy.

"I think this process is going to take us forward because through it we’re going to have to make an even greater investment in youth development.

“I remain convinced that the excellent track record that we’ve got of developing young footballers, and in particular giving them first team opportunities at a very early stage - we had Connor Wickham playing first team football a couple of years ago at 16 years and 11 days and we’ve got other people coming through the pipeline at the moment - will only be further enhanced by the additional investment that we’re going to have to make.“


Photo: Action Images



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itfc1981 added 08:49 - Mar 30
Fundamentally it all depends on the compentance of Clegg..... ah
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Farmers_Union added 08:50 - Mar 30
The evidence has been there since day 1. Town don't have the finance to justify cat 1, never mind the financial investment to get us there in the first place. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded. Clegg made correct decision. We will get there!!
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DiamondGezzer added 08:53 - Mar 30
I don't think that sitting back and seeing how this unravels is such a bad thing, and surely at the stage we're at in our ' transformation ' of the first team, I believe the money to be better spent there [ we all know the positions I'm refering to ]. As stated, we can always change our position at a later date.
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WeirdFishes added 08:56 - Mar 30
Absolute joke
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commuterblue added 09:00 - Mar 30
right decision.

let's be realistic. ME is already putting in the order of £6m a year into the club. If he puts less in we reduce the chance of getting to the PL soon. By definition investing in Cat 1 academy will take many years to bear fruit - and we still do not know how many Prem clubs will be Cat 1 / Cat 2.

The other option would have been to increase the season ticket price by ~£100 to raise the extra £1m to fund Cat 1- and the complaints of the last increase were quite clear about views. I would like to have seen more option of innovative ideas to fund this - alongside the share issuance of many years ago or debentures with maybe ME matching 50:50.

And Cat 2 still involves us raising the capability of our academy which we already view as half decent. Without ME I question whether we would have been able to do even this.
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 09:10 - Mar 30
This is a sorry day, but not at all unexpected. However, let's not be fooled by the public relations spiel. This leaves us in the 2nd class and is a departure from our proud tradition. We are handing over the East Anglian mantle our feathered friends up the road. When Mr Clegg states, “It would be a massive decision for any young aspiring footballer to effectively up sticks, lock, stock and barrel and move up to the North-East or the North-West or wherever" he is avoiding the real issue. The point is that we are now surrounded by other clubs in our own region who are going to seem more attractive to young players. When Clegg talks about our "natural catchment area" what does that now mean? Just within the bounds of Ipswich itself if we are lucky? And what about all those young Scandinavian, Dutch and Icelandic etc. players we used to attract? Not too difficult to guess they won't be coming to us any longer. I wish we'd had the vision to take on our rivals and invest disproportionately higher in our academy than in the rest of the organisation, but I suppose that would not go down well in the Dragon's Den.

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baldman added 09:11 - Mar 30
I think us as fans have a bit to do as we keep moaning about what ever itfc seem to do. I know this has nothing to do with the fair play but if we got down there fill the ground again I know we havn't had much to cheer about but more fans through the door means more revenue means more to spend on players we want to get in means promotion hopefully quicker means well you get the picture
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itfc1981 added 09:16 - Mar 30
A Steve says we could have been the Crewe of the Championship.
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Superfrans added 09:17 - Mar 30
ITFC - your moaning about how we could afford Cat 1 by simply not signing a couple of our Ex-Prem players reminds me of the argument made when Terra Firma took over EMi. When faced with the analysis that only 10% of all acts signed actually break even, they suggested that EMI only sign the successful ones. Much easier said than done.
Of course, we would all like every bit of our club to run with the resources of a Prem club. But we don't have those resources.
I will be fascinated to see how many clubs (inside and outside the Prem) go for category 1. And how many of them scale down from cat 1 to cat 2 when they are relegated and their parachute money runs out.
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RetroBlue added 09:21 - Mar 30
Wonder what narwich will be doing with their Cat one in a years time, when they are destined for the Championship again. They are a Yo-yo club of the highest proportions. Why would any self respecting youngster want go to a club like that?
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walberswick added 09:27 - Mar 30
Over the last two seasons with Me and Clegg's business accumen we have thrown away about £5million in players going out of contract.

If Ipswich dosen't stand for a top quality youth setup. you are not a club I thought you are.

ME is turning into a man with no ambition, he'll never get us into the Premiership. He will clear off tocount his cas within in months, once the Lympics are over.

Bluelady, you are so reasonable it makes me feel nauseous.
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bracknell_blue added 09:31 - Mar 30
Correct decision. Sensible, balanced, takes all the factors into account and ensure the club lives within its means as best it can. Upgrading on promotion also is very sensible. Well done Mr Clegg - all those whingeing fans slagging Clegg off and threatening to not renew STs, not go to games etc, please go and pick your dummies up and get back into your prams. You are not proper fans.
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MoggaOg added 09:32 - Mar 30
In many ways it is dissappointing result - I would have loved to see us be a category 1 club - but if we are honest it is a relfection of our position - we have been for all but a few years been a Catergory 2 club for a long time (apparently our current youth set up is Cat 3!). That is not to take away our desire to move forward but realistically the alternative would be to take away the transfer budget (which whilst we can say in many examples has not been well used - is still necessary). It is horrible to think that our younger players could be poached but IMO the finger should not be pointed at Clegg here - he voted against the scheme remember - but should be aimed at the Premier League who simply want it all - as was reported by Phil, Barry Fry said "The Premier League wants everything and they want it for nothing. Football League clubs will moan about this at the meeting but vote for it because they have no choice."
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bracknell_blue added 09:39 - Mar 30
Correct decision. Sensible, balanced, takes all the factors into account and ensure the club lives within its means as best it can. Upgrading on promotion also is very sensible. Well done Mr Clegg - all those whingeing fans slagging Clegg off and threatening to not renew STs, not go to games etc, please go and pick your dummies up and get back into your prams. You are not proper fans.
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beerhelps added 09:49 - Mar 30
Great decision - now we can spend the money saved on inflated wages for ex-prem has-beens and short term loanees with blue and white blood!

that should cement our position as a mid table championship club with a stupid wages-to-income ratio.......

Insanity - doing the same things and expecting diffrent results.
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SuperReuser added 09:52 - Mar 30
Correct Decision I believe
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Guthrum added 10:16 - Mar 30
Correct decision, under the circumstances (and given it's something of a scam, imposed from above). Pleased we are upgrading the facilities to Cat 2, rather than taking the easy option of not spending money and going for Cat 3.

And this decision (which is actually only an application, yet to be accepted) is not irrevocable and for all time. It can be reviewed after each season, so, should it become viable, we can always opt to upgrade in the future.

As for "being surrounded by" other clubs with Cat 1, all we're actually talking about are Norwich (IF their application is successful) 45 miles one way and a small handful of the biggest London clubs (who will still only have a limited number of places) 75 miles in the other. The poaching will be a worse issue, so we'll just have to work harder to make sure our decent prospects are firmly signed up.
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IpswichFan26 added 10:17 - Mar 30
At least we're moving from a cat 3 youth academy to a cat 2 one. Good decision in my opinion
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LFCITFC added 10:19 - Mar 30
financially ITFC can not do this, my personal opion of the CAT 1,2. Is that this will bring an even bigger gap between the Prem & Champ. It is only for the rich clubs.
ITFC cant afford this until they eventually reach the PL, but then it will take 2-3 years for the kids to come through and as everyone knows, very rarely does a newly promoted team stay in the PL for more than an year.
Its a shame, but the correct decision
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CavendishBlue added 10:36 - Mar 30
Let's just make the very best of what we've got and move on.

That has and always will be the Ipswich way
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wideblue added 10:44 - Mar 30
It's clear to me that EPP was designed by the Premier League, for the benefit of the Premier League. Cat 1 is only affordable for established Premiership sides, so our friends up the A140 will be taking a risk if they commit to Cat 1 beyond the period where they benefit from the financial support the Premiership brings. Cat 2 is, I believe, a step forward from where we are now and, more importantly, is sustainable.

Some posters on these pages need to realise that Football Manager / FIFA 12 are not an effective proxy for the real world. As a club we have been in administration once - and we know how painful that was for everyone - we should not take those type of risks again.
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osborne1nil added 10:50 - Mar 30
Unfortunatley appears to be the correct decision at this time. The biggest disappointment is Naarwich applying for Cat 1. Historically Town have got a good reputation for their Academy set up and bringing players through, hopefully this reputation will continue. There is also a higher likelihood of a youth player coming through the academy playing for the first team if the team is at a lower level. Not many 16 year olds playing in the Premiership.
Fault lies with widening the gaps between the various divisions and unfair distribution of tv income etc by the FA. Long term these types of acts may improve the prospects of bringing young players through but will not help the national game with extra costs of running the academies.
Why should a Club deciding to go category 1 (most likely to be a Premier Club) receive a much larger handout towards it then other categories as the income distribution is already heavily swayed towards these Clubs.
Right decision for Town now and hopefully Naarwich will soon be having to change theirs down.
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Garv added 10:54 - Mar 30
If we can't manage cat 1 then we can't manage it.

But it does seem incredible when you get Clegg basically saying we can't afford it, but he/ME were happy to spend mass amounts of cash under Jim and Keane, even if a couple of them have turned out recently to look like valuable assets. Less so far has been given to Jewell so maybe they have been rethinking their strategy, but still some of the money spent on those players is incredible looking back. Leadbitter, Edwards, Martin, Norris, Priskin, Lisbie cost a bit didn't he? I'd say in terms of value for money McAuley wasn't so bad.

I'm happy for Jewell to have less to spend than the last two as clearly it didn't work one bit, and especially if it means saving money to possibly upgrade to a better youth structure.
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Jesney_Havoc added 10:56 - Mar 30
Whilst the write decision for now, it is confirmation that Town have 'missed the cut' - we are south of the barrier that the FA have created. We are in the right league - tier 2, and that's we will remain.
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BlueBob added 11:02 - Mar 30
It seems like the only sensible decision the club could make. The added cost of the required further new infastructure along side the huge increase of yearly running costs means this just isn't sustainable for the club without huge further subsidy from ME.
Those that complain that the club wasted money of players like Norris, Priskin, Bullard and Leadbitter that could have funded this need to think a little harder. These players were signed because the manager at the time thought they could improve the squad and Clegg and ME sensibly decided that the manager should be the one picking potential new players as long as a contract could be agreed that they felt was financially correct and sensible within the rules at the time. They didn't/haven't worked out as well as hoped or left for nothing at the end of their contract. This is not Cleggs fault. The power is with the players and agents and success at a previous club doesn't mean success at ITFC, or the other way around. Would you rather have Clegg and ME telling the manager,(whoever he is) who he can and can't buy? Do you really think spending any money on experienced, established players is wrong and the academy should be funded at the expense of the current first team? Even with category 1 status there is little to stop the next Bent or Wickham being lured away before we can truly develop them or benefit from their skills in the first team or financially.
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