it means our u21's play Brentford and millwall instead of arsenal and tottenham

..... Don't make excuses PLEASE - the Club had MORE than ample time to prepare and meet the criteria.

Like it, or not, the Club wasn't committed to it early enough - and it has always been a half hearted effort.

Hope our £10 per month towards the Academy will now be refunded - I await the offer of the refund !!!!!

Disgusted to be honest - and not by the people making the judgement.

I Will continue to contribute, but blueboy1981 makes a decent point ,ITFC should have got this sorted, I sort of get the feeling we tried to do just enough and it has backfired badly

We will still stuf the budgie scum though

COYB

.......... nice to know our Club infrastructure is bracketed with Colchester and Brentford - should do wonders for all our confidences.

....... only fools will shrug this off without being concerned - Cat 1 was absolutely essential for the Club, if indeed the Club is heading in the right direction.

People getting at Clegg over ‘painting of turnstiles' shouldn't forget the important Cobbold Stand pressure washing also completed during his tenure. Surely this could account for the missing 0.3%?

I was waiting for it. Lots of sensible posts on here but I knew it would come and I knew it would come from one person. Blueboy you are a bore sir.

Can't see why everyone is moaning. There has to be a line drawn somewhere and we failed. 75% is the absolute bare minimum standard and nothing to be proud of. Even had we scraped through 75% is pretty poor.

We are a provincial club and just won't ever be able to compete with the likes of big city clubs ever again, like we were able to under Bobby Robson and The Cobbolds regime.
There will be a whole lot of wastage regarding young players in the near future as those major clubs won't give them the chance to progress.
Take Chelsea for example, all big money foreign signings this summer, who of their U21s is being given a chance? even talk of Drogba returning!!
Is he classed as the Future of the game!
The amount of money Sky and BT gives these premiership sides is actually killing English football.

Taken from the Sunderland website....

"Sunderland boasts one of the best Academies in the world, having been granted the highest possible rating during the Premier League's EPPP (Elite Player Performance Plan) assessments."

We more than matched them in the FA youth cup last season at PR. So I am not convinced that this is down to inferior raw talent or coaching. Neither did I see any budding Messi's in a red and white shirt that night.

The academy system, overhyped, over expensive, devisive for the football league and too highly influenced by the premier league at the end of the day. So good for English football that we now need to entertain suggestions of B teams joining a collection of Skrill teams to form a league!!!

As MM says often "bonkers", the absence of a football combination league has created a setback where young players do not get the opportunity to ply their trade against seasoned pros on a regular basis.

As players graduate from the academy being offered a one year contract (which seems the norm) there is only a limited number of places in the squad so the churn on a normal annual basis is high, as long as youngsters aren't getting good competitive games then the liklihood of them breaking into the first team seems remote and then they probably need a loan session to a Skrill Team (aka Marriot - one of our better youngsters)

Perhaps we should shut down our academy, give our youngsters to a Skrill Team, a bit of creative accounting by the Marcus Evans Group to sponser the Skrill Team and ITFC to have a partnership agreement to acquire them back if they blossom.

Why are people getting so worked up? This category status is total boll*cks! Robson produced the best team from developing youth despite being an an fashionable club by great scouts with an eye for talent. Invest in good scouts and snap up the best young rejects from the greedy premiership clubs who buy foreign mercenaries and don't have time to nurture home grown talent! Fact the best 14/15 year olds don't make the grade!

i kinda agree with you @hancockingoal. The word academy is now so overused in education that it has a totally diluted meaning. Dario Gradi didn't do a bad job at Crewe either.

Something like "The Ipswich young professional programme" could be developed to show there are other ways than the failed blueprint of the academy system.

a few delicate minds on here.... doesn.t surprise me, and I'm just a mug of a fan. So not sure why the powers that be are saddened by the below 75% mark... Get real

We aimed at 75%. The question is what more would be required to aim for 80/85%. Live and learn - next year we'll be better prepared.

Have missed out because our Under 21 team was so poor last year?

The buck should stop at the top for this fiasco. The "academy director" must be held accountable. Maybe Roy Keane was actually right to let him go.

But surely the objective was to get as close to 100% as possible. to fall short of the pass mark sounds as if we were trying to do it on the cheap? sounds familiar does,nt it?

yet again Ipswich fans short changed. ok we can never pay a transfer fee ok we have to make do with frees and loans ok season ticket holders will contribute to the cost of academy

we are sold cat1 as compensation for being the most boring club in the league with the idea that we are looking to develop the club around youth and development

unfortunately the club could only make the effort to charge season ticket purchases for the costs is this how ME makes his money by scamming his clients?

Same old people condoning failure with the minus button yet again - Does that ring a bell Bobblehat ???

With Supporters like you lot - the Club doesn't need to succeed in anything ................ you'll all be 'satisfied' - as usual.

Boring, run of the mill, expect nowt - suits you fine.

That's why we will stay as we are - as a Club. No need for more.

......... and TRUTH hurts - as you all well know.

How irritating such a small margin, we should appeal to an independent panel of judges and get the decision reversed!!! Probably set up so Championship clubs automtically score -25.3% anyway, so noone ever gets in!!

The people involved knew the standards required at the onset,
Looks like a number of staff need sacking and get someone in who can achieve.

The truth is that EEEP was designed in such a way by Scudamore and his Cronies to only allow the 'big boys' to benefit by having access to talented young kids from other lower clubs on the cheap! Why the hell should we spend all our time and trouble in nurturing, developing and establishing kids when they are all free to leave for a pittance if they turn out to be any good? The whole thing is a complete an utter farce and a con trick. Yet another kick in the teeth for football clubs like us who play by the rules and try do to do the right things. No wonder the English game is in such a bloody dire mess! The Premier League gets everything and the rest can go hang!

Taxi for Helen Broughton

JWM ......... cannot disagree with you, BUT all current scenarios considered we just had to have Cat 1 - otherwise we fall into the category of the lesser lights who have no hope of being anything other, for obvious reasons.