Chief executive Simon Clegg is confident that Town have made the right decision to opt for Academy Category Two status in the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) reorganisation of youth football which takes place this summer. The Blues submitted their Category Two application prior to the end-of-April deadline.
Clegg said: "I believe we are ahead of the game, we have employed a consultant and a full-time member of staff to do nothing else apart from write our EPPP application.
"I’m pleased to confirm that at 5pm on the Friday evening [April 27th], before the Monday deadline, all 199 entry points had been satisfied to on the electronic audit tool to give us Category Two.”
The Town chief believes that not all clubs will prove to be quite as well prepared as the Blues with some likely to fail meet the standard required for the level they are targeting: "People think that I’ve been scaremongering over this issue but I think you’ll find that in the fullness of time that I’ve called it right and have put us in the best possible position.
"People have got to understand that this is a fundamental shift in the way that we are operating. Two clubs went through a dummy audit recently and let’s just say there were a lot of surprises.”
The drip-feeding of information from the Premier League, which Clegg has previously criticised, has continued but with personnel details now confirmed: "The staffing structure is now finalised and I’ve got an obligation to speak to the existing staff before I put anything into the public domain.”
In terms of facilities, Category Two requires extra rooms at Playford Road and Clegg is presently assessing the alternatives: "I am creatively looking at a number of options. We have a requirement for additional rooms and I’m looking to see how we satisfy that requirement.
"We don’t have the resources to put up additional permanent structures and temporary structures [at Playford Road] might be an option.”