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Town Still Waiting to Learn Academy Upgrade Criteria - Ipswich Town News

MD Ian Milne says Town are still to learn what they need to do in order to upgrade the academy to category one ahead of next season. The Blues missed out by just 0.3 per cent a year ago with the club having committed to upgrading from category two at the earliest possible opportunity.

"The Premier League are still messing around with the criteria and the audit conditions and the rest of it, so we still don’t know precisely what they want. Those points haven’t come out,” he told Saturday’s Life’s a Pitch on BBC Radio Suffolk (from 1hr 11mins onwards).

"We’re waiting to hear from the Premier League and the Football League [regarding] all the points.

"Everybody agrees with EPPP and getting better youth development, but it’s always been slightly disorganised [with] the rules and what we’ve got to do, so we’re just waiting to hear the latest rules, but we’re still on track to be where we want to be.”

Marcus Evans is currently funding the academy at category one level but without the grant that comes with the higher status and Milne says the Blues' owner remains very committed to the club’s youth set-up.

"We’ve got some great players coming through, some fantastic players coming through,” he added. "[Marcus is] going to continue to invest in those, there’s no doubt about that.

"He’s actually spending a lot of time with [academy director] Bryan Klug and his colleagues down there because he’s taking a great deal of interest in what they’re doing, specialisms and what have you. He’s very, very committed.”

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