x

Ashton: Academy Really, Really Important to Us - Ipswich Town News

Blues CEO Mark Ashton says the club's Playford Road academy is a vital part of the club and of great importance.

Fans have seen a number of academy products move on over the last year or so, Liam Gibbs to Norwich, Flynn Downes to Swansea and then within a year West Ham for £8 million, Andre Dozzell to QPR, Armando Dobra to Chesterfield after his contract was settled in the summer and Tyreece Simpson to Huddersfield at the end of the transfer window, while TWTD revealed yesterday that 14-year-old schoolboy left-back Teddie Bloomfield has moved to Aston Villa.

Asked about the importance of the academy at yesterday’s Fans’ Forum, Ashton said: "It’s a vital part of the football club. It’s really, really important to us. I’ve been asked time and time again, cat two versus cat one. It doesn’t really matter.

"What we’ve got to do is to make sure we have the best infrastructure that we can have, the best development programme that we can have for our players.

"One job only for the people in the academy, and that’s to get those players ready for [manager] Kieran [McKenna]’s first team as quickly as we possibly can.

"We’ve lost a few players but there are stories behind this that you don’t see. It would be remiss of me to mention his name, but one of our young players in the U14s/U15s now, who in the summer he was approached by one of the top six clubs in the Premier League [Tottenham, TWTD understands].

"One of the big guns came in, offered the compensation and we thought ‘He’s going to go’.

"They offered him a lot of money, the player met with the club, family met with the club. Family came and spoke to Kieran, family came back and said ‘No, the pathway’s better at Ipswich, we’re staying at Ipswich’.

"We hear a lot about the players that leave, but you don’t hear so much about the players that say no, the pathway’s here.

"If you think that a pathway is going to be better for any young player at a top-six Premier League club rather than Ipswich Town, well you cannot be serious.

"And with this man [McKenna] at the helm, they’ve got every opportunity of progressing.

"It is really, really important to us. We’ve brought in Dean Wright, who is now heading the academy, he’s reviewing everything at the moment.

"And like the rest of the club there will be further changes in the academy to take it forward. But from a business perspective, it’s a very, very important part of the club.”

Regarding the prospects of moving to category one, which we understand was something which was very seriously being looked at again by the previous regime before being abandoned due to the pandemic, Ashton added: "As I’ve said before, not at the moment. One, there’s no point in even considering that until the Premier League tell us what their long-term plans are for cat one because we would be then moving towards something when we don’t know what the future’s going to look like.

"But I think it’s more about what is right for this football club, what’s right for Ipswich Town and how do we set our standards higher, how do we make sure the individual and the team development programmes are in place and I think once we’ve got that done, then we have a look at the category status.

"If at that point we deem category one the right thing, by the way, we’ll go and do cat one. There’s no problem with that, but we’ve got work to do internally to get ourselves to the right standard before we do that.”

McKenna reiterated his view on the significance of bringing through young players: "I think I said in the first Fans’ Forum, it’s been my upbringing in football from being an academy player myself at a big club to the large majority of my career as a coach having been in academies, so it’s something very close to my heart.

"It’s something that I really enjoy, working with young players and bringing them into the first team. I think it’s something that can massively strengthen a football club because the connection between a homegrown player and the fans is not a connection that can be replicated with anything else.

"When we do have a player of that level or that potential level, then we have to look after them and provide a pathway for them as well as we possibly can.

"Obviously with that we have to marry up the club goals, which is to get out of League One and progress and grow the first team and get the first team back to where it belongs first of all.

"So it’s about marrying and balancing those goals up and rest assured young player who has the capability and the potential to play for us will be very well looked after when they want to be here and they want to be part of that journey.

"I think so far this season we’ve had Cameron Humphreys play two competitive games already. He played here against Colchester and played here against Northampton, performed very well.

"He’s a really important player for the future of the club potentially, but it’s important to note that it’s only potentially. He’s 18 years old, there are very, very few, if any, 18-year-olds playing in League One.

"So for now we have to manage his development very carefully and make sure that he gets the right amount of games, gets the right amount of exposure but is also protected and also has the right training pathway away from pitch.

"He’s certainly one at the moment, who we see as an important member of the squad and we have to make sure he gets the right experiences and we work alongside him to map out his next six months, his next 12 months, his next 18 months.

"For me, it’s really important, it’s a big focus. Of course, the players have to be of the potential to play for this team and the team is improving and the squad is improving, so there can’t be anything given just because it’s an academy player but when we do have a player of that ilk we will certainly do everything we can to give him the best chance to progress at the club.”

What to read next:

Townsend: We Need to Get That Winning Feeling Back
Town full-back Conor Townsend believes it is important to get into the habit of winning again following the Blues’ 2-1 pre-season friendly victory over Charlton Athletic.
U18s Beaten at Bury
Town's U18s were well-beaten 3-0 by Bury Town at Ram Meadow on Tuesday evening as the non-league side reclaimed the Martin Swallow Memorial Trophy, with two of their three goals coming via former Blues academy players.
Clarke Suffers Injury Blow, Wrexham Target Broadhead Rested
Town full-back Harry Clarke missed today’s friendly against Charlton at Colchester having picked up a leg injury in training, while a number of other players were rested, including Wrexham target Nathan Broadhead.
Town and Boro Agree Hackney Fee
Town and Middlesbrough have agreed a fee for midfielder Hayden Hackney, TWTD understands.
Ipswich Town 2-1 Charlton Athletic - Match Report
Jack Clarke and Ali Al-Hamadi were on target as the Blues beat Charlton Athletic 2-1 in their penultimate friendly of the summer at Colchester United’s JobServe Community Stadium. Town were on top throughout with all the goals coming in the second half, while Ashley Young made his first appearance for the club as a sub alongside Omari Hutchinson, back after his England U21s heroics over the summer.
Ipswich Town 0-0 Charlton Athletic - Half-Time
Town’s friendly against Charlton Athletic at Colchester United’s JobServe Community Stadium remains 0-0 at the break with the Blues having had first-half chances to go in front.
Wrexham Make £7m Approach For Broadhead
Newly promoted Wrexham are reported to have made a £7 million approach for Blues forward Nathan Broadhead.
Young and Hutchinson on Bench Against Charlton
Ashley Young and Omari Hutchinson are on the bench for the Blues for this evening’s friendly against Charlton at Colchester United’s JobServe Community Stadium (KO 7.30pm).
Six More Games Including Norwich Derby on Sky
Six more Town games have been picked for live Sky Sports coverage, including the derby at home to Norwich City, which has moved to Sunday 5th October with a midday kick-off.
Vote TWTD! - Football Content Awards Nominations Open
Nominations are open for the Football Content Awards 2025, giving you the chance to pay tribute to TWTD and other Town media you enjoy.