Ipswich Town Ist, the Town Supporters Trust, has welcomed Bryan Klug’s confirmation that the academy will look to upgrade to Category One status in the future. The Trust strongly believed that the club should have opted for Category One when the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) was introduced last summer and presented former chief executive Simon Clegg with a 5,000-signature petition backing their position.

In a statement, which can be read in full here, Ipswich Town Ist say they believe that a greater understanding of the implications of the Financial Fair Play rules (FFP) is behind the Blues’ proposed switch: “The Trust foresees a greater emphasis on youth development, something that has always been close to the hearts of Ipswich Town supporters.

“For many fans the sight of homegrown talent such as Luke Hyam is a far bigger boost than buying in expensive talent not schooled in the ‘Ipswich way’.

“We also anticipate that the average age of sides in the Championship may reduce because younger players are often less expensive than older more established players.”

Photo: Action Images

Mark added 19:16 - Apr 9 Does Ipswich Town First ever meet, hold elections etc. any more? I found their website ( http://ipswichtownfirst.wordpress.com/) and there is an article today, but it is the first one in over a year. While a Trust is a good organisation in principle, I just wonder whether this one is active enough to be able to talk on behalf of the supporters? I do absolutely support the move towards a Category One academy, that news was a real boost today.

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jutty added 20:05 - Apr 9 They haven't been to active of late, although they are after some new blood for the committee as they have been emailing their membership. PM me if you want more info and I will forward on the email
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Tractorboy24 added 20:12 - Apr 9 This is the second time that I've heard of this trust, and both times they released quite ill informed statements. The campaign for a cat 1 academy was purely based on the number 1 being better than the number 2. This statement they refer to how the decision for cat 2 was because of ffp, despite the academy running cost not being included in the ffp figures.
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Campag_Velocet added 20:40 - Apr 9 Er, the Trust have said many times that their campaign was based on the fact that they had a copy of the Premier League Academy proposals. Also, the Trust's statement says: "However, within the Trust, we always felt that Academy Expenditure would be excluded by the Football League, as it had been by UEFA in their long-published Financial Fair Play Rules. " which - the way I read it - says that the cost of running the Academy wouldn't be included, which was contrary to Simon Clegg's claims at the time.

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PhilTWTD added 21:18 - Apr 9 Campag That's not actually true, Clegg said that was the case re FFP. I remember asking him about it: http://www.twtd.co.uk/ipswich-town-news/20347/clegg-category-one-could-come-afte
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Tractorboy24 added 22:05 - Apr 9 Campag, I think I miss read the line about ffp, so apologies on that. However I'm not convinced that the lay out for a cat 1 academy is all what it is built up to be. If we do go for cat 1, we'd be paying more to develop players, which would still be available to be poached by other academies only we'll get a few more thousand for the players. The benefits are obviously the better facilities to develop players and the ability to bring in players from across the country, but I'm not sure that its worth the massive outlay.

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