General Category 2 Academy Status

LeftSideLarry

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The club have just tweeted about the recruitment of a full-time physio for the academy. That’s great but the more interesting thing is that it is lined with a planned transition to catalogue 2 status for the academy.

That’s a big deal. Firstly, it demonstrates increased funding for the academy (category 2 status will require more staff and facilities) and secondly, it should help the club sell itself to parents and players alike.

It’s a really big jump to Category 1 but who knows :)
 
As of October 2022, the following clubs have Category 2 Academy status in Leagues One & Two:

Reading (Category 1)
Derby (Category 1)
Crewe
Charlton
Bolton
Barnsley
Wigan
Colchester
Peterborough

Would be statement of positive intent to add us into the mix.
 
As of October 2022, the following clubs have Category 2 Academy status in Leagues One & Two:

Reading (Category 1)
Derby (Category 1)
Crewe
Charlton
Bolton
Barnsley
Wigan
Colchester
Peterborough

Would be statement of positive intent to add us into the mix.
Charlton and Crewe have excellent academies ( in level 2) and Reading in L1.
Any idea of how good/ not the others are?

This is really positive news. The youngsters coming through appear to be of a higher quantity ( and quality), and this should raise the level further.
 
Surely the state Reading are in we should be pillaging their best talent right now and taking advantage of parent insecurity .
As a Cat 1 academy Pillaging per player (if they were in contract) would cost £40,000 per season that they have been in the academy since the age of 12 (£3,000 per season U9-U11)
 
I’m pretty sure we got Tyler from them as well.
Tyler had been at Reading but released , spell at Wyc by they don't really have a proper academy so to speak of. It does up to 16 but doesn't lead on from there so more like a local academy where players still do grassroots alongside it rather than a more professional one such as ours , Readings etc
 
The club have just tweeted about the recruitment of a full-time physio for the academy. That’s great but the more interesting thing is that it is lined with a planned transition to catalogue 2 status for the academy.

That’s a big deal. Firstly, it demonstrates increased funding for the academy (category 2 status will require more staff and facilities) and secondly, it should help the club sell itself to parents and players alike.

It’s a really big jump to Category 1 but who knows :)
Sounds like another Liam Manning initiative
Would have been impossible in the chaos we endured before LM arrived
 
Sounds like another Liam Manning initiative
Would have been impossible in the chaos we endured before LM arrived
Don't think that's true.
The Academy has been driven by IL, then DE, then Tiger and then the current owners. They have been improving it year on year.
LM.is having a great time and KR had a bad final 18 months, but I am pretty sure that LM wouod want to take no credit for the Cat 2 status aim
 
To add to this, as of this season, the club has started a development centre initiative which involves kids aged 6-7.
So they are starting to look at getting kids into the system even earlier for the first time ever.
this is something reading and Southampton have done for years
 
To add to this, as of this season, the club has started a development centre initiative which involves kids aged 6-7.
So they are starting to look at getting kids into the system even earlier for the first time ever.
this is something reading and Southampton have done for years
Southampton’s was helped by an ex member of staff taking the data base of all the local youngsters when they went to Southampton.
I’ve never liked them since.
 
Southampton’s was helped by an ex member of staff taking the data base of all the local youngsters when they went to Southampton.
I’ve never liked them since.

Referring to the ex member of staff that left for Southampton 2 years ago?

Southampton have been sniffing around for a while, especially in the early 2000s when we were in a real mess under Kassam. Gboly Ariyibi being one of the local ones poached as early as 2005. He was one of those players I feel like we were linked with every transfer window for 3 years and never got close to.
 
Referring to the ex member of staff that left for Southampton 2 years ago?

Southampton have been sniffing around for a while, especially in the early 2000s when we were in a real mess under Kassam. Gboly Ariyibi being one of the local ones poached as early as 2005. He was one of those players I feel like we were linked with every transfer window for 3 years and never got close to.
It was when we were still at the manor in the very late 90’s if I remember correctly but could have been early 2000’s, Southampton were just setting up their new academy and this member of staff took all details of the players we had on our books along with any other potential players in the area that were held on our data base.
 
It was when we were still at the manor in the very late 90’s if I remember correctly but could have been early 2000’s, Southampton were just setting up their new academy and this member of staff took all details of the players we had on our books along with any other potential players in the area that were held on our data base.
Sounds like Huw Jennings, based on that time line. 1998ish. Not sure if taking our data was true or not. Malcolm Elias also went to Southampton, although that was earlier, and I don't think he went straight there from us.
 
Sounds like Huw Jennings, based on that time line. 1998ish. Not sure if taking our data was true or not. Malcolm Elias also went to Southampton, although that was earlier, and I don't think he went straight there from us.
Huw Jaynuss
 
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