Some Football League clubs think that they were pressurised by the Premier League into adopting a new youth and Academy scheme that will disadvantage them by reducing the value of a route for raising funds. Leeds were one of the clubs that have voted against the scheme and have expressed their concerns.
Some Football League clubs think that they were pressurised by the Premier League into adopting a new youth and Academy scheme that will disadvantage them by reducing the value of a route for raising funds. Leeds were one of the clubs that have voted against the scheme and have expressed their concerns.
The vote to adopt the Elite Player Performance Scheme was carried at a Football League meeting last week by 46 votes to 22 with four clubs not voting. The proposals see the abolition of the transfer tribunal which has fixed fees for Academy players joining a bigger club. League clubs will be paid £3,000 for every year they developed a transferred player between the age of nine and 11 and a maximum of £40,000 per year for nurturing a young player’s career between ages 12 and 16.
This means that clubs will no longer secure a windfall from potential star players such as the £2m Everton spent on 15-year old Bradford midfielder George Green. Leeds made £5m when teenagers Michael Woods and Tom Taiwo joined Chelsea in 2006.
The justification for the changes is that they will increase contact time between young players and coaches leading to the production of more quality players for the national team. Critics say that it is a way for the Premier League to accumulate talent on the cheap.
Club academies will be divided into four categories and it will be difficult for a club like Crewe which has relied on developing young talent in the past to find the funding needed for the higher categories. In Category 1 a club’s academy must have an annual budget of £2.3m, at least 18 full-time employees and excellent faciities. Both Categories 1 and 2 (which has less stringent education requirements) would be allowed to train boys from the age of four and sign them at nine.
Category 3 academies would not be allowed to get hold of young players until 11 when the best ones had already been snapped up. Category 4 would be a safety net picking up released players or late developers.
The rule that Academy players had to live within a 90-minute drive of their club has been abolished for Categories 1 and 2, meaning that Premier League clubs will have a wider geographical area to sign players from.
Swindon Town’s head of youth Paul Bodin thinks that they could receive a third of their former income under the new arrangements. They are not as dependent on some clubs on this income stream which he thinks could be killed off by the scheme.